Dick Sutphen Presents Sedona

In Drunvalo's article on Vortex Mechanics, you will find a discussion of the kinds of energy that can be found around Sacred Sites. Here, through the workshops and careful records of Richard Sutphen, we will look at some of the experiences that people actually have when encountering these phenomena.

The Sedona Vortexes
For many years, New Age pilgrims have included Sedona, Arizona, in their travel plans in order to gain the experience of what it means to place one's body at the location of an energy vortex. Sutphen says that this is because Sedona is one of the four key energy vortexes in the world.[1]

According to Sutphen, the earth is surrounded by a grid of etheric energy, with power points connected by "ley lines." The Sacred Sites of the Ancients, he says, such as Stonehenge, the pyramids, and the earthworks and mounds of the American Midwest, were built along this grid.

"A vortex," Sutphen says, "is a high concentration of energy, a receiving station for direct influences; by definition, a state resembling a whirlpool. The vortex areas have been likened to acupressure points on the body; grids can be compared to the nervous system." In other words, the body of the Earth has its own nervous system and its own energy points, and many of these can be found at Sacred Sites.

Sutphen was apparently fascinated with the idea that by visiting these energy points, we might tap into higher awareness. He wondered whether or not people might actually be able to increase healing results in the vortexes, have higher experiences of love, or even "see" the spiritual beings who guard the Sedona area.

So in the 1980s, Sutphen conducted several annual retreats and workshops at Sedona, bringing his groups to visit the power points, then asking them to write reports of their cognitive experiences there. He kept records of all of these, and cross-correlated them.

He found not only that people often had greatly enhanced healing results and heightened consciousness in these areas, but that they often had very specific visions. And some of these visions had striking similarities — the same images would run through the meditations of different individuals and different groups.

Here are some of the first-hand reports of people who attended Sutphen's retreats. Most of these testimonials were written at home afterward and then mailed to him, giving evidence that there was a continuing effect. In other words, some of the results achieved in the vortex were of lasting impact.

Health

"I have bad knees. Physical exertion, weather changes, cold, damp, or wet weather makes them hurt a lot. After the seminar, my knees should have been crying out in agony. But after being home for a week, it dawned on me that they didn't hurt at all. And they haven't hurt since that Sunday in Sedona."

"When we left, one of the girls mentioned she could see better and farther. We all seemed to have the same experience. To my surprise, I could read the directions without my glasses."

"By September, I came down with a nasty case of bronchitis that took me seven months to shake. I climbed Bell Rock in Sedona and the bronchitis was so bad that I couldn't go more than a few steps before stopping and catching my breath. I positioned myself in the middle of a medicine wheel and said aloud 'Please heal me.' The bronchitis healed."

Other reports included the healing of torn back muscles, and the ability to send healing energy to others. One participant sent healing power to her mother, who afterward, she said, stopped needing to use a cane.

Feeling the Energy
People said that they could physically feel the kinetic power of the place. Here is one report that was typical of many: "It was a natural high! The whole area induces euphoria. You feel as if you don't have a care in the world!"

One person reported:

"I felt the old energy being drawn from my total self, replaced by renewed, revitalized supply of energy which consumed my entire being.. . . Since returning home, my daily existence is filled with greater peace. I have a deep knowing that I am connected with the energy of the Universe. I allow that energy to guide me, leading to new frontiers."

Love
Many of those who went into the vortex areas with loved ones reported that it affected their relationship, that it was a "healing time" for them.

Said one person, "My fiancé and I found ourselves dealing with some issues that could effect the continuation of our relationship. . . By the next day, we had resolved these issues and we became closer than ever before."

Some chose to make love in the vortex areas, and used words like "wonderful" and "beyond description" to convey what that was like.

Psychic Cognitions
Many people felt the presence of spirits, dead relatives, or the Native Americans who had once lived in the vortex areas.

"At Airport Mesa," reported one attendee, "I felt the presence of many spirits. I had a vision of my grandmother, who died many years ago. Then at Cathedral Rock, I had a past-life vision as an Indian."

One woman made contact with her ex-husband, who had died two years before. Another said that she asked for and received a communication, via automatic writing, from Edgar Cayce. Yet another experienced talking with Albert Schweizer. "As the conversation finished," this person said, "it was as though Dr. Schweitzer and I became one spirit, blending with the universal energy. At that instant, an avalanche of knowledge was available to me."

Another person had a vision about the nature of the area and how the people who used to live there used the vortex energy: "I saw the area's inhabitants actually enter into crystal spires to recharge themselves. This is how they renewed energy, not by sleep."

Sacred Site Meditation
Sutphen suggests that we use specific meditations at the vortexes, asking for what we want. We may ask for healing, or visions, or for communication with spirits.

Here is a sample meditation similar to one that Sutphen suggests for invoking the energy spirits that belong to a particular energy vortex. Something on this order could be used at any Sacred Site:

Begin by going into your inner space of meditation until you feel completely relaxed. Affirm that the essence of the energy vortex is surrounding you with peace, balance, and harmony. Take a few moments to concentrate upon a feeling of intense energy being emitted from the ground beneath you. Affirm that you can feel this energy.

Suggest to yourself that you are absorbing the energy and becoming physically and mentally charged by it. See, sense, feel, or simply say the words that call up the idea of absorbing this energy and becoming charged with it, physically and mentally. For a full minute, focus on becoming charged with this energy.

When you feel that you are ready, call upon the spirit beings, both your own and those who belong to the vortex or Sacred Site. The following invocation was written by Dick Sutphen. You can use this, or your own words:
"Now I call on my own guides and masters to join me here in this place of intense energy. I seek your assistance. I seek to walk the spiritual path and expand my awareness, and I seek the wisdom to rise above my karma. I now choose to combine my own energy with that of the vortex and with that of my guides and masters, and I seek communication with the spirits of this vortex."

Now remain silent, opening yourself to the insight and communication from any positive spirit that might be present. Just remain open and wait with loving anticipation.

Once you see, sense, or feel a presence, send out your silent thoughts and questions and await a response. This response may come as a thought, a feeling, or a visual impression.

When you feel that the communication is over, thank the spirits of the vortex or Sacred Site, and also your own guides and masters, for their help, sharing, and love. Suggest to yourself that from this moment on, whenever you feel any form of negativity, anxiety, or fear, you will be able to remember and sense the gentle presence of your spirit helpers. Say to yourself, "From now on, I will respond to all situations with love, compassion, and with a tranquil mind."

Suggest to yourself that it is time to return to the physical world, and that you will continue manifest around you the beauty you have received here. When you are ready, open your eyes and come back into your physical body and into the physical world.

Sedona and Lemuria
According to Sutphen, there are legends indicating that Sedona was connected to ancient Lemuria, a civilization and a race of beings who preceded Atlantis and the Atlanteans.

The legends hold that Lemuria was a huge continent attached to North America, and that like Atlantis it was destroyed by cataclysms. Sutphen hypothesizes that the Hopi Indians are descended from these Lemurians.

"Hopi legend claims that the tribe came to their current area from the West after their world was destroyed," he says. "They traveled on bamboo rafts until coming to a wall of steep mountains which they climbed; as they looked back, they could see the islands sinking behind them."

When Sutphen asked people to meditate on memories of Lemuria at the vortex spots, many of them had similar experiences. The first time Sutphen asked for a Lemurian meditation, he says, he was amazed at the congruity of their responses. In experimenting with future groups, he continued to find parallels. The most common experience was the vision of crystals, especially of a great crystal underlying the area. Healing centers and caves also were images that came up repeatedly.

For example:

"People of Mu colonized the Sedona area after the great disaster of the motherland. A large geometric crystal is beneath this area."

"A large crystal is buried beneath Sedona. Where Sedona is now, there was a city before."

"In asking about the source of the energy, I perceived large crystals beneath or inside the rock formations."

"The Sedona area was a healing center, and the healing was always conducted in a cave, which was definitely below the ground, deep in the earth. I was really impressed by the brightness of the crystals in the cave."

According to many shamans and other spiritual people who live in the Payson area (home of the Spirit of Ma'at), the Sedona vortexes will eventually lose energy to the new grid that is forming worldwide. But as of this writing, Sedona is still one place where we may go to experience the vortex energy of Sacred Sites.

Richard Sutphen is an author and teacher of metaphysical and psychic phenomena. Some of his books include Past Lives, Future Loves, You Were Born Again to Be Together, The Oracle Within, Heart Magic, Reinventing Yourself, and the book from which the information in this article was taken, Dick Sutphen Presents Sedona: Psychic Energy Vortexes. In his Sedona book, he also offers maps and detailed directions to the various vortexes, and even instructions about how to dress and what to avoid (like snakes).

We interviewed Sutphen for the September Spirit of Ma'at about his vast and important work with past-life regression and reincarnational theory. That article is at Reincarnation and Karma: Freedom of the Self and from the Self.

He can be reached at 800-421-6603, or by visiting his website at dicksutphen.com.

Footnotes:

The information and quotes in this article are from Dick Sutphen Presents Sedona: Psychic Energy Vortexes, by Dick Sutphen, Valley of the Sun Publishing, 1986 (updated edition December 1996).