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Power of the Mind Part 18
Snakes and Crickets
by
Dr. P.C. Simon
(extracted from his book, The Missing Piece to Paradise)


The snake dance of Hopi Indians is another example of collective
thought. The Hopi Indians of northern Arizona, when afflicted with
severe droughts, organise a snake-dance ceremony. They believe that
proper ceremonies will cause their deities to make rain. Elaborate
ceremonies associated with the snake dance help to build and
intensify that faith. Collecting bull snakes, and rattlesnakes,
starts about two weeks before the date of the dance. The snake
priests collect as many snakes as possible, sometimes a dozen or
more. The snakes are kept in a ceremonial chamber called "kiva." On
the final day of the dance, the snake priest takes one snake at a
time and dance with each snake hanging from his mouth. After the
dance they release the snakes at the edge of the village to crawl
into the holes from where they were collected. The Hopis believe
that the snakes crawl into their holes and emerge into the other
world carrying the message that the Hopis need rain. The gods never
fail to send rain. Only once during a period of a hundred years did
the snake dance fail to bring rain. That was in 1914 when an over-
zealous photographer desecrated the ceremony by bringing a camera
which is taboo. If there is a rain dance organised, the weatherman
will predict rain, even though his instruments do not indicate it.
The Hopis continued to practice the snake dance even when the
organisers were imprisoned because the Christian rulers wrongly
believed that the snake dance was harmful to the Hopis' well-being.

The snake dance is a proof that it is not God or the snakes that
bring down the rain but faith which is a function of the mind. In
the case of the Hopi Indians it is a collective faith.

Hopi Indians are not the sole custodians of this magical manoeuvre.
America's pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts in
November 1620. During the following summer food was so short that
each pilgrim received only five kernels of corn per day. During the
summer of 1622, the drought was so severe that people panicked. They
gathered in the church and observed a day of fasting and prayer. (I
must add that fasting is a great emotion creator in the subconscious
mind). That very evening, rain began to fall and their crops were
saved. (Van Sun Oct 8.94 B: 1) Coincidence? No! I believe that was
the power of faith and faith is mind power.

Various events can be caused by different factors, such as
providence, spirits, subconscious mind, or collective thought. This
is just like diseases being caused by virus, bacteria, chemicals,
climate, or environment. It is for this reason that I give many
examples, each demonstrating a different factor. The next story, I
believe is a providentially mediated event.

MORMON CRICKET

On 24th July 1847, a party of 148 Mormons led by Brigham Young
arrived at the great valley of the Salt Lake as a refuge from
religious persecution in Missouri and Illinois. When he saw from the
ridge of the Wasatch Mountains the great beautiful lake at the foot,
Young was overpowered by thankfulness to God for having brought him
to such a beautiful country. Without realizing that it was a salt
lake, he declared that it was "the land of promise to the saints and
that they will settle down there." When he realized it was a salt
lake, he could not withdraw the statement that it was the land of
promise. He looked around and found lush green trees and concluded
that there must be water. There he found a creek in the hills. With
a dam across the little stream, he flooded the hard baked soil. The
Mormons planted and irrigated a small area and got a good crop.

During the second year, they cultivated a larger area. The crop was
good but hordes of giant crickets de-scended on the fields and
devoured the luxuriant crop. They tried to kill the crickets by
beating with brooms, burning the grass around the plot, and flooding
the fields. They tried every device to kill the crickets and save
the crop. All failed. They could do nothing but pray for deliverance
from this scourge. When a vast flock of seagulls appeared on the
horizon, the Mormons were heart broken. They thought that the
seagulls had come to finish the work the crickets started. But the
gulls consumed the crickets. They ate so fast that they could not
digest everything. So, they disgorged the half-di-gested crickets
into the canals and ate again. Thus, the crops were saved. In memory
of this event the Mormons erected in the temple compound, a column
surmounted by a seagull called the "Seagull Monument". This cricket
is called the "Mormon cricket".

I believe this was divine intervention or a "Providentially mediated
event" and not mind mediated for no one could have imagined the crop
being saved by seagulls.
____________________________________________________________________

Resource Box: Copyright 2003. Dr. P.C. Simon is a retired research
microbiologist, philosopher, philanthropist and author. Also by Dr.
P.C. Simon, is the informative, inspiring, and life-changing book,
The Missing Piece to Paradise. More articles by Dr. Simon and a
description of his book can be seen at
http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/psimon/book2.htm

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Power of the Mind Part 18 Snakes and Crickets by Dr. P.C. Simon (extracted from his book, The Missing Piece to Paradise) The snake dance of Hopi Indians is another example of collective thought. The Hopi Indians of northern Arizona, when afflicted with severe droughts, dance ceremony. They believe that proper ceremonies will cause their deities to make rain. Elaborate ceremonies associated with the snake dance help to build and

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