The first time I heard the word “Arkaim” was from a friend in the context of her pregnancy, shortly after visiting this place. This was eight years ago, and then I did not attach any importance to this cause-and-effect relationship.
However, from that moment, despite the fact that I never had the desire to go to Arkaim and I did not look for information about it, over the next eight years this same Arkaim became overgrown with various unverified information, associations and other people’s stories, and by the beginning of this summer For years I thought that:
— Arkaim is located in the south of the Chelyabinsk region, 680 km from Yekaterinburg. This is a historical reserve on the site opened in the late 80s. last century of a civilization that is 700 years younger than Troy. From a bird's eye view one can see the boundaries of settlements built in the shape of circles and with astronomical precision;
— Residents of the city left it forever under unclear mystical circumstances;
“There’s not much to see there, there’s steppe and burnt grass everywhere, it’s incredibly hot in the summer, and there’s not even anywhere to swim.” There is no water there. There is also nothing special and nowhere to eat, tourists eat what they brought from home, but mainly solar energy;
Team Pasha, Natasha, Vitya
— There are no conditions for tourism in Arkaim; people who come there live in tents or trailers, like construction trailers;
- In the days of spring and autumn equinox, summer solstice and eclipses, thousands of visitors gather there. Psychics, healers, shamans, real and charlatans, on the one hand, and those who are looking for them, on the other hand, come there;
“One day you need to go there at least to see this sky;
— Many have found healing or spiritual enlightenment in Arkaim, in any case, Arkaim is a place of power;
— Everyone there walks in some kind of circles;
“There are mountains there that need to be climbed in a certain sequence, otherwise you might lose your mind;
— There is a Mountain of Love, climbing which you can ask for love, help in arranging your personal life, having children, and these wishes will definitely come true.
One of my acquaintances, the owner of a tour bus, told me that every summer he takes crowds of good-natured eccentrics there, chanting mantras all the way, to recharge cosmic energy. Other friends went there and spent several days visiting some museums. The third one visited there last summer and didn’t really understand whether there was anything supernatural there or not, but said that there was a lot of esoteric stuff there. After some time, he told a story that I really like and maybe will be useful to someone, so, with your permission, and without offense to the person with whom it happened, I will tell it in its entirety.
This happened last fall with one of our mutual friends - a beauty, a smart girl, a yoga and qigong teacher, the owner of a long red braid, but completely unlucky in love. After breaking up with another man who did not live up to even the most modest hopes, she came to Arkaim. Climbing the Mountain of Love, she saw several women resting and realized that they were witches. (And the word “witch,” as you know, comes from the word “to know,” to comprehend the essence of things.)
She approached them, they started talking, and after some time she complained about the unsettled nature of her personal life. “Okay,” they said, “we’ll test you. Finish the phrase: All men...” “Goats,” said our heroine without blinking. “Well, here’s your diagnosis,” the women answered. - This is who is present in your life. And if so, who are you in this relationship? Goat? And does that satisfy you?
They said that she should climb the mountain, repeating the phrase: “ALL MEN ARE GODS, HEROES, CREATORS” so that the understanding of this would enter her life. And so she went, repeating: “ALL MEN ARE GODS, HEROES, CREATORS” and meditating, and soon the realization of this filled her to the brim, and she no longer doubted its truth for a second. The happy ending of the fairy tale did not take long to arrive: less than a month had passed since she met a man who, as the person who told me this story told me, is a hero (Leo, by zodiac sign and character), a creator (a successful architect implementing his projects in Europe) and, as I understand it, by God (history is bashfully silent about the details of this). END.
Well, it would seem that there were no external reasons, and more than six months had passed since the last mention of Arkaim, when suddenly one fine summer day it hit me like a bolt from the blue: “I HAVE TO GO TO ARKAIM!” And two weeks later I was there.
Road
We arrived with adventures. We left later than planned, instead of the estimated eight hours we drove twelve hours, incorrect settings the navigator was then attributed to the inevitable difficulties of the spiritual search. The correct road from Yekaterinburg: Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Kizilskoye, Obruchevka, Arkaim - this is how we drove back, the travel time is exactly eight hours. We went there the wrong way, that is: before reaching Chelyabinsk, we turned to Miass, there was a road repair there, and due to detours and wandering, we lost two hours.
The village of Slyudorudnik (practically Switzerland), Karabash (even taking pictures is scary, the real Mordor)
At eleven we stopped in Bashkiria, had dinner, headed to Uchaly, when suddenly the road suddenly ended. More precisely, there was a road, but as soon as you accelerate, suddenly, without any warning signs or hints, right in front of you, a kind of trap 20-30 centimeters high grows across its entire width, which if you run into it at speed, you will continue to tumble until you find yourself somewhere... somewhere in the field with its wheels up. So we drove 60 km/hour until we returned to the Chelyabinsk region, but we understood that we had left Bashkiria without any signs.
The navigator does not show Arkaim. Pasha forgot the paper description of the route at home. It was not possible to connect to the Internet. We put Kizilskoye in the navigator as the final point, got to it at three o’clock in the morning, where to go next - not a single option, there were no signs to Arkaim, we had to look for someone from whom we could find out, and from this Kizilskoye there are three or four more key turn and 70 km to Arkaim.
We stopped either at a gas station or at the police station, and only later did I understand one feature of steppe thinking. If you asked me how to get from point A to point X, I would say something like this: from A straight 300 m to B, then right 100 m to B, then left 200 m to X. We were told this: from A to B . How many? - 10 kilometers. We arrive in B, no hints about X, we look again for someone to ask, we find: from B to C. How much? - 40 kilometers. Etc. And all around is steppe and starry sky. And this is not Europe, where at every intersection there is a sign with white letters on a brown background with the name of the attraction.
When multi-colored blots had already begun to flash before my eyes, I thought several times that I had to stop, pitch a tent right in the steppe and sleep until the morning. Then she told herself: “Okay, there’s a little left.” So we arrived in Arkaim at half past five in the morning instead of the estimated ten in the evening. While we were taking a closer look, while we were setting up the tent, dawn broke, and people flocked up the mountain to greet the sunrise. We got ready and went to the same place as everyone else. Cold, 14 degrees. But everyone sits and waits for a miracle, although, in theory, the sun rises and sets every day, we don’t even notice how. And here is the event.
We met the dawn, returned to the tent, I just put my head on the pillow, immediately passed out and woke up at ten from the heat and stuffiness, looked out - my friends had already gone on reconnaissance, found out what and where and were preparing breakfast.
Tourism
The organized tent city of Arkaim is a pile of tents pitched right on the rocks; trailers like construction trailers, equipped with beds, electrical outlets and a refrigerator; with infrastructure in the form of a separate toilet, with seats for ten (it’s not clear how it copes at the moments of peak invasion of tourists, I think not at all); soul; an organized canteen where you can order three meals a day for three hundred rubles a day; souvenir shops; catering and a control center with a schedule of excursions, as well as a central square with a wishing tree and a place for a ritual fire. In general, an ordinary city in miniature.
If you wish, you can spend five days in Arkaim and be busy with something all the time. The scientists and archaeologists who excavated the city turned out to be people capable of seeing broadly, thinking globally and acting on a steppe scale. Therefore, the excavations of the city quickly acquired other cultural sites different historical eras, collected in the Museum of Nature and Man, the Museum of Ancient Technologies, as well as independent historical monuments, such as: the Temir mound (IV century BC), funeral structures of the Bronze Age, religious buildings of the Middle Ages, a Cossack estate, a windmill etc. In addition, the steppe itself surrounding the ancient city, with an area of 20 square meters. km, was turned into nature reserve, in the creation of which scientists from many countries took part.
In addition to all this cultural and historical splendor, there are various master classes on the territory of the camp, ranging from willow weaving and clay modeling to drums and fire dancing. Among other entertainments: at any time of the day or night you can ride a horse, and in the evenings the camp is visited by some aircraft and offers those thirsty for adrenaline a walk through the air.
After dinner, people flock to the central square, socialize culturally and have fun. Well, and finally, what most tourists come here for are the local rituals.
Rituals: Arkaim is a very subjective place. That is why opinions about him different people they differ so much, although, in principle, all these opinions may be true. Yes, most come here in the hope of a miracle or out of curiosity. This is actively used by various citizens. They can be conscientious, for example, master class leaders; dairy product sellers; Aboriginal rental houses and unscrupulous ones such as self-proclaimed gurus; sellers of magic items; charlatans and other subjects. The latter are actively opposed by representatives scientific world.
On the one hand, Arkaim is a place where you can clearly see how much stronger faith is than science, because no matter how many scientists repeat that they were personally present at the birth of all local rituals and there is nothing supernatural in Arkaim, people believe that after performing certain actions they will find love or be healed because they have seen or heard people who have done these things and found love or been healed.
On the other hand, this inevitable conflict of worldviews in Arkaim quite obviously contributes to the development of both scientific and (conditionally) mystical worldviews for the benefit of each direction. In short, the usual dialectic is very clear here. But to me personally, the explanations given by representatives of science (something to do with the composition of the soil and magnetic fields) and representatives of the cult (something to do with witches’ Sabbaths) for why the birch trees growing at the Mountain of Love are crooked seem equally convincing.
We climbed all three mountains located in the camp in the established sequence: Mount of Repentance, Mount Shamanka and Mount Grachinaya (aka Mountain of Love). Each one has a hand-made mandala made of stones - a spiral twisting towards the center, along which you can walk. During the passage, you need to ask for forgiveness on the first mountain, on the second - think about the past and present of your soul, on the third - ask for whatever you want. The pattern seems similar to a shamanic ritual.
The process of passing is long, associated with deep meditation; the sensations are very interesting, although they depend on everyone’s internal preparedness. The energy inside the spiral is very strong, I personally could not stretch my hand through it at all, it seemed to me that these were not just stones laid out on the surface of the mountain, but walls.
When we walked along the first mandala, two drummers climbed the mountain and started beating out some kind of rhythm, I just got goosebumps all the time, it was very cool. My cynical friend Vitya tried to convince me that this was all the power of self-hypnosis, but when I pointed out to him that after descending from the Mountain of Love he had been talking about sex incessantly for half an hour, he said that it was an accident.
The next morning we climbed Cheka, which is located fifty kilometers from Arkaim. The sensations were completely indescribable. After the noisy Arkaim, you plunge into absolute silence. As far as the eye can see, the steppe stretches with its hills that look like desert dunes or yellow-green waves.
The sense of time disappears, both in the sense of hours and in the sense of eras. It seems that the mountain is alive and breathing, you try to breathe at the same pace as it, and when you succeed, your thoughts suddenly become absolutely pure and transparent, like the morning air, and then disappear altogether; you understand that you can get an answer to any question, but there is no one to ask and there is no need to ask, and you just sit on the ground and cannot leave.
At the foot of Cheka there is a spring consecrated by Orthodox and Buddhist clergy. Having descended from the mountain, everyone is traditionally doused with three buckets of ice water. Thus, for those whose consciousness has not cleared up from the ascent and stay on Chek, fate kindly gives one more chance.
Water
In general, the water in Arkaim is in perfect order, which is why the grass in the steppe is not scorched by the sun, but green and lush. The heat during the day is really such that it is simply impossible to think about anything other than swimming. In one of the souvenir stalls we found out where to shop. Then I was terribly proud that I asked the right question, which, as you know, contains half the answer.
So one could ask: “Where do they swim here?” and get directions to the public Arkaim beach - a patch of water cleared of vegetation, where those living in the camp splash around like herring in a barrel. To my question: “Where do you have the most the best place for swimming?" we received directions to the village of Aleksandrovsky, about a kilometer from the place where we pitched the tent, but the hike was worth it. The water was cold, and I had to lead my pampered city friends into the water by example and persuasion.
People
There is an opinion that people are the worst thing you can see in Arkaim, but this is not true. Pasha lost his glasses on the beach and was terribly upset, especially because everything Lately he constantly loses something. After a half-hour nationwide and unsuccessful search, the following verdict was made: “Pasha must see something in its true light.”
The girl in the control room, who asked why we were late for the excursion, and heard in response the story about the search for glasses, sighed philosophically: “You’re not the only one. Today is probably JUST A DAY OF LOSS.” Another girl asked Vitya for a light, saying that she had forgotten her lighter at the camp. Vitya clicked the lighter three times, but the fire did not light up, to which he quipped: “Probably, the Higher Powers want you to quit.” Girl: “Try again, my karma is just lousy.”
“Don’t ask for love - give love!” - says the inscription on the Mountain of Love. Those who come to Arkaim, for the most part, are open, kind and capable of giving love. And whether they do “Arkaim exercises”, reminiscent of the mating games of orangutans, or walk through mandalas, beat drums or sing mantras, have sex on the Mountain of Love, meditate or just wander around the camp - undoubtedly, each of them is looking for something , and everyone has a reason to be in this place.
Some people find it funny or stupid to perform these rituals. Scientists rubbed a callus on their tongue, explaining that the Arkaim people did not have a written language, and therefore neither the recipe for Arkaim tea, nor the set of exercises for Arkaim exercises could reach us. But every morning, just before dawn, crowds of people invariably gather on the tops of the hills to meet the Sun and ask it to warm and protect themselves and their loved ones.
Yes, and what difference does it make whether Arkaim had some kind of inner strength in the old days or not, it still cannot be verified. But it’s true that in twenty years people have brought so much positive energy here that you can scoop it out of thin air with a spoon and eat it! And every person who comes here with their request, who ties a ribbon on the wish tree, who leaves a piece of their soul here, makes this place stronger.
Well, there is an opinion that people are the worst thing you can see in Arkaim. But this is not so, because it was people who created Arkaim as a place from where you can be heard, as a place from where you can hear yourself, as a point on the path of spiritual search.
Therefore, if you are lonely and have no one to chat with, if you are lost, if you still do not have enough time to be with yourself, or you have completely forgotten who you are and what is really important to you, you can come to Arkaim and perhaps , here you will find answers to these questions. And even if not, the vibrations of Arkaim will still have a beneficial effect on your inner world, calm your mind and give you strength.
As promised earlier, in this note you will read full review about our trip to Arkaim.
07/08/2012 15:55.
Northern bus station in Chelyabinsk.
I’ll start my review of Arkaim with the fact that I’ve been planning to go to Arkaim for about 10 years. And now, finally, tickets for the Chelyabinsk-Arkaim bus have been purchased, and we are standing with huge backpacks on the platform of the Northern bus station in Chelyabinsk. Around us there are a dozen more people with the same huge bags and backpacks waiting for the bus. It's thirty degrees hot outside.
Interestingly, people who are planning to visit Arkaim on their own often have the question of how to get to Arkaim. For me there were no questions in this regard. The official website of the Arkaim Museum-Reserve describes very clearly and simply how you can get to Arkaim by bus and car. If you are looking for information on how to get to Arkaim, then take a look at their website.
Finally, belatedly, the bus rolls up to us. Honestly, I thought that the bus would be new and with air conditioning, but the ride still took more than 7 hours. But everything turned out to be somewhat worse than I expected. However, we left in the evening, so it was not very stuffy and hot.
07/08/2012 Late evening.
Arkaim Museum-Reserve, territory of the tent camp.
I will continue my review of Arkaim. We traveled by bus for about 7 hours. The road passed through the steppe regions of the Chelyabinsk region. Periodically we stopped at bus stations. At first, it seemed to me that the road would be long and tiring, but everything went quickly. When we approached the Arkaim Museum-Reserve, it was already dark. Somewhere in the distance the silhouette of the famous mill could be seen.
We were dropped off at the campground, some of the passengers stayed here, and we walked 100-150 meters to the left. There, between the workers’ houses and the Mountain of Love, there is a large field where those who came as savages pitch their tents.
10-15 minutes after arrival we were already setting up our tent. By the way, 4 more people joined us from the bus. So we ended up with a mini-camp of 3 tents. Having set up the tent, we heated the kettle on the burner and gathered all our new acquaintances at one table. We met. Our new acquaintances were 2 tourists from Moscow who traveled thousands of kilometers to live here for a couple of days, as well as a mother and teenage daughter from Yekaterinburg, who returned here for the second time. Sverdlovsk residents told us their enthusiastic review of their last trip to Arkaim.
I would like to note in my review of Arkaim that it is very cold here in the evening, even in summer. It's hot during the day and cold at night.
07/09/2012 Early morning.
The night turned out to be cold. I was freezing in what seemed to me to be a very warm sleeping bag. As we later found out, the nights in Arkaim are really very, very cold. After all, Arkaim is located in the wild steppe.
Tourists wake up in Arkaim early in the morning. One of the rituals of visiting Arkaim is to watch the dawn on Mount Love or Mount Shamanka. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the strength to wake up early in the morning, but my companion did. The result was excellent photos of Arkaim.
07/09/2012 Late morning.
I woke up at about 10 am. The sun was already hot, and Arkaim lived his busy life. The first thing we did was buy firewood. I would like to note in my review of Arkaim that firewood is in short supply here, since there is a steppe here and there is very little forest. We paid about 300 rubles for 2 bundles of firewood. We were lucky that we had gas-burner. We heated tea and reheated food on it. The firewood was mainly used to create a cozy atmosphere in the evening.
After having breakfast with camp food, we went to the administration. There we signed up for excursions and a bus on the way back. If you are going to go by bus to Arkaim, then be sure to sign up for the bus on the way back!
07/09/2012 Walk to Mount Love and Mount Shamanka.
Before lunch we walked to Mount Love and Mount Shamanka. We performed the ritual of “walking” through the labyrinth. The labyrinths on Arkaim are homemade. They are collected from stones by tourists and visiting followers of various spiritual teachings. It is believed that you need to walk through the labyrinth clockwise, make a wish in the center of the labyrinth, then exit the labyrinth counterclockwise. In this case, they say that all wishes come true!!! Why? In the labyrinth you receive energy from the Universe. I will not delve into philosophical and scientific debates on this matter; if you believe in something, then it will definitely come true!
The mountains also offer a magnificent view of the pristine, almost wild steppe. These places have been almost untouched by civilization, so the landscapes that we see were also seen by our distant ancestors! And somewhere in the distance, from the combination of green and dry grass, you can see the settlement of Arkaim itself.
Some tourists sit here for hours, because it is quiet and calm here, you can immerse yourself in your thoughts and experiences. And another one of the rituals of visiting Arkaim is tying pieces of fabric and ribbons to the bushes that grow on the mountain. Again, it is believed that by tying a ribbon, your wish will come true. But know that this is very harmful to plants, so it is better not to do this.
07/09/2012 After lunch. Our first excursion.
Our first excursion was, of course, to the settlement of Arkaim itself. I want to warn you right away, if you think that you will see the fortress walls of an ancient settlement, then know that you will not see them! The ancient settlement of Arkaim presents stains from the hearths of ancient inhabitants, reddish sand, which was something like an ancient road surface, and patches of green and yellow grass, which tell us that there was once a fortress wall here.
On the road to the ancient settlement of Arkaim you pass a birch forest with strangely curved trees. It has been proven that refraction of magnetic fields occurs here... Then you walk through the territory of the Ilmensky Nature Reserve, which is guarded by rangers. It is noteworthy that many unique steppe plants grow in these places. On your way you meet the Bolshaya Karaganka River, the water of which has a blue tint.
On an excursion to the settlement of Arkaim, you mainly imagine in your imagination what was here thousands of years ago. And the guide tells facts proven and unproven by scientists. Our tour guide was very interesting. It was interesting to listen to him.
07/09/2012 Walk to Mount Grachinaya.
After the excursion to the settlement of Arkaim, we took a walk to Mount Grachinaya, which is located near a strange forest with crooked birch trees. It should be noted in the review about Arkaim that this forest has amazing powerful energy, so there are a lot of people here all the time. And the Bolshaya Karaganka River flowing nearby also “charges” people with energy.
Opens from the mountain beautiful view to the Arkaim tourist camp, as well as to the steppe. The mountain also has its own labyrinth, which we also went through. There is always someone sitting on the mountain, meditating or just being silent, enjoying the beauty of the place.
07/09/2012 Evening.
After a day full of excursions and walks, we cooked camp food over the fire. They also realized that they were badly burned in the hot steppe sun. Our faces were especially affected, turning into “red muzzles.” I would like to note in my review of Arkaim that I tolerated the 40-degree heat in the steppe more easily than in the city. The wind blows here constantly and the air is dry. I'm thirsty all the time. The Arkaim Museum-Reserve sells very delicious kvass, which saved me all day. And not far from the reserve there is a water extraction plant called “Arkaim”. Here it flows from all taps for free.
We sat with our neighbors in the evening by the fire, drank herbal tea and shared our impressions of Arkaim.
07/10/2012 Morning.
Waking up in the morning, I observed the following picture: a local cat was hunting for a gopher. She waited for him near the hole for half an hour, but the gopher turned out to be smarter than the cat, and he disappeared. On the territory of the reserve you will meet many gophers; the whole earth is replete with their burrows. Gophers are very curious, they like to steal food from tourists, and also do not allow them to come closer than 50 meters.
07/10/2012 Visit to the historical park and other ethnographic sites.
In the morning we went on an excursion, where we were told about the myths and reality of Arkaim with scientific point vision. Many of the tourists got into an argument with the guide, who is an archaeological scientist, over the fact that science does not accept many of the myths created by tourists and followers of various teachings. But here, it seems to me, everyone chooses their own. But the truth is always somewhere in the middle.
During the day we visited the Museum of Nature and Man. We admired the windmill. We examined the Cossack estate. The Cossack estate is a real Cossack estate, which was brought in logs from the Chebarkul district of the Chelyabinsk region. The house and courtyard buildings still preserve the spirit of the owner. Everything in the estate is lovingly done, even the owner’s boots stand polished near the door. Steppe grass lies and dries everywhere, which brings a lively and pleasant smell to the house.
As part of the excursion, we also visited the Temir mound, the Dwelling of the Copper-Stone Age, examined burial structures of different eras, and also saw the alley of menhirs.
I was especially struck by the Copper-Stone Age Dwelling. Of course, the dwelling is a reconstruction of scientists, but made according to found diagrams and drawings. It’s forty degrees outside, but inside your home it’s cool and cozy, and you immediately want to sleep! How did ancient people create their homes from simple natural materials: wood and clay, that they did without modern cooling and ventilation systems?
I really liked the menhirs against the backdrop of the pristine steppe. There is something mysterious and elusive in the appearance of these idols.
Then we swam in the Bolshaya Karaganka River. The water in the river is very cold. They say that the water is healing and has powerful energy. I would like to note on my own in my review of Arkaim that after a 5-minute swim in the river, the fatigue from the hellish heat disappeared!
07/10/2012 Evening and departure.
Unfortunately, our travel plan was for 2 days. We watched the sunset on Arkaim and said goodbye to our neighbors, wonderful people. And at 2.10 am a bus arrived, which took us back to Chelyabinsk.
I really didn’t want to leave this amazing place. What struck me here were the people. There are always a lot of tourists at the Arkaim Museum-Reserve, but here they are a little different. What do we see at popular tourist sites? Crowds of tourists who take a lot of photographs, scream loudly and buy all the souvenirs, and also push, litter and swear.
Here everything is quiet and peaceful, and you can also leave your things in the tent, as we did, and no one touched them. Still, everyone goes to Arkaim to find Spiritual Truths here. This will be my review of the trip to Arkaim.
Good luck to you!
