How to Get the Most From Sacred Places

The April issue of Aquarius magazine is just out, and they were kind enough to publish an article I wrote, “How to Get the Most From Sacred Places.” In it I talk about a bit about the benefits people can gain from spiritual travel to places of power, such as Mount Kailash in Tibet. But mostly it covers things such as the sort of an attitude to have when approaching a site, and how to minimize your impact on places.

If you are fortunate enough to live near Atlanta, GA, you can pick up a copy of Aquarius at any one of their numerous distribution sites across the area. For the rest of us, you can read the magazine online at http://www.aquarius-atlanta.com.

One thing I probably should have included in the article but didn’t is a mention of the bad things that can happen to people who take “souvenirs” away from sacred places. I did quite a bit of research on this topic when I was editing Power Trips magazine, and I was amazed at the horror stories told by people who took stones and other artifacts away from sites and later felt compelled to give them back.

A man who took a stone from Clava Cairns in Scotland told me how he felt so physically ill driving away from the place that he had to park his car and be sick. He said that when he took the stolen stone out of his pocket it “became bitterly cold and heavy. I could sense that it was angry at me,” he said. After he turned around, went back, and replaced the stone, his flu-like symptoms immediately were gone.

I heard similar stories from U.S. Park Rangers at Native American sites. One of them showed me a letter from someone who had taken a shard of Anasazi pottery from an Arizona park and later mailed it back, apologetically, in hopes that the “curse” that had befallen him would be lifted.

Of course I know my readers would never dream of stealing from sacred sites. But I pass these anecdotes along to you so you may help educate others.