Mystery haunts the desert Southwest, in drawings by people who lived millennia ago, in dwellings built of mud and willow and rock; in potsherds, yucca twine, shrunken corn cobs; and in turkey feather remnants. Painted skinhead masks chill the viewer; etched hunters slay bighorn sheep forever; flutes trill hikers to sleep under the Milky Way. Yellow blossoms of Fremont barberry scent the days with saffron. Deep in red rock country at the base of cliffs pocked by water and time, lives a magical universe of spirits, masks, lion tracks, and kivas protected by overhangs and shamans.

Journals by Julie Weston and photographs by Gerry Morrison comprise THE MAGICAL UNIVERSE OF THE ANCIENTS: A Desert Journal. They traveled by car, on foot, and with llamas through the desert landscape, recording in photographs and in journals the sights, sounds, scents, and textures of the ancient and natural worlds of the Southwest, specific monuments and parks and protected wildernesses in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Morrison’s photographs capture the rock art as well as little known ruins--some preserved, some crumbling--juxtaposed with Spanish churches, folds and wrinkles in the landscape, “modern” remnants, and desert wildflowers. Weston's journals complete the spaces between photographs with anecdotes and experiences, including blisters and cactus quill wounds, llamas and their idiosyncrasies, visits to secret places, archaeological and cultural information on the peoples who once lived there, and speculation on why they left their homes, along with meditations on life and death and the Universe.

Every year, attacks on wilderness come from oil and gas drillers, mining companies, and developers. The Secretary of the Interior has proposed reducing to almost eliminating some of the national monuments established in years past. Proposals to open 2.5 million acres of the red rock country of Utah to drilling and development have drawn tens of thousands of letters of protest. People want to protect the environment--the animals, the rivers, the landscapes, the ancient ruins and art, the Wildness. The Magical Universe of the Ancients: A Desert Journal aids in this effort by showing what might be tarnished with drill rigs and ruined by roads, what might be trampled upon, what might be destroyed. Weston and Morrison hope their work in this book will help preserve and protect this magical universe.

Front cover: Kin Ya’a, tall house, a detached unit of Chaco Culture National Historical Park near Crown Point, New Mexico

View a live presentation by Julie Weston and Gerry Morrison from August 25, 2020 at https://livestream.com/comlib/magicaluniverse

Go to bigwoodbooks.com for further information and to buy the book on the Contact page.