I imagined the Chapel of the Holy Cross on a hill in Sedona to be like an apparition of Mary, the blessed virgin. Just like how the mother of Christ was depicted in many Catholic Churches, you look up and there she is, kindly looking down on everyone, the poor banished children of Eve!
An SUV seemed to be following me while I tried to locate the "must see spiritual citadel" of Sedona. The driver looked like another pilgrim to me. I was ecstatic for some spiritual experience. The SUV eventually pulled into the driveway of an expensive-looking property.
The "must see spiritual citadel" didn't really look anything like the picture of "spiritual vortex" among the red rocks of Sedona that could inspire even this irreverent wanderer. I was looking for an image I saw online. It turns out that the picture was taken about 9 years ago, long before trees in the neighborhood obstructed the "spiritual vortex".
I couldn't offer prayers nor supplications over seeing the facade of a chapel on a hill that reminded me of Johari's window. The chapel that looked like it was wedged between a rock and a hard place was envisioned to "come to life in the souls of men and be a living reality".
The chapel was a gift from Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a sculptress, philanthropist, and devout Catholic, who believed that the arts should be in service of spirit. She considered the Chapel of the Holy Cross to be her greatest artistic achievement and a fulfillment of her life's mission.
Makeshift signs are all over the front yards of expensive homes in the vicinity of the chapel. I am reminded of the photo I took in Colorado of grouchy lawn bear with the sign that sums it all.
"Private Property"
"No Parking."
"No Trespassing"
"No standing on the street."
"Go take your fucking selfies elsewhere!"
The chapel that was designated as a historic landmark in 2008, was a subject of protests from among the neighborhood homeowners at one time. Built in the 1950's with the help of then Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, Marguerite Stuade who was also the daughter of a pharmaceutical baron obtained the permit to build the chapel on a federal land.
The chapel sits on a leased land that belongs to the U.S. Forest Service looks kind of out of place in the Coconino National Forest. The chapel actually looked invasive to me, like a non-native plant.
The Coconino National Forest is known for its ponderosa pine trees. The national forest got its name from Cohonino, the Hopi word for Havasupai and Yavasupai. Havasu means blue water; Yava means hill; and Pai denotes to the indigenous tribes of Arizona. Arizona on the other hand comes from early Spanish word Arizonac which means the place for little springs. Kaibab National Forest which is the home turf of the Grand Canyon National Park borders the northern rim of the Coconino National Forest.
The town, to me, is pretty by all accounts and almost dainty like woman whom it got its name from: Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly. The Chapel of the Holy Cross is under the management of the diocese of Sedona and is not like the Shrine of our Lady of Lourdes in France or the Shrine of our Lady of Manaoag in my republic.
Coming north from Flagstaff by I-17, the drive by state route 89A into the Coconino National Forest was an adventure in itself. Leaving Williams at about 5:30 in the morning, I had to wait for the road to open from the scheduled road night construction work. A portion of the state route 89A was closed till 6 am and I had to wait in a nearby campground.
The drive to Sedona was mostly downhill and gave me the impression that I was driving to some oasis. It felt like I was driving from Idyllwild into Palm Springs using the Pines to Palm highway portion of California route 74.
Unlike Palm Springs which is to me an irrigated desert, Sedona is more of a basin rather than a desert. It's the garden of Helen or Jane, I mean, Eden.
The basin that became Sedona used to be a sea bottom 330 million years ago. The layer of limestone that underlies today is the result of iron oxide deposited by water all through those 330 million years of rock formation. The red rocks in Sedona are among the layered kind of Paleozoic rocks formation that make up the Grand Canyon. Layered Paleozoic rocks are formed from 525 million years to 270 million years ago. The supergroup rocks are even formed much much earlier from 1,200 to 740 million years ago. The Vishnu basement rocks are the oldest rock formation in the area and are about 1,840 to 1,680 millions years old, much much even older than God!
http://dailyphotowall.net/amazing-church-of-the-holy-cross-sedona-images/chapel-of-the-holy-cross-in-sedona-arizona-must-see-sedona-stylish-home-ideas-design/
http://www.native-languages.org/pai.htm
http://icma.org/m/en/icma/knowledge_network/blogs/blogpost/2916/Flagstaff_Coconino_County
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