THE SACRED EARTH -
An Interview With Courtney Milne
Appeared in: Photo Digest, Sept. 1991, p.23-30
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Haena Point, Hawaii
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PHOTO DIGEST is pleased to present this interview with Courtney Milne along with a portfolio of work from his new book The Sacred Earth. This is the first volume of a series of books ... portraying some of the world's most exotic landscapes as seen through the eyes of indigenous cultures. Although Milne feels he has always been photographing the "spirit behind the land", in 1986 he set out to photograph "the twelve sacred places on the earth". Five years, 140 sites, seven continents, and a myriad of cultures later, The Sacred Earth explores the strange and enchanting places that have shaped humanity's spiritual development, from the "navel" of the earth to the last bastion of wilderness. Places where, Milne says, the veil between our world and the other world is as thin as it is elusive. The stunning images in the book reflect the powerful responses evoked by these places, while the accompanying text explains the historical, religious, and cultural significance of each location. It is a tribute both to the cultures of this world and the landscapes that have inspired them.
Because it is as much a personal pilgrimage as a photographic assignment, Milne's journey takes the reader from places that have held mystical importance for man from antiquity to his own personal sacred sites, many of which are threatened by modern civilization. Milne invites others to discover- and protect - their own sacred sites, and ends the book with Shambhala, the mythical utopia of Tibetan legend. According to Milne, the journey to this lost city of our dreams is one of personal discovery and, as such, the possibility of finding Shambhala exists for us all.
The following are Milne's thoughts on his book and the importance of sacred places for modern civilizations.
What was your inspiration for doing this book?
I was really involved in this project long before I ever realized I was. It all came to a head in 1986 when I was on the doorstep of a friend's apartment. She asked me, "What are you doing with your photography these days?" And I said to her, "Well I don't know, but somehow it's not the texture or the color anymore, it's the spirit of the things that has me excited." And she rushed off to another room and brought back a sheaf of esoteric unpublished manuscripts by, among others, a modern-day mystic named Robert Coon. On one page, n very simply type in capital letters was the title, "The Twelve Sacred Places of the Earth". And from that second on my life was changed.
When I looked at the list I said, "I'm going" without realizing the implications of getting to some of these far-off places. I was also naïve enough to believe that there were only twelve sacred places on earth and headstrong enough to believe that somehow I was going to be able to capture them on film.
So I set out very shortly after that. The first of the twelve was the closest, and one of only two sites on the North American continent - Mount Shasta, in the extreme northern reaches of California. Within weeks of the revelation, I was off to California to photograph, and very quickly I realized that there was something happening beyond my planning. It seemed all I had to do was show up on the front line and it was as if these voices from the sky said: "You be there with the camera: we'll do the rest." I came home from Mount Shasta feeling just on top of the world.
On that same trip, a miraculous thing happened. I met Sherrill, who left her real-estate job and set out with me on a trip around the world to document these sacred places. She had been told by a psychic that she would meet me and would travel the world with me and get involved with this project. So from that point on, "I" became "we", and she is now my business manager and my partner.
Beyond that first list, how did you research the book?
A lot of the research was done on the trip, much to Sherrill's dismay. Although perhaps an oversimplification, Sherrill is a left-brain person - she likes to research things ahead. I'm a right-brain type who responds to intuition and says, "Let's go even if we don't have a clue what we're doing." But I think we reached a happy compromise. We did ten months, 61,000 photographs, and fourteen countries in one trip. And a lot of that was just sniffing our way along; we got to Egypt and realized, "We're here at Giza photographing the Great Pyramid; why not go to Luxor and photograph the Temple of Karnak," which then took us across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings. So one thing led to another, to another, to another. It made for a very harried and busy trip, but it was also much more adventuresome and full of surprises.
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| Easter Island Land of Ancient Statues
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How did you choose the sites to photograph?
Often I'd rely on my intuition in terms of where to and where not to go. And it often led me to natural places or places that had beautiful archeology but were enshrouded by nature. And I know that in my heart of hearts, that is where my true interest lies - not so much in the man-made sites, although I have plenty of them in the project - but places where I feel like nature can speak to me or speak to the audience, places one is drawn to in more of a spiritual way than in a physical way. In the western world in the last few decades, so much of the way mankind has related to nature has been rather mechanistic, or utilitarian, if you like. What can nature do for us? What materials can we get from it? What ways can we use it for recreation rather than for spiritual nourishment, and in turn help give back to nature? It is that whole area of looking at the spiritual interaction with the earth and the landscape that I find so exciting, and that's where I find I'm drawn with my camera. So when we go to great archaeological sites, I'm often out in the boonies somewhere on the perimeter, looking for the ways nature is enshrouding or integrated with the temple.
Did you find that there was a connection between sacred sites and areas of natural beauty?
When I looked at the original list of twelve, to me, they were all great places of natural beauty. As it turned out, some of them were like the Great Pyramid, without a tree or plant for as far as the eye could see. You might consider the desert sand a natural phenomenon, but it is not particularly beautiful. So I really had a colossal challenge. First of all I had to orient my own mind to the fact that maybe this project could encompass man-made sites, and secondly I had to train my photographic eye to find the beauty within these sites even though my heart yearned to be in the forest. So one way that I was able to feel good about making the connection between the two was that I organized my entire book, chapter by chapter, according to the natural geography - such as sacred waters, or forest and valleys - regardless of whether there was a man-made site on it. The five chapters each relate in a very real way to the natural geography of the earth, which was exactly what attracted the early aboriginal cultures and early religions there in the first place. But I always tried to put the onus the natural beauty.
What was the most difficult site to capture on film?
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King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid
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One of the most difficult jobs Sherrill and I had was the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. It was difficult for Sherrill because as a manager coordinating the trip she had colossal problems getting permission to enter; it was closed for restoration. She had to convince the authorities of the importance of our project. She did get permission, and when I got into the King's chamber, my heart sank because it is just a box. Visually, it is not interesting at all. But just before I went in I did a meditation without my camera and got the message that I should take candles with me. So I took twelve candles from the hotel, and we placed them on the crypt and lit them, and I was able to get very beautiful candle-lit photos of the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber.
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Secondly, because I had read about how the Pharaoh used this chamber to leave the physical world and make his journey to the underworld with the help of Amun, the sun god, I envisaged Amun hovering over the crypt. In order to show that photographically, I left one frame on my camera unadvanced before I left the King's Chamber. Then I went outdoors into the light of the setting sun, and made a double exposure over the crypt with the huge sun representing the god helping the Pharaoh. I call that picture "Pharaoh's Journey". |
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| Li River in China |
Do you have a favorite photo in the book?
One that comes instantly to mind - but I won't call it my favorite because I feel like a mother calling one child her favorite - is the play of mist and campfire smoke around ferns on the Li River in China. The sun is shining from behind through the mist, and it blends together in a magical way that to me says, "This is the union of heaven and earth". It captures one hundred percent the feeling that I had when I was there.
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What was the most sacred spot for you? I say to people that your sacred place doesn't have to be any farther than your backyard*. It might be just a place that's really special for you, where quality time has been spent. That's the way I end the book, too, with Shambhala, the place within your heart. |
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"Spirit Ridge" |
Did the trip change any of your spiritual beliefs?
It probably didn't change my spiritual beliefs, but it certainly affirmed them beyond what I ever believed would be possible, because I think my spiritual beliefs were always a bit shaky. My spirituality has always been very much connected with the natural world, and in more recent years with my photography of the natural world. So when I started out with this rather naive notion that I was going to photograph the twelve sacred places, I really felt like a loner. But I ran into all kinds of reinforcement from all corners of the world, and that just shook me to the core. I couldn't believe that I could feel such a strong identity with Buddhist priests in India and an Incan shaman in Peru. So I've come home feeling very strong in my beliefs now, and I think that's come from this sharing.
Why do you think books on sacred areas and spirituality are so popular now?
Certainly there are a lot of books because they are satisfying a demand. I think it would be fair to say that the modern churches aren't serving the spiritual needs of the '80's or the '90's. People are turning away from traditional religions and searching for deeper spirituality. They're not turning away from churches because they've decided not to be spiritual, but rather because their needs aren't being met. I think they're looking to the earth more, and in doing so they are confronted by the ancient wisdoms embedded in native spirituality found in indigenous cultures worldwide.
What do you want readers to gain from the book?
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Shambhala
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Whatever they want. There is no one message. I am aware that photographs can have power and influence on people that often can't be defined. Photography acts like a mirror, allowing people to see themselves more clearly. Esoteric images like those in The Sacred Earth can serve as a mirror of the soul, striking a personal chord, and helping people to get in touch with their deepest yearnings. Whether readers find the photographs profoundly moving or just "pretty pictures" is going to depend on their individual interests, values, openness to new realities, and the extent to which they choose to tap into the mysticism within themselves. The journey to Shambhala is a highly personal one, and the pages of The Sacred Earth are merely signposts to help guide the way.
