From The Start Of Time, Men And Women Have Gone To Sacred Spots For Cure, Motivation And Direction

Written by: carolyn.amsili.coac
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010

Why is it that people embark on a spiritual journey or on spiritual retreats? From historical stone circles and jungle-tangled pyramids to mountaintop shrines and gothic cathedrals, venerated sites captivate us with a mystical force. From the start of time spiritual trip has been well-known. Men and women have gone to sacred sites for therapy, motivation and direction. Typical American physicians may scoff at recommendations that water from holy wells can put a stop to health issues or that ancient megaliths can provide messages from the spirit realm, but the thought of magical spots has been popular to a lot of societies for hundreds and hundreds of years.

The most ancient well-known pilgrimage place is Mount Kailash in Tibet, which continues to be a sacred travel destination for about 15,000 years. Trekking the 32-mile trail around Kailash usually takes more or less three days, at altitudes as elevated as 18,000 feet. Buddhists claim the ritual circumambulation eliminates the sins of a life time, and 108 times around Mount Kailash will permit you to make it to Nirvana.



South America's most popular spiritual spot, Machu Picchu, is a mountaintop citadel approximately 60 miles northwest of Cusco in Peru. There exist several hundred stone structures, constructed on terraces and linked by a maze of stone notches and walkways.

Complemented by the stunning natural environment, the touch of Machu Picchu is as sacred and inspiring as any cathedral. A couple of structures, like the Temple of Three Windows, are constructed from huge stone blocks that weigh roughly thirty tons and fitted together with no mortar. It is extremely mind-blowing to contemplate how such structure could have been done by a said to be "primitive" culture, many people believe to be pre-Incan by centuries.

At present you do not need to go out of North America to see spots famous for miracles. In Chimayo, New Mexico there exists an adobe chapel where 2,000 devotees gather every Good Friday, and 300,000 tourists are drawn each year. In a little room behind the chapel, referred to as the "Room of Miracles," is a floor hole whereby visitors scoop out sand, believed to possess healing components. The room's walls are coated with hundreds of pictures and letters from tourists grateful for the treatment they claim, they got.

Sedona, Arizona also has been a spiritual journey destination since ancient time to the current time. Not just the area's Hopi and Navajo, but people from as far as Central America and Canada traveled there for treatment and learning long before Europeans conquered North America. The site's wonderfully-shaped red sandstone rocks are believed to release magical energy to a certain extent due to their high level of magnetic iron.

Sedona was inhabited by natives from the four holy directions: Athabascans from the North, the Hopi ancestors from the South, Apache from the East, and Yavapai from the West. This turns out to be the way with a lot of spiritual travel places. They are in the beginning identified as points of natural earth energy, then, in due course, the land is improved by placing shrines, cathedrals, monoliths, stone circles etc. Through the centuries, as men and women assembled to celebrate or worship at the spots, they put in their own human energies.

Spiritual Travel

http://divinejoyretreats.com

John Bates

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