I knew that this journey, this personal urban vision quest,
would be different than all the past trips combined. The year
had been a challenging one, as years go, and I was eager to
get away and feel my feet on the red earth of Sedona. The
place is so nearly perfect if it only had an ocean! It has been
my go-to place of spiritual refuge for over two decades now,
and it has never disappointed. Whatever is going on in one’s
life, a trip to Sedona is the great amplifier, the truth barometer, and the litmus test for life. The great smoking mirror, as
my Native American teachers would say; that is the gift of
Sedona. But it isn’t for the faint of heart. Oh, no, Sedona is
only for those who want to see through their Vidya, the fog
that shields them from their truth, their knowing, and desire
to be the very best human beings possible.
There were a few longstanding friends that I wanted to see
on this journey. One, Larry Sprague, had been sharing his
gift of the medicine wheel with me for over 25 years. Each
trip around his wheel ceremony, a reflection on one’s wheel
of life. Am I in a place of the East? New beginnings, with the
hawk or eagle soaring above, like my totem. Or am I in the
North, the great winter of completions and endings, with the
white buffalo as my guide? With every ending is a new beginning. I felt my feet planted in both directions as I walked
the land that stretched out with a welcoming embrace. I
knew it was a time of both endings, completions, and yet
new beginnings too!
The second special friend I had hoped to see was Mario Cruz,
a Yaqui Tribal Leader, Sun Dancer and facilitator of the Native American purification ritual and cleansing ceremony, the
sweat lodge. I had been participating in Mario’s sweat lodge
ceremonies for many years, and each time the flap would
close inside the vast darkness of the