Kokopelli: The Magic, Mirth, and Mischief of an Ancient Symbol

by Dennis Slifer, R. Carlos Nakai

A guide to the ancient symbols and sites of the Southewest's most iconic images,

Genres: History, Mythology, Art, Native American, Metaphysics, American History, Nonfiction

199 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Dennis Slifer, author of Rock Art Images of Northern New Mexico, is a writer, photographer, and guide who, for nearly thirty years, has explored the Southwest with rock art as his focus. He is the author of several books about rock art. Slifer currently lives in Virginia.

Reviews

[litost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Felt like a field guide to where you could, roughly, look for the rock images. After a while, I mostly just looked at the pictures.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am by no means an expert or even halfway knowledgeable on indigenous cultures so please forgive me (teach me) should I speak out of ignorance. I came across Kokopelli because I have an interest in Tricksters in general. From my understanding, Kokopelli may not be the common Trickster but could possibly fall under the category depending on the storytelling. I picked up this book to learn more. Someone below described this book more of a “field guide” than anything else and I find that a pretty accurate description. There was no real deep dive into an ideological interpretation into Kokopelli. Granted, it’s hard to know what people were thinking thousands of years ago without a written language but I’m sure some inferences could be made. After awhile, the author became pretty redundant. I felt I was reading the same thing only said slightly differently.

I have to give one more remark. At one point in the first chapter, the author complains about these new manifestations of Kokopelli - “examples of some of the absurd manifestations of Kokopelli in contemporary advertising” - than explain what this means culturally in the shift in interpretation of Kokopelli’s new guise. Is it only just a marketing ploy? So what if two Kansas girls decided to interpret the god as one of “prosperity and joy” in a poster art contest? How about interpreting what that means beyond leaving it to two sentences at the end of a chapter? I want to know more about what is this new interest - this new upsurge- in what feels like a counterculture, tricky symbol in our society playing his flute once again in the background.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

More engaging than it might sound. The authors are geologists who've logged long hours in the canyons of the American Southwest, with opportunity to study the petroglyphs and pictographs of the Anasazi, ancient ancestors of today's Pueblo Indians. One of the oldest and most ubiquitous of these ancient rock-carvings is Kokopelli, the hump-backed flute player, sometimes feathered and phallused (is that a word?). He is the trader, the explorer, the trickster, bringer of rain and seducer of young women, the wild card to this day in some Native American ceremonies and dances. Why do we still crave the Kokopelli figure? In the markets and curio shops of the Southwest today, he adorns T-shirts, pottery and anything with a design. He may be the random elements that allows everything else to make sense? Since he dates back over 1000 years in found representations, there must be some reason for him! The book comes with recreations of the carvings, where they were found, and copious footnotes.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book for anyone with interest in southwestern history and the petroglyphs that are everywhere you look out there. It's an easy read and includes many pictures. Not an ideal book for kids due to a graphic/mature nature of the some of the petroglyphs and their stories.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is the book I read. Been awhile. Interesting legends about flute player in S.W. culture.

[Christa B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative archeological book. I wish there were more myths and primary indigenous input in it though

[Abby]

Brief, academic and accessible introduction to "the flute dude" in rock art. The most ubiquitous symbol of the Southwest has some forgotten characteristics, "But there may be hope for the public's eventual enlightenment. If my conservative uncle can refer to Kokopelli as 'the dick-man,' progress is being made." I wonder if Kokopelli would be more marketable with or without his proper anatomy?

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good information in here including flute player images around the world (though it mainly focuses on the 4 corners region of the US), a guide to flute player image sites, and a look at some of the more common kokopelli and other flute player myths and stories. An easy, interesting, and fun read for the kokopelli lover.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 2009
Re-Read Dec 6, 2014