Joseph  Campbell,  in  his  Masks of God,  discusses  the
Apache myth  of  the world creator,  Black Hactcin,  who
created  the world by first forming  a  bird, then whirling
it   around  so  fast  that   the  bird  got  dizzy  and   began
hallucinating    the    images    that    became   the   world.
Campbell  gives  many  examples  of  the  "whirling  bird"
motif  and  relates  it  to  the  more general image  of the
swastika.
     The  swastika,  according  to  Campbell,  was  the first
geometrical symbol to appear in the history of humanity.
Its   appearance   was   associated    with    a   number   of
evolutionary events,  including the first organized, stable
cities, and the discovery of writing and of the wheel. The
swastika  has  somewhat  ambivalent connotations  for us
today,  as it is associated both with  the Hopi's reverence
for harmony and the Nazi's quest for power.
     Mixed feelings about the swastika can also be related
to  the  more  general  pattern   of   the  several  pairs  of
opposite  and  complementary meanings associated with
the  opposed  directions  of  rotation  of   the  archetypal

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