A recent study shows that, of the people coming to Sedona, a surprisingly large number of them are here to visit the energy vortexes. These special places are beginning to attract people in droves, including those from the so-called mainstream community. I affectionately refer to these growing numbers as ... "The Invasion of the Vortex People."

Some folks are concerned about this growing influx of the Vortex People, while others view it as inevitable and something to be understood rather than feared.

Before continuing, however, I'd like to put everyone at ease by saying that I'm one of the practical ones in Sedona's metaphysical community -- Although I use a crystal-powered flying saucer for transportation, I have sense enough to have it insured by the Auto Club of Northern Arizona!

Now what is a vortex? Standing in one is somewhat like the sensation Marilyn Monroe might have felt with her dress swirling up. Remember that famous publicity shot from "The Seven-Year Itch"? On the other hand, some people don't feel anything and that's just fine, too. Either way, more people are wanting to find out for themselves.

Are the Vortex People delusional, nuts, crazy, weird or irrational? There are a few strays now and then, but as a whole, having talked with visitors from all walks of life, I'd have to say "no." What they seem to have in common is a deeply religious view of life, though not necessarily religious in the orthodox sense of the word.

Vortexes ... My personal feeling is that the entire city of Sedona is one big huge vortex of intensified, accelerated energy, and this may explain why people seem to either love it here, or can't stand the city at all and leave suddenly in the middle in the night for more familiar territory. This happened to neighbors of mine who left with two weeks remaining on their rent and were never heard from again (smile).

People touched by genuine Vortex Power tend to experience a sense of inward stillness or silence. I think it would be fair to say that the Vortex People are interested in these invisible energies and the silence as much as they are in Sedona's actual physical beauty, so you will see a lot of young people with backpacks heading for these areas. People camping out in the forest waiting for their spiritual revelation. People seeking a "healing" of some kind. People tired of the rat race and looking for some relief. People exhausted by the insensitivity of city life and looking for sanctuary for a day, a week, a year -- for a lifetime. Some are searching for the sacred and for a connection with ancient Indian cultures in order to understand or help preserve them.

Perhaps the true wonder of Sedona is in what happens to people inside themselves whether they visit the Vortexes or not. People come here and are reminded that wherever they go, they are bringing their problems with them. A light goes on in the brain and they start looking for answers to the very problems they might have been trying to avoid for years, e.g., the family is supposed to be having a "good time" on vacation, but "for no apparent reason" all hell breaks loose. In some instances, these experiences represent the sputtering beginnings of "PSQ" -- the Personal Spiritual Quest, and the person will never be the same again.

How to know if Sedona's Vortex Power is getting to you:

• The urge to drop your previous vacation plans and explore the city, according to compelling inner hunches, intuitions and instincts. Or a synchronicity of events that leads you to fascinating and strange people or experiences. Maybe you are led into a shop or bookstore you never would have entered in your regular life and you pick up something that opens a new pathway to your soul.

• The desire to sell all, move here and set up a Crystal Shoppe. Listen carefully to your inner voice on this one -- there are more choices than either/or.

• The sudden reversal of your deeply ingrained attitudes and beliefs or the renewal of your interest in spiritual explorations. Anyone who has ever come to Sedona with a feeling of "emptiness," and left with a sense of hope, knows what I mean.

• A sense of communion with unseen forces surrounding you, including the intense desire to spend more time with Nature.

• The desire to follow your illness into wholeness, whether spiritual, mental, emotional, social, financial, or physical.

Perhaps most of all, the Vortex People experience an awakening to wonder. As they stand in a Vortex, not only do they feel the wonder and indescribable beauty of their surroundings, but even more significantly, they begin to feel the wonder and eternal mystery of themselves. And the extra bonus wonder is that they get to take this piece of Sedona back home with them ... to live a new life, to be a different person, to remain awakened to the little piece of immortality that the Divine Spirit animating the Universe has placed inside us all.

As a friend once said ... "Come to Sedona ... There's magic here!"

haizen@haizen.com