The Song of the First World

Beginning simply in the style of a nonfiction memoir, this book is unlike any you've encountered before. It is a riveting and revealing and thought provokingly deep exploration of jade and its enduring association with the gods and the spiritual realms throughout antiquity. Known anciently as the Godstone, jade is filled with a mystery that comes from deep in the Paleolithic from many different parts of the world and the author attempts to guide you into this world with the latest research about the unique history of jade, including its use by the Olmec and the Maya, the Chinese and the Maori, among others, along with the history and the current research about the geology of jade in California. This book is also a photographic journey with numerous examples of this petroglyphic art that is found abundantly throughout this collection of stones documented here for the first time in living color. There is revealed even deeper, more meaningful and treasured minerals being found in association with these unique stones and it has all been woven around through the impossible story of the author's life.

I have lived in Northern California with my wife since the summer we got out of high school in 1973 when we moved up to this mountainous abode and built our home here above the coast. Together we have four children and four grandchildren and we have carved out a rather unique life in these hills. I'm a carpenter, a farmer, an artist, a poet and a musician, among many other things. We have actively supported our local indigenous culture, the Kashia Pomo, for many years and we've participated in all manner of cultural activities taking place inside their sacred structure known as the Roundhouse. I've had a lifelong passion for all things ancient and indigenous and have made it my life's work to bring the majesty and the unseen mysteries of the ancient world and its peoples to light.