Kachina Woman Vortex

Kachina Woman Vortex

Sep 4, 2024, Wednesday—Kachina Woman vortex in Sedona. That was the one we decided on. I mean, if you visit Sedona and don’t go to one of the four vortexes, what kind of drip are you? We had scoped out Boynton Canyon the day before, hiking all the way to the cave at the end of the trail. Practically running we were, cutting it a bit too close to go the whole 7-mile round trip before sundown.

When we got to the end of the trail, nobody else was there (that we could see) to show us where the cave was, which was not evident to the uninitiated. In addition, there were signs admonishing us to not go farther. The trail ended at the end of the box canyon. We were on a cliff at that point, so it didn’t take much convincing to not go off trail up a very steep slippery-looking “sorta path” with the cliff below it to where the cave might be. Mostly, honestly, it was because we didn’t have a minute to spare in order to get back to the car before astronomical dark. Which we didn’t quite do. Not to mention, we knew the temperatures would soon drop way too much for our skimpy clothes. When we set out late in the day, we really weren’t planning to go to the end of the trail, but it became an obsession and we were flying.

Kachina Woman Vortex—preamble to the adventure

So sanity prevailed and we sat on the cliff for a few minutes and then began racing back. It was funny because on the way out, a young guy flew past us going even faster than we were going and we asked if he’d been at the cave. He was packing all this pro camera gear. He stopped and we all used precious minutes to watch his video looking out from inside the keyhole of the cave. Wowww. Really really amazing. You’d think we’d be even more bummed that we were right there and missed it, but it was actually a consolation to see his capture and vicariously feel his excitement of being in a hidden magical place like that at golden hour. It was truly incredible photography. He was very happy!

Kachina Woman Vortex, here we come

So the next day we decided on Kachina Woman Vortex as our vortex of choice. We knew it was off the trail we had taken up Boynton Canyon, only half a mile from the trailhead. Trouble was, the place was teeming with cars, spilling way beyond the parking lot and all along the main road for a quarter mile. I thought maybe we had mistakenly gone to the Nordstrom’s annual sale. So we decided to come back at nighttime. We just happened to be familiar with hiking this area after dark without a headlamp. With headlamps sounded like a piece of cake.

Such a piece of cake that I figured there would be a small crowd even at night, but it was just us. And the red spire and the stars and the silence. What a special place. Did I feel the extra specialness? Actually I did. Though, I get that feeling in many places in nature, especially when I lie down directly on the earth and shut up, which we did. And stay shut up for a long time. Which we did. And especially at night. So, not sure if it was extra extra, or if it’s always extra if you feel for it. But it was extra. I can feel it still.

Hope you can feel it, too, in this painting of Kachina Woman Vortex. View from the base.

Kachina Vortex, 30 x 24 in, oil on canvas

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed what you read and the paintings, I invite you to browse my originals gallery and sign up for my monthly newsletter.

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Lauren Forcella

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About Lauren Forcella

Lauren Forcella is an award-winning California artist with 27 years of experience. If art was writing, Forcella’s style would be called magical realism. Indeed, her paintings are a love letter to this beautiful Earth. In art, her style is called alla prima impressionism. Forcella uses a bold palette of classic oils. She lays the paint on thick so the emotions of her subject come through the brushstrokes as well as the color. Read More…

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Kachina Woman Vortex

Sep 4, 2024, Wednesday—Kachina Woman vortex in Sedona. That was the one we decided on. I mean, if you visit Sedona and don’t go to

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