Into the Desert

I can't believe its been nearly a month since I've posted.  Entering the desert has brought back so many memories and stressors, it has been hard to stay focused.

It has been hot, for one thing.  I know that Phoenicians are laughing--"Hot?  You should be here in July!"--but for someone who is physically heat-intolerant, it is miserable and potentially life-threatening.  I will grant that ninety degrees in the aridity of the desert is less miserable than it is in the humidity of the Midwest, but it is still ninety degrees!

I had forgotten how stressful Phoenix could be.  The traffic is horrid, terrifying.  Too fast, too close, no turn signals, no courtesy.  Very rude and aggressive.  I feel in constant danger when traveling from one place to another within "The Valley."

We limped into Phoenix the last week of October after a harrowing trip down Oak Creek Canyon from Flagstaff to Sedona.  Sedona has few bookstores anymore--many of them have closed.  Psychic readers, on the other hand, are as ubiquitous as Circle K's are in Phoenix; there is one on every corner.

No longer is it an easy loping drive from Sedona to the I-17 Interstate (Black Canyon Freeway), but is now an exercise in navigating "circles" at every junction, and the landscape is dotted with new developments of overpriced housing.  For the spiritual seeker of true sacred energy, Sedona is not the answer.  Even in the 1980s, Sedona was like a psychic midway at some bizarre magical state fair, with the energies of a thousand different paths calling you like barkers to "step right up!"  Now, it is overlaid with a veneer of haughtiness and greed.

The competitive energy here in Phoenix is enough to nearly kill a really sensitive person.  I feel like my aura has jagged bits of glass embedded in it.  Smudging helps, but for me, the only real answer is to leave this place as soon as possible.

Add to that the trauma I experienced here so many years ago, and Phoenix is not truly a pleasant visit.  However, it is gratifying to see some of the old places, and to see some of the improvements that have been made.  Tempe has truly revitalized itself and if I were to live here at all, I suppose it would be near the ASU campus, or on the Tempe/Scottsdale border.  Perhaps that is simply because I lived there before and feel more comfortable in it.  But part of me wants to just tell all these other invaders to go home.

We have been very lucky, though, and made some sales.  I acquired two of the bookstores that were most important on my list, and have a couple more to contact still. I had the opportunity to do readings in one far-west side store for several days, but the drive is just too much, so I have discontinued this.  There is one more visit there--tonight I am teaching Psycards 101 and hosting a book-signing at Jan Ross Gifts & Books at 43rd Avenue and Thunderbird.

Rick's brother has been gracious enough to offer us a place to park, shower and do dishes and laundry.  We are parked in his driveway near 48th Street and Baseline and although it doesn't have the freedom of, say, a camping space, we are content and grateful.

We hope to be leaving Phoenix sometime the first week of December, heading to San Diego to begin our winter-long trek up the west coast.  The goal is to reach Seattle, Washington by the last week of February, where I hope to attend a writers conference with some of my Spalding associates.

In the meantime, I have a tentative psychic fair this weekend in Scottsdale (A Peace of the Universe), and a class scheduled next week in Glendale at The Astrology Store.  In between events, I hope for the weather to break colder so that I can get things out of the RV to clean it and reorganize it after our long journey west.

Next post I will put up my favorite pictures from our trip between Manitou Springs and Phoenix.