Sedona, Arizona

My experience with the region's spiritual subculture

Sedona, Arizona

Driving north from Phoenix, the crossing from the Sonoran Desert into the Arizona highlands is very abrupt and apparent. Out the window thousands of stretched and leaning cacti wave their multi-armed farewell before disappearing completely after the road climbs over almost imperceptible rocky passes. An expansive plateau of not much more than scrub and brush seems to extend to infinity until one leaves the main interstate taking the scenic bypass toward Sedona. Then, out of the desert grows numerous red sandstone mountains, and mesas. In and around these massive and gorgeous geological formations is the city of Sedona. 

Travelers to the region will be familiar with mystical subculture that has cropped up in the city of Sedona. In every strip mall there are storefronts advertising psychic readings, “aura photos,” and spa treatments with magical contexts. Spiritual retreats are a popular sector of the tourism market. While surprising to some travelers, this aspect of the Sedona culture is the reason for many visits. Even the more straight and narrow tourist won’t leave Sedona without hearing of the Sedona vortexes. Described as energy centers that can be found and felt at exact points in the surrounding mesas and hoodoos, some would call these vortexes Sedona’s claim to fame, and the reason for the spiritual subculture that has arisen there. For me, vortexes or no vortexes, the natural landscape of Sedona is clearly special, even mystical, touching believers and non-believers alike with its beauty and power to awe.

On a recent trip, my husband and I traveled to Sedona with my parents for a weekend of hiking, biking and tasting local southwestern fare (read margaritas). None of us had previously visited, and all of us were sufficiently fulfilled by panoramic vistas of red rock mesas, buttes, and hoodoos that greet the wandering eye at every turn.

To make a long story short, my dad and I have an ongoing antagonistic streak around the subject of spirituality and religion— he, a devoted Christian of American ilk, me a spiritual without labels, and critic of traditional religions. So of course, the teasing about the vortexes began before we had even boarded the plane— my father poking fun at what he would call spiritual mumbo jumbo verging on heresy, laughable for anyone to believe. 

I assured him I didn’t feel the need to visit these so-called energy centers— but what I didn’t say was that I don’t need a “vortex” to feel the tingle or flow of spiritual and earthly energy, because I feel that all the time… at sunrise in my backyard… anytime the wind picks up before a storm. I feel it to the bone.