Americas southwest is a mythic land, much of it an immense desert that is beautiful but hopelessly desolate. The 3 day Amtrak-train-adventure took us crosscountry through Illinois, Missouri,Kansas,Colorado, New Mexico and finally Flagstaff, Arizona; the gateway to Grand Canyon. Here we rented a car and drove to Sedona; The Red Rock Country with it's massive sandstone monoliths and psychic "cosmic energy" of the landscape.
Here in Arizona we found an odd mixture of Indian sites, cowboy culture, old mining towns and New Age culture, all characteristics of the American West.
By recommendation we stayed at the Sky Ranch Lodge, the most elevated location, overlooking the city of Sedona. The colors of the sunsets were breathtaking. But to sleep turned out to be impossible. Whether it was due to the electrical storms, the enormous flares emanating from the sun or the strong energy vortexes in this area we did not know but we heard other people having the same experiences. Apparently we needed time to adapt.
Native Americans consider this a sacred land because of a strong spiritual connection to this mystical land. They say that doors to the heart and mind are easily opened here. We were deeply moved by the awesome beauty of this sacred landscape.
When visiting prehistoric Indian cliff dwellings like the Palatki ruins, which offer evidence of habitation at least 1.500 years ago, we learned about Rock Art. (and this little fellow on the photo;-) RockArt is figures and symbols carved (petroglyph's) and painted (pictographs) on sandstone walls. They are believed to be clan signs, spiritual messages or calendars of the first people on this land.
We met Lin and Ellen who invited us to a ceremony in their Kiva house together with their friend Eagle Cloud a Lakota Indian. An unforgettable evening, when the wolves where howling and singing while Eagle Cloud played on his cedar flute.
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