The first time I heard the word "Arkaim" from a friend in the context of her pregnancy was shortly after visiting this place. That was eight years ago, and then I did not attach any importance to this causal relationship.
However, from that moment, despite the fact that I never had a desire to go to Arkaim and I did not look for information about him, over the next eight years this very Arkaim acquired various unverified information, associations and other people's stories, and by the beginning of this summer years I believed that:
- Arkaim is located in the south of the Chelyabinsk region, 680 km from Yekaterinburg. This is a historical reserve on the site opened at the end of the 80s. last century civilization, which is 700 years younger than Troy. From a bird's eye view, the boundaries of the settlements are visible, built in the form of circles and with astronomical accuracy;
- The inhabitants of the city have left it forever under unexplained mystical circumstances;
- There is not much to look at, there is steppe everywhere and burnt grass, in summer there is a terrible heat, and there is no place to swim. There is no water there. There is also nothing special and nowhere, tourists eat what they brought from home, but mainly solar energy;
Team Pasha, Natasha, Vitya
Promotional video:
- There are no conditions for tourism in Arkaim; people who come there live in tents or trailers like construction ones;
“On the days of the spring and autumn equinox, the summer solstice and eclipses, thousands of visitors gather there. Psychics, healers, shamans, real and charlatans, on the one hand, and those who are looking for them, on the other, come there;
- Once you need to go there at least to see this sky;
- Many have found healing or spiritual enlightenment in Arkaim, in any case, Arkaim is a place of power;
- There, everyone is walking in some circles;
- There are mountains, which you need to climb in a certain sequence, otherwise you can get started with your mind;
- There is a mountain of Love, climbing which you can ask for love, help in arranging your personal life, having children, and these desires will certainly come true.
One of my acquaintances, the owner of an excursion bus, said that every summer he takes crowds of good-natured eccentrics there, singing mantras all the way, to get charged with cosmic energy. Other acquaintances went there and went to some museums for several days. The third visited there last summer and did not really understand if there was something supernatural or not, but said that there was a lot of esoteric things there. After some time, he also told a story that I really like and may be useful to someone, therefore, with your permission, and no offense to the person with whom it happened, I will tell it in full.
It happened last fall with one of our mutual acquaintances - a beauty, clever woman, yoga and qigong teacher, owner of a long red braid, but completely unlucky in love. After breaking up with another man who did not meet even the most modest hopes, she arrived in Arkaim. Climbing the Mountain of Love, she saw several women resting and realized that they were witches. (And the word "witch", as you know, comes from the word "know", to comprehend the essence of things.)
She approached them, they got into conversation, and after a while she complained about the unsettledness of her personal life. “Okay,” they said, “we'll test you. Finish the phrase: All men … " Goats ", - said our heroine, without blinking. “Well, here's your diagnosis,” the women answered. - This is who is present in your life. And if so, who are you in this relationship? Goat? And does that satisfy you?"
They said that she should climb the mountain, repeating the phrase: “ALL MEN ARE GODS, HEROES, CREATORS” so that this understanding would enter her life. And so she went, repeating: "ALL MEN ARE GODS, HEROES, CREATORS" and meditating, and soon the realization of this filled her to the brim, and she did not doubt its truth for a second. The happy end of the tale was not long in coming: less than a month later, she met a man who, as the person who told me this story, said, is a hero (a lion, according to the sign of the zodiac and character), a creator (a successful architect who implements his projects in Europe) and, as I understand it, God (history is shyly silent about the details of this). END.
Well, so, it would seem, there were no external reasons, and more than half a year has passed since the last mention of Arkaim, when suddenly one fine summer day I was struck like a bolt from the blue: “I MUST GO TO ARKAIM!” And two weeks later I was there.
Road
We got there with adventure. They left later than they were going to, instead of the estimated eight hours, they drove twelve, the incorrect settings of the navigator were later attributed to the inevitable difficulties of spiritual search. The correct road from Yekaterinburg: Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Kizilskoe, Obruchevka, Arkaim - so we drove back, the journey took exactly eight hours. We went there on the wrong one, that is: before reaching Chelyabinsk, we turned to Miass, there was a road repair, because of a detour and wanderings we lost two hours.
The village of Slyudorudnik (practically, Switzerland), Karabash (even scary to photograph, the real Mordor)
At eleven, we stopped in Bashkiria, had supper, set off for Uchaly, when the road suddenly ended. More precisely, there was a road, but as soon as you accelerate, suddenly, without any warning signs or hints right in front of you, a kind of trap 20-30 centimeters high grows across its entire width, which, if you run into it at speed, you will continue tumbling until you find yourself somewhere- anything in the field with wheels up. So they drove 60 km / h, until they returned to the Chelyabinsk region again, but they understood that they had left Bashkiria without any signs.
Arkaim does not show the navigator. Pasha forgot the paper description of the route at home. The Internet could not be caught. The end point was scored in the navigator Kizilskoye, we got to it at three in the morning, where further - not a single option, there are no signs of Arkaim at all, we had to look for someone who could be found out, and from this Kizilsky three or four more key turn and 70 km to Arkaim.
We drove to a gas station, then to the police, and I only later understood one feature of the steppe thinking. If I was asked how to get from point A to point X, I would say something like this: from A straight 300 m to B, then right 100 m to C, then left 200 m to X. We were told like this: from A to B. How many? - Kilometers 10. We come to B, no hints at X, we are looking for someone again to ask, we find: from B to C. How much? - 40 kilometers. And so on. And around one steppe and a starry sky. And this is not Europe, where at every intersection there is a sign with white letters on a brown background with the name of the attraction.
When multicolored blots began to flash before my eyes, I several times thought that I should stop, put up a tent right in the steppe and sleep until morning. Then she said to herself: "Okay, a little left." So we arrived in Arkaim at half past five in the morning instead of the estimated ten in the evening. While we looked closely, while we set up the tent, it was dawn, and people reached out to the mountain to meet the dawn. We got together and went where everyone else was. Cold, 14 degrees. But everyone is sitting and waiting for a miracle, although, in theory, the sun rises and sets every day, we do not even notice how. And here it is an event.
We met the dawn, returned to the tent, I just put my head on the pillow, immediately passed out and woke up at ten from the heat and stuffiness, looked out - my friends had already gone on reconnaissance, found out what and where they were preparing breakfast.
Tourism
The organized tent city Arkaim is a heap of tents pitched right on the stones; trailers like construction ones, equipped with beds, sockets and a refrigerator; with infrastructure in the form of a separate toilet, seats for ten (it is not clear how he copes at the moments of the peak invasion of tourists, I think, in no way); soul; an organized canteen, where you can order three meals a day for three hundred rubles a day; gift shops; catering and control center with a schedule of excursions, as well as a central square with a wish tree and a place for a ritual bonfire. In general, an ordinary city in miniature.
If you wish, you can spend five days in Arkaim and be busy all the time. Scientists and archaeologists who excavated the city turned out to be people who can see widely, soap globally and act on a steppe scale. Therefore, the excavations of the city were quickly overgrown with other cultural objects from different historical eras, collected in the Museum of Nature and Man, the Museum of Ancient Technologies, as well as independent historical monuments, such as the Temir burial mound (IV century BC), burial structures of bronze centuries, religious buildings of the Middle Ages, a Cossack estate, a windmill, etc. In addition, the very steppe surrounding the ancient city, with an area of 20 square meters. km, was turned into a nature reserve, in the creation of which scientists from many countries took part.
In addition to all this cultural and historical splendor, various master classes are held on the territory of the camp, from weaving from willow rods and modeling from clay to drums and dancing with fire. From other entertainments: at any time of the day or night you can ride a horse, and in the evenings the camp visits some kind of aircraft and offers adrenaline-thirsty air rides.
After dinner, people flock to the central square, socialize culturally and have fun. Well, and finally, what most tourists come here for is the local rituals.
Rituals: Arkaim is a very subjective place. That is why the opinions of different people about him are so very different, although, in principle, all these opinions may be true. Yes, most come here hoping for a miracle or out of curiosity. This is actively used by different citizens. They can be conscientious, for example, presenters of master classes; dairy product sellers; Aboriginal rentals and unscrupulous people such as self-proclaimed gurus; sellers of magic items; charlatans and other subjects. The latter are actively opposed by representatives of the scientific world.
On the one hand, Arkaim is a place where you can clearly see how much faith is stronger than science, because no matter how many scientists repeat that they were personally present at the birth of all local rituals and there is nothing supernatural in Arkaim, people believe that after performing certain actions they will find love or be healed because they have seen or heard people who have done these actions and have met love or been healed.
On the other hand, this inevitable conflict of worldviews in Arkaim clearly contributes to the development of both scientific and (conventionally) mystical worldview for the benefit of each direction. In short, the usual dialectic is very clear here. But to me personally, the explanations why the birches growing near the Mountain of Love, curves given by representatives of science (something related to the composition of the soil and magnetic fields) and representatives of the cult (something related to the witches' Sabbaths) seem equally convincing.
We climbed all three mountains in the camp in the established sequence: Mount of Repentance, Mount Shamanka and Mount Grachinaya (also known as the Mountain of Love). Each one has a hand-made mandala lined with stones - a spiral twisting to the center, along which you can walk. During the passage, you need to ask for forgiveness on the first mountain, on the second - to think about the past and present of your soul, on the third - to ask what you want. The scheme seems to be similar to a shamanic ritual.
The passing process is long, associated with deep meditation; sensations are very interesting, although they depend on the inner preparedness of each. The energy inside the spiral is very strong, personally I could not reach my hand through it at all, it seemed to me that these were not just stones laid out on the surface of the mountain, but walls.
When we walked on the first mandala, two drummers climbed the mountain and began to beat some kind of rhythm, I just got goosebumps all the time, it was very cool. My cynical friend Vitya tried to convince me that this was all the power of self-hypnosis, but when I pretended to him that after descending from the Mountain of Love he had been talking about sex for half an hour without stopping, he said that it was an accident.
The next morning we climbed Cheka, which is located fifty kilometers from Arkaim. The sensations were completely indescribable. After the noisy Arkaim, you plunge into absolute silence. As far as the eye can see, the steppe stretches with its hills, as if desert dunes or yellow-green waves.
The sense of time disappears both in the sense of hours and in the sense of eras. It seems that the mountain is alive and breathing, you try to breathe at the same pace as it, and when you succeed, thoughts suddenly become absolutely pure and transparent, like the morning air, and then disappear altogether; you understand that you can get an answer to any question, but there is no one to ask and there is no need, and you just sit on the ground and cannot leave.
At the foot of Cheka there is a spring consecrated by Orthodox and Buddhist clergy. After descending the mountain, everyone is traditionally doused with three buckets of ice water. Thus, for those who have not cleared their consciousness from climbing and staying on the Cheka, fate graciously gives one more chance.
Water
In general, the water in Arkaim is in complete order, therefore the grass in the steppe is not burnt out by the sun, but green and juicy. The heat during the day is really such that it is simply impossible to think about anything other than swimming. In one of the souvenir stalls we found out where to go for a swim. Then I was terribly proud that I asked the right question, which, as you know, contains half the answer.
So one could ask: "Where do you swim here?" and get a direction to the public beach of Arkaim - a patch of water cleared of vegetation, where, like herring in a barrel, those living in the camp splash. To my question: "Where is the best place for swimming here?" we got directions to the village of Aleksandrovsky, about a kilometer from the place where we pitched our tent, but the trip was worth it. The water was cold, and I had to lure my pampered city friends into the water by personal example and persuasion.
People
It is believed that people are the worst thing that can be seen in Arkaim, but this is not the case. Pasha lost his glasses on the beach and was terribly upset, especially because lately he has been constantly losing something. After half an hour of nationwide and unsuccessful searches, the following verdict was passed: "Pasha must see something in its true light."
The girl in the control room, who asked why we were late for the excursion, and heard the story about the search for glasses in response, sighed philosophically: “You are not alone. Probably, today JUST LOST DAY. " Another girl asked Viti to light a cigarette, saying that she had forgotten a lighter in the camp. Vitya flicked the lighter three times, but the fire did not light up, to which he quipped: "Probably, the Higher powers want you to quit." Girl: "Try again, I just have karma x … eva".
"Do not ask for love - give love!" - reads the inscription on the Mountain of Love. Those who come to Arkaim, in general, are open, kind and able to give love. And whether they do "exercises of the Arkaims", reminiscent of the mating games of orangutans, or walk on mandalas, beat drums or chant mantras, have sex on the Mountain of Love, meditate or just wander around the camp - no doubt, each of them is looking for something and everyone has a reason to be in this place.
Someone thinks it funny or stupid to perform these rituals. Scientists rubbed a corn on their tongue, explaining that the Arkaim people had no written language, and therefore neither the recipe for Arkaim tea, nor the set of exercises for the Arkaim exercise could reach us. But every morning, just a little dawn, crowds of people invariably gather on the hilltops to meet the Sun and ask it to warm and protect themselves and their loved ones.
Yes, and what difference does it make whether Arkaim possessed some kind of inner strength in the old days or not, it still cannot be verified. But the fact that over twenty years people have dragged so much positive energy here that you can even eat it with a spoon, it's true! And each person who comes here with his request, tying a ribbon on the tree of desires, leaving a piece of his soul here, makes this place stronger.
Well, so, there is an opinion that people are the worst thing that can be seen in Arkaim. But this is not so, because it was people who created Arkaim as a place from where you will be heard, as a place from where you can hear yourself, as a point on the path of spiritual search.
Therefore, if you are lonely and have no one to chat with, if you are lost, if you all do not have enough time to be with yourself, or if you have completely forgotten who you are and what is really important to you, you can come to Arkaim and, possibly, here you will find the answers to these questions. And even if not, the vibrations of Arkaim will still have a beneficial effect on your inner world, calm your mind and give you strength.
With love, Natalia Puzikova