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We spent last week in Sedona, AZ. I don’t know if you have been there before or spent any significant amount of time there but it is a special place. It is majestic and distinct itself. The rock formations and landscapes are amazing.
Here is the other thing about Sedona, there is a mystical aspect about it that keeps getting thrown in your face whether you believe in it or not. As soon as you step into a shop or gallery the salespeople immediately explain that not only are you buying a beautiful work of art but the paint which was used holds aura aligning properties. The crystal which you are purchasing for your child because she loves rocks is actually meant to rearrange your chakras. I don’t know a chakra from a hole in the ground.
Speaking of holes in grounds, those are also very important. They were placed there by the ancient people of something or other that did something or other and we aren’t allowed to step there and the kids stared at the holes wondering why the adults around them are so crazy. I also stared at the holes wondering if maybe we were all going a little crazy. By that time it was nearing the end of the trip and we had seen a lot of strange thing and maybe holes in the ground are just holes.
It was a great trip. I learned a lot about the Native peoples that lived on the land so long ago. I learned about the new people that came after to plant and live on the land. There is so much beauty there and I love the fact that people saw a life there in the forbidding rock outcroppings and dry sand. Then other people came and took the lore of ancients and made it their own. Created magical legends and places of healing and things called vortexes and magnetic spots.
Millions travel to Sedona every year to adjust, align, center themselves. They buy the prescribed crystals and herbs and stand in the spots designated on the maps. I wasn’t one of those. None in my party were, but there is something special about Sedona, as in so many places around our great Nation. There are tall rocks in the shapes of coffeepots and elephants and nuns. There are trails that lead to old Native habitations. There are lakes where no lake should be. And yes there are unexplained holes in the ground. Holes which you have to stare and imagine were something once to someone once. It’s a special place, not a magical place, but it is a special place.
I love to travel for just that reason. Every place I go has something to offer. I learn to appreciate a beauty that is different from the one I left at home. I learn why that place was beautiful or important to someone else. I imagine what it would be like to live there instead of here. I find its uniqueness, its perfection. I also have to find its imperfection otherwise I may never come home. I think that’s ok too.