Zuni Rainbow Man- Some Mojo and A Mother/Son Eighty-One-Year-Old Synchronicity
August 4, 2021
Los Angeles
The Rainbow Man – A Zuni Guardian Spirit
The Rainbow Man
Excerpts from a post by Claudia at Southwestersilvergallery.com on Nov. 19th, 2015:
The Rainbow Man, also sometimes referred to as the Rainbow Dancer, is a sacred Zuni Indian guardian spirit identified with the life-giving summer rains and the colors of the rainbow after the summer’s rain.
Although the Rainbow figure is not a Kachina, he is very important in Zuni traditions, culture, and society. The Rainbow Man is a symbol of protection often seen on the Zuni’s war shields and is a symbol of the rainbow which represents the life-sustaining rains for their agricultural importance in the arid American Southwest.
The Rainbow Man was one of the first figures used in traditional Zuni mosaic inlay jewelry. Various Zuni Indian artists started creating mosaic inlay jewelry featuring the Rainbow Man in the 1920s to the 1940s and becoming popular by the 1950s. It is believed that the first creator of the Rainbow Man in Zuni inlay jewelry to be Alonozo Hustito (1903-1987).
A Mother/Son Eighty-Year-Old Synchronicity
My parents were married in Sonoyta, Mexico on December 7, 1940. (Just a six-hour drive from their home in Los Angeles.)
My mother’s wedding ring was unique. It was a large Zuni Rainbow Man which she wore until her death at age 77 in 1983.
Dorothy can be seen wearing the ring in the below Man Ray photographs circa 1944. (As a boy growing up, I loved to look at her beautiful and very unique ring and I cannot recall a time when she was ever not wearing it up and until her death in 1983.)
Our father had given it to her as a wedding present. He purchased it during his several years of doctoring to the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni reservations in AZ and New Mexico.
As young boys, brothers Mike and Kelvin and I loved to hear mother’s stories about the wonderful times she and father had together attending the secret Native American ceremonies and dances during the late Thirties. (Our father was a close friend with Tom Dodge, son of Navajo chief Henry Chee Dodge, and mother spoke of their racing father’s 12cyl touring car up and down the Arizona highways after heaving drinking parties.)
Above are some Man Ray photos of my mother, Dorothy Huston Hodel, showing her wearing the Zuni Rainbow Man ring circa 1944. Despite their formal divorce in 1944, mother never removed this ring during the next forty years. I cannot recall a time that I ever saw it off her finger.
At her death in 1983, I do not know what became of her wedding ring? Lost? Stolen?
The Synchronicity:
I have always had a fondness for the Native American culture and, even as a small boy, felt “connected.”
Fast forward to a few days ago.
I was browsing online looking at jewelry and chanced upon the below Bolo tie advertised for sale.
Much to my amazement, the Bolo Rainbow Man is an exact replication of my mother’s ring! Identical in every respect. Size, Color, and even the standing position bent at the arms, curved as a rainbow is seen, is exactly how I remember the figure in mother’s ring.
I knew I had to have it, so I bought it on the spot and now I plan to wear it to remind me of what a beautiful soul she was and how she protected her three sons and took her tragic dark secrets to her grave.
Did the Zuni Rainbow Man ring protect Dorothy?
Well, despite her horrific life, which connected her to nearly thirty-years in close association with one of the world’s worst serial killers, SHE SURVIVED and saw to it that her three sons did also.
So, I’d say YES!
The mojo worked for her, and I plan to keep it going with my new birthday present to myself.
Three months early, but what the hell.
You have to strike when the synchronicity is HOT!
August 4, 2021, Arrived in the mail today- LOVE IT!
There are those who think that the synchronicity theory was invented to try to erase phenomena that cannot be weighed & measured.
Joakim:
In my writing I am using and thinking of the term synchronicity as Jung presented it:
Synchronicity is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung “to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection.” Wikipedia
As I see it, the “meaning” (and what and how that meaning affects the thinker) is what is significant and the causal connection be it ordered or happenstance is not particularly germane.
Synchronicity is a theory about subjective human experiences. It´s not a theory about supernatural directors in the background giving active guidance to some folks or sometimes saying hello to them in the form of midnight cats or magpies.
Joakim:
Exactly so!
Any “meaning” is subjective and comes from the individual’s thinking and how he or she perceives it in relation to themself.
Wonderful history, Steve. Wear your birthday Rainbow Man in good health👍! I think he did (and still will) protect you & your family thru eternity! How do I know this? Well, I never knew my maternal grandmother whose name was Lula Love…..(as my SIL tells me, “thats a Stage Name, Pat😉….could be!). She died when my mother was two years old, leaving 5 daughters & 1 son. My maternal grandfather, Mickey Sarraille, owned the famed Bal Tabarin in San Francisco. Mickey & never remarried but was always quite the dapper figure in SF…a first generation American whose parents emigrated from Corsica. My father, Tom McGoldrick (SFPD, the Swimmer!) was first generation American (his parents from Galway, Ireland) always joked I really was Heinz 57 variety! Well 2 years ago thru Ancestry I learned I am 6% Aztec, 3% Mexican….all the rest split between Ireland, Italy, France! And thankfully my grandfather Pat McGoldrick loved the Native American culture & we attended quite a few Pow Wows where he and my father were honored as Honorary Chiefs!! My kids do joke that sometimes I remind them of an Aztec Warrior😆. Happy upcoming BDay to you Steve!! 😎🌵
Patricia O:
How cool is that! I’m so jealous that you got some Aztec/Mexican blood in ya! I want some too.
My DNA is pretty much Russian/English/Irish so guess I missed out on any New World genes.
Sounds like you get to be an honorary princess thanks to grandad. Love it.
P.S. Just checked out the old 1932 menu at the San Francisco restaurant. Asking $1.25 for Lobster Thermidor dinner, outrageous! I’m sure Dear Old Dad went there all the time as it newly opened at the same time he was doing his “Abroad In San Francisco” column for the SF Chronicle and attending Med School. Small World.
https://vintagemenumania.com/products/1930s-menu-bal-tabarin-san-francisco-california-golden-gate-exposition-pageant?variant=31137882341445
This is so great to have, Steve! Thank you, thank you!! I took pix on the individual menu pages and we will print them. I went into the vintage menu mania website & the Bal’s menu is sold out😟. But will contact them & perhaps I can get one made for me! This is so exciting, my eyes filled with tears!! Yes, I’m sure your dad with his taste for the best was a customer, maybe a regular? Just quoting complements I heard as a child: “Best damn drinks served in the City”. Won’t quote the comments on women here, but Papa Mickey was a showman ala Ziegfield, Las Vegas etc.😉! He died in 1940 when I was just a few months old, but feel I know him thru so many stories all his children told! Oh, add him to that cocktail party list in the great beyond too!👌😎🌵
Patricia O:
In GHH’s “Abroad in San Francisco” column which he co/bylined with Emilia Hodel in 1932, he featured a different ethnic area of the city each week, over four months. Have to check and see if he mentions the restaurant in the French article? In one of the articles, I recall the artist showed him sitting at a restaurant table with a white tablecloth. Had a French feel to it. I’ll check it out. (Lightbulb goes on!) Hmm, maybe I should reprint those articles on my blog one at a time? Readers might enjoy his reportage. Or, maybe better yet, add them as Addendum to “The Early Years”?
The articles on different ethnic areas in SF sound like a great idea, Steve….and I would add that to the Early Years plus it could also be an interesting series of articles on its own. Since the Bal Tabarin menus were sold out, bet there are plenty of old patrons & their families who would be interested in this history! Now I must add: G’Pa Mickey lived (as did most of my family) in North Beach , SF & pronounced his name as an Italian (Ser ell i) and all of us grew up as being Italian ( gr. gr. G’ma Ida Cuneo being from Genoa!). So the Bal may have had more of an Italian flavor in its cuisine than French! So much history here…..and we ain’t even touched the Irish side yet😱!! Keep me posted on your endeavors, Steve….so much to do, so
little time !! Stay well &
forge on👍!!🤗🌵
A very meaningful find for you Steve. A great reminder of your Mom and a powerful amulet that will protect you long into the future. And, it looks good on you too.
Dennis E.
Thanks, Dennis. Yeh, Mojo City. Best, Steve
.Your mother was definitely a beautiful woman however in all the photos of her there’s an air of sadness or melancholy. I know that look myself. My mother has it in all her photos. She lost her dad at four, then endured my violent alcoholic druggy fathers abuse.she’s always had that sadness,it’s in the eyes.I was lucky I had a grandmother from the old school between the two they took great care of us.
I can’t imagine the internal conflict and abject terror your mother lived in for what must have been yrs. From your knowledge of George do you believe he was capable of loving a woman?In what terms did she speak about your dad? Love, hate ,fear?and did those change as she aged n he stayed n Asia over the years. Once again I apologize for so many questions I’m genuinely curious. My wife told me I was obsessed, I’d say that may be somewhat accurate with the zodiac side of things. I’m convinced George was BDA and lip stick killer as well as that of the two ladies in Texas. However the crimes and descriptions of the suspect are so all over the place with z. I’m sure he did paul stein killing. From the description given by the officer who did or didn’t stop the zodiac.. Even the coat he described sounded like the military coat your father wore in China.with the other descriptions all over the place it’s hard to say.I do believe there’s some connections to riverside or riverside college.not only because of zodiacs partial confession letter but also that the girl at the lake had attended riverside.. I don’t think it was the Allen fella he was just to big a man., but jesus if he didn’t check all the other boxes. I think that Ross Sullivan had something to do with at least the riverside murder but it’s hard to say.
Congratulations on the Native American bolo.That it’s the exact same as your moms is awesome.when it come to moms even the toughest old guys get sentimental. Lol.
Being born and raised in North Carolina I’m 1/32 Cherokee My great grandmothers name is on the eastern bands rolls. She had coal black hair to her waist n dipped snuff. She also had her own still and was known for her prized peach brandy(moonshine distilled from peach mash not corn or sugar).but her husband drank most profits. Sorry for rambling. Have a good one. .
Frank A:
Yes, mother always had that terrible sadness in her eyes. I only recall one photo that she actually looks genuinely happy and that was with my older brother Michael, in a press photo where he was featured after winning a school essay contest as a young boy. But, that “look” will be explained in the publication of “The Early Years” which will reveal a lot of new discoveries as relate to Dorothy Jean Harvey Huston Hodel. She never that I can recall ever “badmouthed” our father to us three sons. Only spoke of his brilliance as a physician and thinker. (I do recount that one instance when she was very drunk where she told me he was “a monster and has done terrible things.” But, when sobered up she denied it and claimed “if she said it, it was a lie and probably due to the alcohol.”
Of course, I now know, she lived in terror and fear her entire time with George Hodel which is independently documented in “The Huston Letters” where she wrote her true feelings to her former husband, John Huston.
Congrats on the Cherokee bloodline. Wish I had some. Best, Steve H.
Please forgive my ignorance but is the “Hutson letter” in one of your books or here on your website? Ive read all the books. My memory isn’t what it used to be though. Im chomping at the bit waiting for the “the early years”.
I sometimes have to remind myself these were real ppl and there’s lives n memories deserve the honor,humility and respect that calls for. Forgive me if I’d been casual or flippant in that respect. I tend to get alittle ahead of myself at times.
I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my many post. It’s an honor to speak to you,even if only through this medium. All the best to you and yours.
Frank Adkins
Frank A:
“The Huston Letters” can be found in BDA II Chapter 8. (Be sure you get the updated 2014 edition)
Amazon link HERE: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Dahlia-Avenger-2014-Investigation/dp/0983074437/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=black+dahlia+avenger+II&qid=1628876354&sr=8-2
I haven’t found your queries flippant at all.
Hi Steve, I can’t help it. I see something very different in the rainbow man. The arms raised over the head bent at the elbows and the bend in the waist. Yet he is a symbol of protection for your mother & you. Can’t wait for The Early Years book. Such a sad story – what your poor mother went through. So glad to have heroes such as yourself to provide a voice & some justice for the victims. For the younger kids on the streets of LA you are a hero! All the best!