The Second Vortex

Part Two: Chapter Twenty Four: The Second Vortex

Let Mother Earth heal you.

This is the thought I wake up with on the third day of the trip. Jon and I are going to Cathedral Rock today. Yesterday was the masculine vortex, and today is the feminine. There are still a ton of clouds, but we can see a bit of blue peeking through them. Jon and I make a sandwich for breakfast and are ready to go hiking shortly after. We pack a couple of protein bars and lots of water and then climb into the rental car.

Cathedral Rock isn’t too far from our hotel. We make a left onto Red Rock Loop Road. The road is long, winding, and has some of the most spectacular views of Sedona I have ever seen.

“Slow down,” I say to Jon. “You’re making me miss a breathtaking view.”

To Jon, he’s just trying to get to the park. To me, he could be going ten miles an hour so we can take amazing photos.

“Do you want me to pull over?” He asks.

We see how muddy the pull-offs are.

“I guess I wouldn’t. The car will get really dirty.”

We follow the directions to Crescent Moon Park by making a left onto Chavez Ranch Road, then a right onto Red Rock Crossing Road. A short way down, we see the entrance of the park on the left.

“Oh, no,” I say. There is a red stop sign on the front of a gate. The park is closed due to Flash Flooding.

“Now what do we do?”

“I don’t know,” I shrug. “I really wanted to go here today. What if the other places are closed?”

“I don’t think so,” Jon says.

“Okay, should we go to the vortex at Boynton Canyon?”

“Okay,” Jon nods. “We need to get more water first, though.”

We stop at Walgreens and then head toward Boynton Canyon.

Boynton Canyon is on the other side of 89A. We make a left onto Dry Creek Road and follow that all the way down to Boynton Pass Road. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. The sun is out now, shining onto the mountains and making them look more beautiful than anything I have ever seen. The light highlights parts of the mountains casting shadows on other parts of the land. We turn into the little parking lot at Boynton Canyon, gather our camera, backpacks, and waters, and exit the car. There is a bathroom at Boynton Canyon, and the foot of it is close to a resort.

Outside it is sunny and hot, but I wouldn’t describe it as dry. Yesterday’s rain had certainly left the air a bit humid. As Jon and I begin on the canyon trail, we see a deer, or at least what we think is a deer.

“Look at him,” I say, watching the deer graze. He has large antlers, and he is a grayish-white.

“Is he a deer?”

“I don’t know. I think so? Maybe he is an antelope.”

Jon shrugs. I’m certain neither Jon nor I know what an antelope looks like or if they even exist in Sedona. We decide he is a deer and keep moving.

The hike up Boynton Canyon is pleasant. I’m grateful for the warm air and sunshine. The air is clean, and every once in a while, I get a faint smell of pine from the trees. I love the sound of the twigs and rocks crunching under my boots. I feel myself breathing a little heavier as I climb and stop to take some water.

Halfway up the canyon trail, I feel a surge of energy, but I can’t tell if I’m just feeling light-headed from the altitude change, or it’s the vortex. I see the twisted Juniper trees.

“Is this a knoll?” I ask Jon.

“I have no idea,” he laughs.

From what I’ve read about the Boynton Canyon Vortex, it is on top of a knoll.

“What is a knoll?”

“I don’t know.”

“We can’t even look it up because we don’t have any wi-fi.”

“Nope,” Jon says.

We stop to take a few photos of one another when we see a man walking toward us with a quick pep in his step.

“Here’s a red rock for you, and for you,” the man says as he approaches us. “It’s a red rock from the hills of Sedona, and it’s filled with love, light, and blessings.”

“Thank you, I say. This is beautiful.”

“If you ever feel unhappy, angry, or sad, just hold this stone close to your heart and remember all the love stored in this rock is washing through you and removing the negative energy.”

“Thank you,” I say again. “Do you mind telling me your name?”

“It’s Robert,” he says. “Have you two been up this canyon before?”

“No. actually, we came to see the vortexes and feel the energy.”

“Well, you’ve come to a beautiful spot. There are actually two vortexes. That one right there,” he points to the taller one, “is the feminine vortex. She’s known as Kachina woman. There’s a story behind her that she’s the divine protector of us, a symbol of peace and love. And then there’s Warrior Man, symbolic of divine Masculine energy. It’s really a wonderful place to be.”

“I’m really excited!” I explain the story of my mother’s death and why I am in Sedona.

“Now, you see,” Robert says, “like all of us, your mother had human consciousness. Human consciousness is what causes us to hurt each other. It’s the reason we have wars and don’t treat each other with love and kindness. Everyone has human consciousness, but we can evolve past it. All we have to do is fill our hearts with genuine love and kindness and spread that out to the world, and as we continue to do this, others will spread more love, and so on and so on, and slowly we will change the planet. There are beings all over the universe, and sometimes when we are pulsing out negative energy, that energy reaches them, and they just shake their heads and say, ‘Oh, it’s those humans again.’ But we’ll get it eventually. That is our purpose as beings on the planet. Love is the purpose. If we invite positive energy into us and spread it to everyone, we can make the world a better place.”

“I agree,” I smile.

“And I want to tell you this,” he continues. “If you get an idea from the Creator, I want you to go with it. Even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it doesn’t work out the first time, go with it. Try again. That idea is meant for you.”

When Robert is gone, I look at Jon.

“What do you think about Robert?”

“I think he had some good stuff to say.”

“Honestly, someone else might think he’s crazy, but you know I’m all about it. From a practical perspective, though, when you look at what he’s talking about compared to reading people’s negative rants and angry hate spreading on Facebook, even if I didn’t know anything about what he was talking about, I’d rather listen to what he’s saying any day.”

“Agreed.”

“What Robert said, the idea from the universe, that’s how I feel about the book I’m writing. I have this feeling about it that I’m supposed to write it, even though it’s different from anything else I’ve ever done.”

“That’s good then,” Jon says.

“Yeah.”

By now, we’ve reached the top of the hill. To our left is Warrior Man, to our right is Kachina Woman.

“I can see why people love this. The balance of feminine and masculine energies.”

“It looks incredible.”

We snap photos of ourselves, marveling at the beautiful landscape before us.

“Can I just say you are so beautiful?”

I turn to see a pretty, middle-aged brunette standing with a gray-haired man.

“Thanks so much,” I reply.

“Just a beautiful girl. I just had to tell you.”

“Thank you so much,” I repeat again.

“Is it your first time up here?” she asks.

“Yes,” I nod. Then I launch into the abridged version of what we planned to see today, about my mom, and about the heart rock I just received.

“Oh, you met Robert,” she replies.

She says it as though she knows him well.

“He’s a nice guy,” she continues.

“Yeah, I was really thankful to meet him.”

“You guys have to go to Antelope Canyon.”

I write it down in my journal.

“It’s so beautiful there,” the man she’s with interjects.

“You guys will love it.”

“We’ll definitely put it on our lists of places to go. What are your names?”

“I’m Lisa.”

“Alan.”

The woman and I chat about my books. She wants to buy my fiction novels. Then she steers the conversation back to my mom.

“Did you bring your mom with you?”

“Yes,” I nod. “I brought her gold name necklace. She wore it every day. I needed her to come with me.”

“That’s very good,” Lisa says. “Also, don’t discount any sign your mom sends you, no matter how crazy it seems. She’s sending you messages all the time. Just be open to it.”

I tell her about my mom playing Rosanna on the radio.

“Exactly,” she says. “Just like that. But there will be tons more.”

After Lisa and Alan leave, Jon and I decide to climb higher on Kachina Woman. A couple is meditating by the foot of the rock. Jon and I sit with them and meditate too. After several minutes we decide to hike up the rock on the other side a little more. By now, most of the people who have been up there with us have left. It’s quiet, with only one other couple around, and they are at the Warrior Man vortex. We take some photos of the breathtaking landscape. Green is spread out over the valley below us. Sedona is incredibly colorful. In this one scene, I can see bright orange-reds, browns, and greens against a clean, bright blue sky and puffy white clouds.

Jon grabs my hand.

“You know I love you, right?” He says.

“Yes,” I nod.

“And I want to be with you forever?”

“Yes,” I reply. I can tell he’s nervous, and it makes me nervous. “Are you proposing?” I laugh.

It was something we joked about before, but this time Jon pulls out a ring, gets down on one knee, and at a 10,000-foot altitude asks,

“Will you marry me?”