Sedona

At the Super 8 in West Sedona

 For some unknown reason, I've wanted to go to Sedona, AZ for a long time. Finally, in January 2011, I was able to spend 4 beautiful days there.

I flew into Phoenix and took the Sedona-Phoenix shuttle...a very pleasant 1 hour ride in a 10 passenger van...to the Super 8 in West Sedona. I must say this was a great place to stay. Clean, quiet, friendly and helpful staff, spectacular scenery and a very good restaurant in the parking lot.

The view in every direction was spectacular. Those of us who live on the East Coast tend to forget how big everything is out West.
Sedona is known as a highly spiritual "power place" with natural vortex energy literally pouring out of the ground. Several of the people I met in town told me that everyone in Sedona is on a "journey" or a "quest." Some people are more tuned in to the energy than others. Many businesses and individuals offer "vortex tours" to the more well-known hot spots like Airport Mesa, Boynton Canyon, Cathedral Rock at Red Rock Crossing where the energy is thought to be the strongest.

The plentiful juniper trees react to the powerful force by growing limbs in a corkscrew-like manner, as if being blown by a constant prevailing wind.

Quartz Crystals

The iron laden red rock geology includes a layer of natural crystals that acts as a focal point for Earth's electromagnetic energy. There are many places where the surface rock has worn away revealing little pockets of quartz colonies...kind of like crystal "potholes." For me, the energy of the whole area was very intense...like being in a vortex or not having my feet on the ground most of the time. I was actually worried when crossing the street because I felt so light and as though my senses of time and density were a bit off. I asked several natives how they were able to cope with the intense energy. The answers ranged from "I can't feel it" to "It is exhilirating" to "It took me ten years to learn to cope after I moved here."

Just beyond the parking lot behind the Super8 was a secluded stone stool of sorts which was great for watching the landscape, the changing light and the stars at night. About 25 feet from my room, I felt grounded here and began and ended each day by visiting. By placing my medicine bag and personal stones on this little altar of sorts, I was able to become better grounded and more secure in my travels around the area. Literally, a "touchstone."

2010: The Year of the Dragonfly

There is only one word for it: besieged! With the dawn of summer in late May 2010, I began being visited daily by a red dragonfly...yes RED! I had only seen blue-green ones in the past and not very often at that. But this beauty visited me in my backyard and stayed for more than an hour while I was working on my recycled glass art. I thought I must be dreaming.

Flight        2004

But it kept coming...I saw it every day I was home until I moved in late October. It found me wherever I was in the yard or driveway...almost flying through my driver's side window one afternoon as I was getting into the car. Tickled, I laughed wondering if the fact that I drive a red Beetle had anything to do with it.

Soon, other dragonflies began entering or re-entering my life. For the re-entering part, I found a pair of silver dragonfly earrings and a pendant (which I thought I had lost) while cleaning out an old tote bag; a purple forgotten to-go cup covered with dragonflies emerged from somewhere in the back of a kitchen cupboard and I stumbled upon this painting I had done on a bathroom tile back in 2004.



Time to Go         2010



In the entering catagory, my friend Linda gave me a beautiful copper one, handcrafted by Maine artist Gail Barker Miller, my friend Barby gave me a beautiful card noting that the dragonfly poses "an opportunity to soar," and finally, my friend Johnna gave me a recently deceased one which she found behind her husband's truck in the driveway of Ye Olde Forte Cabins in Pemaquid Beach, Maine. She suggested I might want to use it in a window...and here it is at the left.

Making this work was a challenge as the star was extremely delicate...in both substance and coloring. My work usually consists of much bolder colors and I wasn't quite sure where to start. Ultimately, I went to my "white" sea glass collection... to discover that almost none of it was white but pale pastels, which only looked white while wet on the beach. This started me on a whole new series of pastel glass works, two more of which have been completed since. It will be interesting to see if my dragonfly communion continues at my new location in summer 2011. Stay tuned...