auras, a vortex, and other such magic

Because we arrived in Sedona well past dark, and in a snow storm, it took a while for it to become apparent just what is going on, scenic-vista wise. Last night, for instance, after we warmed up after our walk in the snow, there was a sudden opening in the light and voilà, behold, the view from the back window of our hotel room:

Shortly after that, we headed out to Christmas dinner, at one of the few places open for business. Deliciousness occurred. We topped it off with tuning in to the second half of "A Christmas Story" on TV, with a couple of episodes of the heartwarming dystopian nightmare that is "The Man in the High Castle" thrown in for good measure. 

This morning, this was the view from our front door. Believe it or not, we had not previously been able to see all those hills in the distance, to the left. The snow was already starting to melt. 

We went in search of a particular art gallery in order to inspect these:

Made by my bestie.

Then we checked out Peace Place to soak up some Reiki energy. We got our auras photographed by the lovely Rae - that was pretty trippy and left us each with food for thought. And then we got a quartz singing bowl which I'm pretty sure is capable of realigning every molecule in my body. Normally I wouldn't spring for the expense of any of this - but I figured, if there is any location on the planet to do this, it's here. 

After some lunch, we went in search of our second vortex. These are places where it is thought that there is particularly strong energy spiraling into or perhaps out of the earth. There are four biggies here - which I interpret as, four which the general community has agreed to share with the hordes of tourists. There is no doubt in my mind that there are loads of them all over. The first vortex was yesterday - it was the goal of the walk in the snow out along Airport Mesa, where we're staying. I was worried I wouldn't be able to sense it, but there was a particular spot where my hands just suddenly filled. Like, a sudden "thwump" feeling, a buzz. 

Today's adventure was centered around the Cathedral Rock vortex, said to be located along the Oak Creek off Chavez Ranch Road.

That's Kevin in his new lumberjack shirt, below.

You don't have to believe in vortices to realize that some places are just plain special.

We went farther out than the folks who'd stopped on the red rock section of the creekside, compulsively checking our map, convinced that we'd find a person-sized place that when stood upon, would cause our hair to stand on end. 

Really, it was more subtle than that.

Lots of cairns started appearing.

Only now that I look at the picture of this tree do I see how bizarre it is. The left fork of the "Y" actually merges INTO the left trunk. 

More cairn magic.

Eventually Kevin and I realized that the whole area could probably be said to be the vortex and that our hair wasn't going to be standing on end any time soon.

We headed back toward town, taking in the view from some roadside pullouts. The snow had been steadily melting all day...

...leaving one lone witness to the beauty of sun-warmed rock.