Photograph by Marie Haefner / Connected Archives
Words by Ruth H. Burns
The human race has spent much of its existence exploring. Today, most of our attention is focused on the stars. It’s true, beyond Mother Earth there is a vast cosmic expanse just waiting to be discovered by humanity—but just as we have a tendency to look outside of ourselves rather than inward for spiritual guidance, there is still a lot we have to learn about our own home planet.
The deep sea is an obvious place to start. Oceans here on the Blue Planet, and specifically the ocean floor, remain a mystery to us. Around 70% of Earth’s surface, or about 139 million square miles, is ocean, and there are more living organisms in it than anywhere else on the globe. Yet, much of the ocean’s depths have never been seen by the human eye. In fact, only 26.1%, or about a quarter of the seafloor, has been mapped in high resolution as of June 2024. New oceanic species are still being identified.
There is another aspect of Earth that we know even less about than both outer space and the ocean floor. And that’s the Earth’s interior, right under our feet. Scientists theorize that our planet’s innards are composed of five layers: the crust, the upper mantle, the lower mantle, the outer core, and the solid inner core.
Funny thing is, humanity, with all its technology and brilliance, has yet to dig deeper than the outermost layer, the crust. For 20 years, the deepest hole ever dug was called the Kola Superdeep Borehole. They started digging it in 1970. As of 1990, when it was shut down, it had reached a depth of 7.6 miles. Located in Russia, there is modern lore that speculates as to why they stopped digging, and attributed the decision to terrifying supernatural phenomena that made their presence known. These rumors were never acknowledged by officials.
Ancestral teachings hold warnings about disrespecting the soil and disturbing what sleeps beneath the waking world.
Since then, two deeper holes were dug. The Qatar Oil rig reportedly reaches 40,318 feet down. A well by Sakhalin, a Russian island, which was dug by Exxon Neftegas, is about 40,502 feet deep. Both are said to give people the creeps.
Listen to the sounds captured from a 30,000 foot hole in Windischeschenbach, Germany. At that depth, the temperature is 500 degrees Fahrenheit. While some describe the noises as merely the sounds of Earth, others believe that it’s reverberations from hell itself. Either way, I think it’s eerie. Don’t be surprised if you find your hair standing on end upon hearing it, especially if you’re alone.
While I’ve explored a few caves in my time, I’ve rarely traveled deep beneath Mother Earth’s surface. Until recently, that is. My husband and I went to Europe for our honeymoon. We zipped around London via their wondrous underground rail network. In Paris, we ventured into the catacombs. They are 20 meters down, lower than both the sewer and the Metro subway system. The catacombs hold the mortal remains of millions of Parisians, excavated from local cemeteries over the centuries, primarily for health reasons. The catacombs are open to the public and offer valuable lessons for those willing to learn. We approached it with reverence, and a healthy dose of curiosity. Upon investigation of the vast underground tunnels, lined with skeletons placed in intricate, decorative assemblages and sealed with markers, symbols, and Latin phrases, I was naturally struck by the magnitude of it. But I was not afraid. More than anything, I found the catacombs to be somber. It was, in my interpretation, a graveyard. I would be lying if I said we didn’t hear a few disembodied voices during our visit, though, escaping from the black corners of isolated corridors.
In Edinburgh, the home of some of my non-Native forefathers, we wandered through the underground vaults beneath the Royal Mile. As their tour guides will tell you, however, the vaults of Edinburgh aren’t really underground per se. It’s where the new city was exalted, indeed built upon, the sealed-off remnants of the old. Even though the vaults in the old Scottish town may not be as deep as the catacombs or caves I’ve spelunked in America, in my opinion, if any of the subterranean passages I visited were populated by spirits, both residual and intelligent, it was there. To this day, there are pagans who congregate in the vaults under Edinburgh because the supernatural veil is thin down there. It is entirely liminal space. Whether they met their end during the black plague or at the hands of an avaricious, witch-hunting zealot, or fell victim to an assailant during some lawless bygone era, spirits there lie in wait on the threshold of your periphery, eager to share a glimpse of their story with you.
Do not fear the dark but remember its function in creation.
As for my People, the Oceti Sakowin, we are taught that we are the children of Mother Earth, Ina Maka. We have profound beliefs about what lies beneath. Our Lakota ancestors said that we come from deep below the Earth’s interior, first emerging on the surface at Wind Cave in the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota. We ground ourselves by touching our bare feet to the soil. One of our most sacred ceremonies, Inipi, or Sweat Lodge, is meant to mimic the inside of a mother’s pregnant belly, the very womb of Mother Earth. And we’re not the only ones. Many religious rites across cultures involve burial and resurrection. Entire civilizations have been carved out of rock, safely sheltered within caverns below ground.
Creation grows from Earth’s fertile soil, and upon death, returns to it, thereby providing sustenance for new life. We not only understand our place as a part of Earth, we honor that relationship, that connectedness, and recognize Earth’s power. We love our Mother, accepting the unknowable. Ancestral teachings hold warnings about disrespecting the soil and disturbing what sleeps beneath the waking world. It is said that there are portals in the deep, older than time itself. This is one of the reasons, whispered by elders, that extractive industry is so dangerous. The environmental harm is patently evident. But the western world does not know that the spiritual harm being perpetrated may be just as perilous. Ask yourself:Why do we bury the dead? What secrets are being hidden down there?
As we pass from Autumn’s harvest to Winter’s slumber, take a moment to reflect inward. Do not fear the dark but remember its function in creation. The colonial mindset forgets, exploration requires consent and to take, we must give in equal measure.
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Mysteries of the Deep
