Sedona and Vortexes
September 23rd, 2006 by Erin Pavlina
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Last weekend Steve and I took an amazing trip to Sedona, Arizona. It was our first time. When I told my friends where we were headed every single one of them told me we were going to have an amazing experience and a wonderful time. If they only knew how right they were.
We decided to go to Sedona on the advice of my guides. Yes, apparently my guides are travel agents in their spare time. They also told us to go to Laguna Beach, California, which we did a few months ago. My parents came to stay with our kids, and we were off on a bright, sunny, Friday morning, just the two of us; ah the peace and quiet coming from the back seat. 
As soon as we entered Arizona we were both surprised to discover how beautiful it is. Trees and creeks and meadows abounded on our drive. I had expected the terrain to be arid desert, much like Las Vegas. Who knew? My excitement increased with every mile.
When I was making our hotel arrangements I really didn’t have a preference as to where we stayed, until I found the Amara Creekside Resort. There was a huge synchronicity to us staying there. In their courtyard area there is a statue of two hands with their fingers touching, one from above and one from below. That is the exact pose I use to describe my connection to deceased spirits. I couldn’t believe there was a statue of it on the property. Talk about following the signs. We made reservations there immediately.
Sedona has 7 main vortexes (they don’t call them vortices, they actually call them vortexes, so please no emails). I’m not a big fan of hiking, so I asked my friends to recommend vortexes that were easy to get to, and also to recommend the masculine energy vortexes since I wanted to get a message from “out there” instead of inside myself. Sedona was breathtaking, with clean, crisp air, beautiful mountains and rocks, and the whole town had an artsy, new age feel to it. I was in my element!
Saturday morning we headed to our first vortex at the Airport. It’s not much of an airport so there wasn’t much noise to disturb us. We hiked a little until we found a nice spot right in the vortex, set down our towel, and took up a pose. Almost from the moment I sat down I started hearing a celestial energy talking to me. I had to tell Steve to shush as the information was coming so fast and I didn’t want to miss it. I was told about a past life I’d had as a Native American woman. I don’t feel like sharing the details just yet since I still need to process the emotions that came with it, but there was tragedy, and it helped explain something to me that I’d been curious about for years. I felt truly grateful to whoever sent me that information because it unraveled a knot in my current life. Steve connected with a celestial energy as well and got some information related to his business. We both left there feeling just a little different.
That night we both had amazing dreams. It was like a fog had lifted inside us and our dreams were just crystal clear and crisp like the Sedona air.
The next day we hiked up to the Boynton Canyon vortex. I have to admit that I didn’t really want to go to this one since it involved hiking up really high and climbing on a lot of loose rock, so I whined a little but eventually got there. :) We found a nice cozy spot right in the vortex and away from everyone else. Steve got some great information there too. It was a masculine/feminine vortex. I felt like I got a chiropractic chakra adjustment. But I didn’t hear anyone talking to me. We built a cairn (everyone else does this) and hiked back down. On a whim, we decided to go to another vortex. Again, Steve got way more information there than I did. Mostly I just got hungry.
Luckily for us, there was a vegan restaurant in town as well as a raw cafe, plus a natural food store with a deli. So we were pretty happily fed the entire trip. If you’re going, I highly recommend all three places: D’Lish, The Raw Cafe, and the New Frontiers Market.
We did a lot of shopping. Steve bought a lot of Native American items, and I mostly bought things that sparkled. What can I say? I love my crystals. I spent a lot of time browsing the new age shops. Steve took a Native American jeep tour with a native guide and just had a gay old time. I took the opportunity to chat with the local psychics and new age store employees.
On our last morning Steve took one last trip to Cathedral Rock. I’m sorry I missed it because apparently it was pretty spectacular. Next time…
We really didn’t want to leave Sedona. It was gorgeous. There was definitely something going on in those vortexes. Our dreams each night were even more lucid than usual. We’re anxious to go back. There are three more vortexes to experience. Anyone up for a field trip? 
Has anyone else been to Sedona and, if so, what were your experiences like?
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September 23rd, 2006 at 3:27 am
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September 23rd, 2006 at 6:17 am
I was to Sedona four or five years ago, while I was in High School. It was an incredible experience. The unadultered beauty of the place is hard to forget - I can still remember so many things about it in sharper relief than many other vacations I’ve had (or the rest of our visit in AZ, for that matter ^_^ ). We went to visit only one of the vortexes. It ended up not being a very good experience. At this point my family and I were hiking towards one of the vortexes, and a really foul mood came over me the closer we got. Once we left, I felt great and energized again. It wasn’t until afterward that I was informed that we had been at one of the vortex locations. I still don’t know what to make of it.
September 23rd, 2006 at 7:32 am
Erin,
I took a trip to Arizona last year to visit my girlfriends sister and her new husband. We went to Sedona on their reccomendation, and when we got there, I immediately wanted to leave the main strip, because it was too touristy for me. I tried to no avail to get the group to go somewhere off the main strip because the rocks were so amazingly beautiful. However, everyone else was sucked in by the vortex of consumerism. I sat on a wall watching the sun go down, while playing my flute…the only thing I bought while there.
I should have just left them and went alone, hah.
September 23rd, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Hi Erin,
You mentioned something that I don’t quite understand, you wrote…
“and also to recommend the masculine energy vortexes since I wanted to get a message from “out there” instead of inside myself. ”
What do you mean by masculine or feminine energy and how does that apply to (or does it apply) if we happen to be male or female. Thanks.
September 23rd, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Ah yes, I should have explained about the masculine and feminine energy in the vortexes. Apparently, each vortex has either a masculine or feminine energy, or a combination. You are supposed to go to a feminine vortex if you want to communicate with your own inner being or work out issues you’re having. Sort of like going inside yourself. The masculine energy vortexes are for receiving communications from other entities. That’s mainly what I was seeking, and what I got at the first vortext we went to.
September 23rd, 2006 at 10:30 pm
@Erin, so glad you and steve enjoyed yourselves! it sounds like sedona’s back to being more vegan-friendly. when we lived there, one of the veggie places had just gone out of business. it was still very vegan-accessible, but it sounds even yummier now. how i miss new frontiers! what crystal shops/psychic places did you go to? (i worked at the center for the new age when we temporarily lived there in ‘04.)
there are a surprising # of former sedona readers/healers in reno. supposedly lake tahoe and pyramid lake are vortexes, too. i personally think it’s the sierras themselves, though. they were formed in a way unlike all the other u.s. mountain ranges.
@Thomas, sometimes depending on which type of vortex you visit, you can have an intensely “bad” experience. it’s usually the feminine ones that draw you into yourself b/c they pull you to work through blocks or wounds very fast. if you’re expecting a grand, opening experience, the downward, inward pull can catch you off guard.
September 24th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Thank you Erin for explaining the masculine/feminine energy.
Laura Bruno- Thanks for your reply to Thomas - I was also wondering why he would have had a “bad” experience.
September 24th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Erin,
It sounds like you really were in your element! It is odd reading your post. In the past three days I have received pictures and rave reviews for recent trips to Arizona, and I was floored when I saw the pictures because I didn’t expect there to be so much beauty in the state. I assumed (ignorantly) that it was all dry, hot , desert.
So, three couples go and send me photos or tell me about it in a 3 day window. It makes me want to get on over to AZ and see what I’m missing! I am glad you both had a fun getaway. (and rewarding, too!)
September 25th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
@Laura, yes, Northern Arizona is gorgeous! Sedona and downtown Prescott are like the jewels of Arizona, with Prescott being even greener than Sedona. Flagstaff is a mountain “city”–different energy, but a stunning drive from Sedona, especially if you go the back way. That’s one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever taken, and we’ve traveled/lived in a good portion of the US.
September 27th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Erin,
Thanks for explaining the concept of vortexes more thoroughly in the comments. I’ll have to plan an outing to check them out! To second what Laura said, Arizona has an unbelievable variety of climate, terrain, and beauty. There are day trips from Phoenix that can take you to coniferous mountain beauty or breathtaking canyonlands. Even the Sonoran desert has its own charm - just not during the day in the middle of summer!
Mike
September 27th, 2006 at 9:16 am
Erin,
Howdy! My Mom and I visited Sedona for her birthday, and we will always treasure that trip. It was beautiful in January with snow on the red rock. We stayed at a lodge with a cozy fireplace in each room. My energy felt clear there. It’s as if normally I’m being bombarded with a hundred radio stations creating a high-frequency buzz in my brain. In Sedona, the hum evaporated and I had clear reception. You don’t even realize the chatter is there until you’re in Sedona and it’s suddenly clear and open and your energy can soar!
Thank you for your insightful blog