Arkaim is considered a magical place of power by those people who tend to perceive it in this way. This place sometimes uses its power to keep away those who do not believe in it. And this actually happens.
Our author Nick Afanasyev has been traveling across Russia for two months now, and he does this in order to answer two questions: “How do Russians live and what do they think? And why are they like that?"
This is exactly what happens with magical places. Added to this is faith. You need to become a part of all this. Otherwise, this place may not admit a person at all - or not let him go.
On Sunday morning, together with my cousin A., we went from Chelyabinsk to Arkaim. This place of archaeological excavations in the steppe is also called "Russian stonehenge". For many people, Arkaim is a place of power, from which a special energy emanates. For almost 25 years now, not only the Orthodox Church has been experiencing a revival in Russia - Russians are also discovering alternative processes of searching for the meaning of the great whole. At the time of the summer solstice, dozens of people go to Arkaim in order to recharge spiritually there.
Belief in mystical places is not particularly characteristic of either my cousin or myself. On a scale of 0 to 10, I would place myself in the bottom third. A.'s cousin assesses himself “quite accurately in the area of 0”.
We set off a little late that Sunday morning. Our Chevrolet Cruise car ran on gas, which is present in large quantities in Russia both in rocks and at gas stations. And already the first gas station owned by LUKOIL advertises itself with the help of a large poster with the inscription “GAZ”. We exited the city freeway and headed for the dispenser. However, there was no one there. I went to a small house, on the door of which was the inscription "open". However, the door was locked. Under the "Open" sign was another sign with the words "Technical Break". We drove on.
Cousin swore, we drove on
Promotional video:
A second gas station appeared a few kilometers later. And here, in accordance with the price list, gas was to be sold. We left the highway and stood in line for about ten minutes, since there was only one narrow entrance, along which everyone had to pull up. When, having passed the petrol pumps, we finally found ourselves at the gas station, for several moments we silently looked at the sign “does not work”. My cousin swore and we drove on.
The next gas station sold only gasoline. By this time we had already left Chelyabinsk, and soon the last remnants of gas could leave our car. I said jokingly: it's not hard to find gas in Russia. A.'s cousin smiled tightly.
And finally, Gazprom! Never before have I been so happy looking at the logo of this company. And the price list on the side of the road testified to the presence of gas. We turned off the highway and tried unsuccessfully to find the appropriate dispenser, and then asked one of the gas station employees. He said: “There is gas further, several kilometers away. We couldn't put up two signs, so the gas price list is here. The cousin swore, no longer hiding his irritation.
Nevertheless, the gas station was indeed a few kilometers away, it was from Gazprom and was even opened. An employee came out, an elderly man in a cap. "Gas? Of course, no problem,”he said. A smile appeared on our faces. "Will you show me the technical certificate of your gas tank?" A.'s cousin took off his sunglasses. "Technical … what?" I have no idea what this is … pip … Are you kidding me, or something! It's just … pip … I don't have any certificate! " The gas station worker smiled amiably. “I cannot refuel you without a technical certificate. This is determined by law, and from Friday we …"
At this point I intervened, because I could not believe it. "That is, you want to tell us that a new law has been in effect since Friday, according to which no one can refuel without a certificate?" The man continued to smile. "Not. Not certainly in that way. This law has existed for a long time, but on Friday we received a call from the company's management that now we must comply with it. After that, A.'s cousin swore for real, and it would take a lot … pip … pip … in order to convey this. The man in the cap was no longer smiling. We were about to leave, but at that time he went to the car and leaned over to the window where I was sitting. "I know one gas station nearby, and they fill everyone up there, and no paperwork." He explained the way to us, and we drove on.
The place where everyone is run, and without papers … We were not going to buy a poppy seed or enriched plutonium … We had little time left. I already wanted to swear myself. But I left it to my cousin A to do it. He's just better at it.
The way that the man at the gas station explained to us made us turn off the motorway, and we got on a road with potholes. In search of gas, we found ourselves in a part of Russia that had been ignored by all modernization efforts. The gas station was some kind of tent and a gas tank the size of a bathroom. The remains of a truck were rusting nearby, and, apparently, this process had been going on for a long time. It was hot. A tired dog wandered around. I thought this: just on the way to the place where there is power, we got into a similar story. “These are the spirits of Arkaim,” I said. A.'s cousin said … pip …
Then a woman came out of the tent. She filled us with gas. In fact. We were able to go further.
The trip lasted more than five hours, which is too much time to think about whether this morning story is related to the purpose of our trip. Or the fact that my cousin took the car from his friend and therefore did not know anything about the certificate. Well, okay, we got to the place.
Settlement "Arkaim"
Arkaim itself, that is, a historical settlement, consists of two spiral rows of houses with a large square in the middle. The inhabitants of this settlement were technically progressive for their time - the walls of the houses are very thick, and the oldest chariot in the history of mankind was discovered nearby, in short: they had something to protect. The authors of the documentary, shown two years ago on the ZDF TV channel, came to the conclusion that the inhabitants of Arkaim in the Bronze Age, that is, about 2 thousand years ago, probably had the richest deposits of precious stones and wanted to preserve them. There is no certainty about this. Nevertheless, many seek to come here. Even Medvedev and Putin have already visited the excavation site.
There is not much to see from a low level in Arkaim, as many levels of the excavation have been re-filled, and this was done in order to stop further destruction. Optically, the most interesting are eight sacred mountains, two of which are located in the immediate vicinity of the excavation site. Accompanied by Vika, my cousin and I visited Shamanka, the Shaman Mountain. Vika is 42 years old, she is from Yekaterinburg, and for six years now she has been a big fan of Arkaim. She often comes here, accompanies visitors, and she is one of the people who live for this. “It’s better to leave your head at home and listen to your heart here,” she tells us. Vika is wearing a wide blouse, an even wider skirt, and she easily climbs the mountain, which is rather a hill,whereas my cousin and I have to work hard for this.
Before, people were not prepared for Arkaim
“I was looking for something - and I found it here,” says Vika. "Before, people were not prepared for Arkaim." In fact, this place has been "opened" three times. The first time, she said, its archaeological significance was not recognized, the second time the traces in the ground of the bronze structures were considered military structures, and the Soviet period was not the best time for discoveries that probably should not have been discovered. Only after in 1987, already during perestroika, a decision was made to flood this area - the creation of a reservoir was planned here - did the scientists understand what they were dealing with.
We went upstairs and looked into the distance. Some people walked around the summit, others put together some figures of stones, in which desires were hidden in a symbolic form. A.'s cousin looked around, nodded briefly and said, "I will go and recharge my energies." I asked: "What?" He said, "I'm going to sleep." Neither a glance from the top, nor a long search for gas could raise the level of his faith above zero. “There is a lot of quartz in the earth below us. He collects energy, and then gradually releases it,”said Vika. She spoke calmly and enthusiastically. I didn't ask any additional questions.
She told me a parable. The master tells his disciple: every time he is very angry with someone, he should put one potato in his back bag. The disciple did as he was told. After a while, the bag became heavy, the potatoes rotted and began to stink. “I understand,” the student said then. "I don't want to carry this load with me." It is important to get rid of your personal bag. While Vika was telling her parable, we went down from Shamanka and climbed the Mountain of Love. Vika said: "Anyone who asks with a pure heart will find love here." Vika said this in the tone of a truly convinced person, whom even those who are not very convinced themselves will listen to with pleasure.
After we finished our steep climb, I had my own theory as to why Arkaim is so attracted to a large number of people. These picturesque green hills are the opposite of life in some Russian cities. The nearest town is Magnitogorsk. A fifth of Russian steel is produced there. 60,000 people work in this seemingly endless industrial complex - workshops, pipes, internal driveways, even more industrial pipes, workshops, exhaust gases, gray clouds. The city is flat, there is a lot of lead in the air. If after all this a person, while climbing the Mountain of Love, feels a refreshing breath of wind, he will quickly believe in the positive energy of a place like Arkaim.
Upstairs Vika told me other stories, I was silent, and she came to an important point in our conversation. “It often happens that people who behave in an inappropriate way - damage the plants here or take stones with them - are punished by this place. After that, their car stops. They want to leave, but something is stopping them. " After that, I could not help but remember our morning odyssey on the Chelyabinsk - gas station highway. I told Vika about this. This did not surprise her, but she was not very enthusiastic about the story. She just smiled and said, “Yes. It happens".
As if morning adventures were not enough - the evening of this day has prepared something else for us, a kind of epilogue. At some point, I said goodbye to Vika, went to a souvenir shop, bought, as it should be, sacred stones, and then woke up cousin A. We moved in the opposite direction. Ten minutes later A. discovered that he had forgotten his bag in Arkaim. “This place won't let you go because you don't believe in it at all,” I told him. Probably, Arkaim has a positive energy that affects even unbelievers, because after that A.'s cousin did not swear at all, but only smiled.