Mexican Dust Devils

Mexican Dust Devils – A Photo of Darjeeling at the Tropic of Cancer 1975

The look on Stephen Darjeeling’s face is one of contemplation and extreme concern. But there are many things that can’t be seen in this picture. The red 1971 Plymouth Duster with a white stripe sits 30 feet in front of him. If you look closely you can make out the tornado emblem on the rear fender. Full of camping gear and a red, white, and blue Coleman cooler full of Tecate, it has just made the desert trip from Monterey to Zacatecas to Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta and is on the return trip, having negotiated the Sangre de Christo Occidental from Monterrey to Guadalajara, topping the crest of the mountain range and seeing Guadalajara below, and what appeared to be a forty five minute drive that turned into two and half hours. Darjeeling had crossed at Nuevo Laredo only five days before, driving into Mexico to hook up with the Huichol natives of Nayarit state near Puerto Vallarta. His look of concern is for the Mexican Dust Devils that are descending on the Duster and him, and off in the distance appear to be five mounted cowboys, comancheros on horseback kicking up dust that turns into the murderous desert dust devils. He’s not a stranger to this and that’s why his look is one of concern and not fear, although fear of these desert occurrences is legitimate. His concern is also for the cargo he carries in the Duster. He watches intently as the comancheros ride back into the cloud of dust and disappear, he studies the dust devils as they bear down on him, knowing that their intent is to carry him away and blow him into dust and leave him lying in the desert somewhere on the twenty three and a half degree line of the Tropic of Cancer. You can see from the photo that he is gathering energy from his surroundings. You can see the imprint of the Chi-Rho cross on his face. In his pocket, the round outline suggests that he is carrying some sort of what he perceives to be a power object. You can see the flux lines from the top of his head to the soles of his Chippewa boots, multicolored and moving like the Aurora Borealis around him, egg-shaped and full of power, enhanced by the knowledge given him by the Huichol medicine man, and the sacrament of dreams. He has become the peyote deer.