Kundalini Splendor

The Cave Painters of Lascaux

Certainly,
they were more alive.
Their eyes beheld
what has long since
vanished
from the scan of
our narrow
view,
their flesh quivered
with delight
or pain
in ways we can
only imagine.

When they went
out for the hunt,
magic carried them
through,
their wives and old ones
mumbling incantations over
the fire
as they stalked
their sacred prey
with weapons
carved from flint,
from wood.

When they entered
the caves,
they carried
their primal powers
with them
wreathing the walls
with delicate beasts
who were their friends
as well as their sustenance.

Red, ocher, gold—
they knew how to mix
and apply their vivid
tones like any skillful artist,
capturing
the color of flame,
color of earth.

But it was the vitality
of the image itself
that mattered,
the animal
now rendered in its
essential form,
unchanging, immortal,
energies streaming
from the artist’s moving hands
onto the cave walls,
into the darkest recesses,
creature and human
again becoming one.

Dorothy Walters
September 21, 2009

Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne département. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 16,000 years old. They primarily consist of realistic images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. In 1979, Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list along with other prehistoric sites in the Vézère valley.

History

The cave was discovered on September 12, 1940 by four teenagers, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas, as well as Marcel's dog, Robot.[2] Public access was made easier after World War II. By 1955, the carbon dioxide produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 in order to preserve the art. After the cave was closed, the paintings were restored to their original state, and were monitored on a daily basis. Rooms in the cave include The Great Hall of the Bulls, the Lateral Passage, the Shaft of the Dead Man, the Chamber of Engravings, the Painted Gallery, and the Chamber of Felines

Lascaux II, a replica of two of the cave halls - the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery — was opened in 1983, 200 meters from the original. Reproductions of other Lascaux artwork can be seen at the Centre of Prehistoric Art at Le Thot, France.

Since the year 1998 the cave has been beset with a fungus, variously blamed on a new air conditioning system that was installed in the caves, the use of high-powered lights, and the presence of too many visitors. As of 2008, the cave contained black mold which scientists were and still are trying to keep away from the paintings. In January 2008, authorities closed the cave for three months even to scientists and preservationists. A single individual was allowed to enter the cave for 20 minutes once a week to monitor climatic conditions. Now only a few scientific experts are allowed to work inside the cave and just for a few days a month but the methods of removing this fungi has taken it's toll and left dark patched where it happened ruining the pigmentation.



(above from Wikipedia)

When we consider early humans, we wonder whether or not they did not "feel" at a different level from contemporary people. Babies come into the world "wide open," ready to receive and react to the many vibrations coming at them from all angles. With time, these infants learn to "close down," not to feel with the intensity and resonance of their first months.

I wonder if what is shut down is perhaps an innate kundalini energy, and whether or not primal human was in touch with this great power as a force of nature that flowed through her/him. The early shamans and their tribes were comfortable with magic, which depends on alliance with unseen spirits. The ancients spoke with and associated with the gods. Most today have lost this capacity.

We of a later age must go through a "recovery process" to reclaim this earlier level of response. We have gained something of left brain rationalism at the expense of right brain function.

(Note: the above is my own speculation, not really provable but offered for your own speculation.
Larry Robinson's wonderful poem inspired me to write my own on the subject of the early cave paintings.)