Spiritual Sedona

Sedona has a world wide reputation for its spiritual energy.  This energy has attracted a large community of intuitives, guides, healers, and artists to the area.  Many visitors come here for spiritual and personal enrichment of their body and the soul.  I must admit, Sedona has a calming vibe to it.

Sedona is also known for its vortexes. Scientifically, a vortex is the funnel shape created by a whirling fluid or by the motion of spiraling energy.  Examples of vortex shapes are whirlwinds, tornadoes, and water going down a drain. A vortex can be made up of anything that flows, such as wind, water, or electricity.

The vortexes in Sedona are swirling centers of subtle energy coming out from the surface of the earth. There are four main energy vortexes in Sedona.  All of Sedona is in a vortex and the energy can be felt up to 300 miles away.  Of course it is strongest at the vortex itself. Some can feel vortexes.  Most cannot.  I did not feel anything myself unless I drink a beer.  Then I feel the vortex.  Apparently you can identify areas where the vortex is strong since the Juniper trees grow in a spiral pattern indicating the spin of the vortex.  We saw this on a tour!  Our tour guide thought perhaps it was the iron content in the rock and the iron content in our blood that interacted to make people sense an energy vortex.  Who knows?

For more information on spiritual Sedona and vortexes, click here.

If you want vortex information.  Stop here!

Aileen and I visited the Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park.  It is located right within Sedona.  You travel through some upscale neighborhood streets, pull into a small parking lot, walk up the hill, and arrive at the stupa.  This stupa gets its name from Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of Limitless Light,

There are many descriptions for what a stupa represents but it seems it is a sacred Buddhist structure that represents Buddha's body and is the path to enlightenment.  They are filled with prayers, intentions, Buddha relics, and other sacred objects. Within the Amitabha Stupa there is a relic from Buddha Shakyamuni.  I think that means there are remains or bones of the Buddha in the stupa.  Stupas are very common in the East but not very common in the West.

For some excellent information on the Amitabha Stupa, click here.

The sign suggests walking around the stupa 3 times while making personal wishes as well as prayers for the suffering in the world.  Aileen and I both walked around the stupa wishing the best for Liam at school, our family and friends, and to eliminate suffering in the world.  I found the walk very peaceful!

For a video of us walking the path to the stupa, click here.

The Amitabha stupa.  It is 36 feet tall.

The Amitabha Stupa

I thought I'd spend some time sitting with Buddha.

As well as the Buddhist stupa, Aileen and I visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It has an interesting history as well. The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built into one of the cliffs surrounding Sedona. It was inspired and commissioned by a local rancher and sculptor, Marguerite Brunswig Staude.  In 1932 Marguerite was inspired by the newly constructed Empire State Building and therefore wanted to build the church. She originally wanted to build the church in Budapest, Hungary (not sure what the connection to Hungary is here) but it was aborted due to the outbreak of World War II. She decided to build the church locally here in Sedona.

When Marguerite began searching for a site to build the church, she looked for "signs" to help her find a location.  She finally settled on a location where she saw 3 rock formations that resembled two nuns and the Mother Mary with child.  In addition, Marguerite's parents were involved in the pharmacy business and she saw a white "Rx" symbol on one of the rocks.  This symbol was probably left as a cattle brand by previous ranchers many years ago.  The chapel was built right above it.

The two nuns on the right and Mother Mary with child on the left

View of church on the cliff.  You can see the two nuns and Mary on the right.  I had to borrow this picture from the Internet as I didn't have a photo taken from this angle.

A view from the chapel

Another view from the chapel

 Aileen lit a couple candles.  I am thinking Aileen just likes to play with fire and doesn't really care about the candles.  It was nice to see they weren't commercialized and charge an arm and a leg for a candle.  Only a dollar each!  I think Mexico was 5 or 10 dollars...

A look inside the chapel

This house is located below the chapel.  There is a lot of speculation on who owns it from Johnny Depp to Nick Cage.  However, our tour guide said it is owned by a Romanian doctor who invented lasik vision!

Another day ended with an IPA from Chandler, AZ!

Oh, before I go here is something random.  While in Phoenix at the local Safeway, they have covered parking that generates electricity for households!  The sun is brutal on cars.  I commented to Aileen that many cars have sun burn.  Oxidized patches of paint on hoods and roofs.  If you ever want to test products for sun resistance, this is the place to do it.  Where plug ins for block heaters are coveted in Saskatchewan parking lots, covered parking is coveted in Arizona!

Sedona has some very strict rules for businesses.  They must all blend in with the natural surroundings.  McDonald's wanted to open a restaurant but Sedona council said no yellow signs.  McDonalds didn't like that and waited it out for a year before they came back and suggested blue arches with no large signage out front.  It is the only McDonalds in the world without yellow arches!

Notice there is no indication that this is a McDonalds.  Just the logo.