Montezuma Well

There is a creation myth that is connected to three Sacred Sites here in the Sedona area. The Yavapai Native Americans have legend of how their people came into existence.  There had been an ancient people who lived underground where Montezuma's Well is today.  During this  time the well was dry. It was before the Great Flood. The people had a knowing that the rains were going to come. They placed a young woman in a cottonwood tree with a woodpecker as her only companion. She was given a white pearl for protection. There was plenty of food in her little boat.  The wise ones gave her instructions what to do when the flood waters came then they sealed the log with pitch and then it began to rain. It rain for 40 days. She was the only person who surveyed the flood. 

When the water resided her log hit dry land which was a high peak here in Sedona. Then Wood Pecker used his skills of pecking to free her from the hollow log. Today the highest peak of Sedona is Thunder Mountain.

It is then said she traveled to a Sacred Place on Mingus Mountains. It was in this Sacred Place the Sun fell in love with her beauty and she became pregnant with child. She then made her journey to Boynton Canyon.  There she lived in a cave where she bathed in a sacred pool.  She was given the name Kamalapukwia, Old Woman with a Pearl. She gave birth to a daughter whose named was First Lady.  This was the beginning of the Yavapai Nation also known as the People of the Sun.  First Lady also gave birth to a son, but that is a whole different story.

I find it interesting that other Native American tribes also have legends that dovetail with the Yavapai creation story. The Hopi have legends of the Great Red City of the South. It goes on to say Paluluang, a horned plumed serpent created the Great Flood that wiped out the inhabitance of the third world. It is believed that Paluluang lived at Montezuma's Well. We do not know for sure that Red Rock Sedona is the Great Red City in the Hopi 's legend but there seems to be an interweaving of threads that connect with the Yavapai creation myth.

This photo is a rock at Montezuma's Well if you look closely you will can make out a horned face frowning in the upper corner of the photograph. It's serpentine body is subtly shown in the rocks.

 This rock has the appearance of large dragon head. Let your eye follow the lower corner of the photo where the bare tree is standing. This  is the snout of the dragon follow the rock's edge and you will also see the dragon's eye and the top of his forehead. Naga/Dragons are the rulers of water. 

The Mohave Native American language also talk about a Celestial Virgin named Arizunna, (Arizona) who was impregnated by the Sun.  Ari in Mohave means: sun, holy, good, and beautiful. And the word Urnia means maiden. 

All of this brings to us to the Sacred Site of the Montezuma's Well. The well was mistakenly named by the Spaniards thinking it was part of the territory of Montezuma.

This warm water source like a primordial womb is a bottomless lake. Even to this day they have not found the source of Montezuma's Well. 


There are dwellings around the lake where the Ancient Ones once inhabited. The lake's water was channeled into an irrigation ditch that would feed the farm lands of the Native People. They grew corn, squash and beans,  referred as the three sisters. They also grew cotton which they mixed with yucca fibers to make a strong durable cloth. 

When I followed the path to the irrigation system I found not only black maiden hair fern which is unusual growing here in the desert climate, but  also the largest sycamore tree I  ever set eyes on. There was so much energy in the land, that my body flowed into spontaneous Chi Gong movements.

The Chi of the this area was strong in the plants, the trees, the air and the purity of the water. When the Chi Gong finished doing me, the most beautiful little bird came to visit. It is known as a Canyon Wren. I looked over to a rock formation and there I saw a rock guardian whose appearance look like a man's head riding a serpent. My own experience of the Chi Gong that happened while I was in this Sacred Place was like riding the smooth Chi of a Water Dragon. Such Blessings. 

You might  ask yourself what does all of this mean?  How does this legends effect me today?

I have found that pilgrimage sites hold legends and myths that can be an archetype for the soul's journey through the human condition.

The serpentine energy is a reflection of our own unconscious inner nature that has not been bought into awareness.  When we allow ourselves to look at our own unresolved emotions we can see how our unconscious behavior can flood into our life and create destruction. 


When we go on pilgrimage to a Sacred Sites these archetypes are living in the Earth.  When we are available through prayer and silence we are given a chance to reflect, to heal and to rebirth our self with more Awareness. Each site holds it's own vibration and archetypes that can act as portals into Awareness.  When the serpentine energy rises we become Awaken from our unconscious slumber and come home to our true nature. 

Sedona Ley-Lines

The deep study of geomancy, better known as Feng Shui, in China understands the importants of the magnetic currents of the Earth. These magnetic currents are called ley-lines in the West, but are known as dragon-lines in China.

The ley lines are found many times in rock ridges, if one looks closely into the face of these rocks you can begin to see the body of dragons. Sedona has great examples of Ley-lines.  When many Ley-lines meet in one place it creates a Vortex of energy.  These line are like acupuncture meridians in the human-body, but on a larger scale within the Earth.  Acupuncture has a point called the Bai Hui Du-Zo ,( The point of Hundred Meetings.) This is where many meridian lines come together at the crown of the head.  Sedona is one of the places on the Earth where many major Earth meridians come together. 

 Look at the larger image at the top of the page and if you look closely you will see the profile of a head of a dragon. His nose begins in the right hand conner of the photo.

The Tibetans taught me the way of treasure vases. I was a trail guide on Mt. Shasta from 2002-2006. During this time on my tours, I began to see Dragon-lines in the Earth. One day I was explaining to my teacher the powerful experiences I was having with the dragon-lines. He suggested for me to do treasure vases practice for the Dragon-lines and spend time in these places when I found a ley-line

The doing of this practice further opened my eyes to the ley-lines. I found a Dragon Line at 12,000 feet elevation on Mt. Shasta, California. It was a beautiful rock ridge that was shaped like a dragon. There at the eye of the dragon was “a self-arising Buddha”. A self-arising Buddha is an image of the Buddha that is naturally formed by Nature. This one was chiseled in stone by the ice, the wind, and the snow. These Buddhas were in the forms of Amitaba and Guanyin.

Above is the Picture of the Self Arising Buddha Kuan-yin on the Dragon-line in Mt. Shasta

 I returned to this sacred place many times over the next four years. I moved from Mt. Shasta to France in 2006. So I climbed the mountain to visit this site one last time. The mountain glaciers had just melted and the trailhead was opened for the first time that summer. When I arrived at the Dragon-line, I was surprised. A massive rockslide had happened, and the face of the Buddha and Guanyin had disappeared. I saw this event as a poetic reminder that “ form always returns to the formless. “  The fourth photo at the top of the page is a picture of a Self Arising Buddha I found in a fence very close to the Ley-lines here in Sedona.

 This picture is a Self Arising Buddha in the Fence next to my house. 

The dragon practice opened the door for me to understand the energy meridians that are present in the Earth. When we align with these Earth Meridians the flow of Qi is opened in us.

In China these types of ridges are called Lung-mei, which means dragon lines. These invisible magnetic currents of energy that flow through the landscape help distribute the fertility through the Earth. There are always two main dragon lines: one is the yin line, representing the female polarity and the other the yang line, representing the male polarity. The male dragon line will be found in high, steep craggy ridges while the female line will be in softer areas in the landscape. But in both lines if you look closely you will see the body and shape of dragons.

The understanding of dragon lines was not only used in China; other ancient cultures were also aware of them, such as in the British Isles, Australia, and many of the tribal cultures of Europe. The powerful magnetism experienced from these ley-lines caused the creation of many ancient roads, temples, standing stones and burial mounds. 

The  ancient Gauls called the land between the main ley-lines the wouivre. Wouivre means a snake that glides through the landscape. This magnetic serpent energy is connected to underground water currents or veins of gold, copper or silver. Sometimes it is also connected with different ridges in the landscape that have been pushed up by the magna deep in the earth. When this underground magnetic serpent energy surfaces the land is fruitful. The Ancients  used these sacred places for initiation temples. The Labyrinth of Cathedral Chartre is an excellent example of this serpent energy that coils and rises in the center of the maze. There many places I have lived or visited where the ley-lines in the form of dragons are present, the Sacred Mountain of Mt Shasta in Northern California, Java, Bali, the Sacred Shrines of Japan, the South of France, Northern Italy and Paris.  And now I find myself living here in Sedona, the land of the Red Rock Dragons.

Your own Inner Ley-Lines

A Sacred Journey true purpose is to awaken one’s consciousness. The outer journey is symbolic of the journey within. Just as the Earth has sacred ley-lines and power places our own body is also has it’s own ley-lines. When we align ourselves through prayer, mediation, and sacred sites initiations can take place. The energy for the great initiations are here if we approach the sacred with the right attitude.

The dragon lines reflect the Earths Kundalini with its two currents of Yin and Yang. In the science of yoga, two specific subtle channels are described as existing in our physical body. They are called Ida and Pingala. Ida is cooling, Pingala is heating. They coil around the central and most important channel, called Sushumna. When the Kundalini becomes activated through spiritual practice the powerful force of the Kundalini moves up from the base of the initiate’s spine and goes through this central channel.

However, there also exists a series of smaller channels in the body, called Nadis, or astral energy channels, think of it as a bundle of reeds tied together. When the Kundalini rises up through the bundle of reeds it is possible to experience the energetic blocks that are connected to emotional traumas that have occurred in ones life. When the Kundalini is activated these energy blockages start clearing. The physical body can shake uncontrollably, strange sounds can be made to clear the throat chakras, the breathing becomes irregular and the body can move into spontaneous yoga postures. The Kundalini’s purpose is to go through the central channel, clear the blockages and activate all seven chakras . This process is not always easy. For, unless a spiritual foundation of working with body, heart and mind has been prepared for this, one can have difficulties clearing the blockages from the one system.

This Ida and Pingala in the Kundalini System are reflected in the landscape by the two main dragon ley lines. The subtler system of wouivres, found between the two dragon ley lines, represent the earth’s reflection of the Nadi System in the physical body. The naga beings are the serpentine guardians of the land between the ley lines.  The Nagas mythos is found in countries like, India, Tibet, Bali and Java. 

The Kundalini energy is our sexual energy that been raised up though the central channel. It is represented as two winged serpents. This symbol is found on the modern medical staff known as the caduceus. 

But the Kundalini of most people on this planet is dormant. This powerful spiritual initiation has been misunderstood. It is not necessary to have Kundalini to have deep spiritual experiences . Many traditional roads to awakening does not involve the Kundalini opening. But I feel it is important to explain the truth about the serpentine Kundalini to clear up negative projections that have been placed on dragon power that we often find in the Western Medieval archetypes.

                                                               Can you see the dragon's profile in this rock?

The Heart of Sedona

In my travels I came across this rock. If you look closely you can see it's face with one eye. This would be considered a fertility stone by the Ancient Ones. The trees and plants are greener then the surrounding landscape.

I sat myself very close to the rock.  I became quiet, people walked by not even noticing I was there. I disappeared into my surroundings. I inspected all the rock's markings its curves, grooves and green lichens that covered part of it's surface. Then I came to a place where it appeared the rock was exposing it heart. I place my hand on it's heart and from a self arising place inside of me a prayer began to form on my lips. I whispered "May my heart and the heart of this land be connected." "May the Spirit of this land touch me and teach me" "May I honor the Ancient Ones the Unseen Ones" "May I listen to the precious voice of the Earth"

Not far from where I live here, are small rocks caves located below the ley-lines. When one approaches these ancient dwellings you can feel the Sacred from the Ancient Ones who once lived here.  I touched the rocks and paid my respects to all those who came before me.

When one passes through the doorway of this cave like dwelling and sits down, everything seems to have a vibration and a sound wave that is below the surface appearances.

I slow my breath down.  My thoughts fade into the background.  The Silences echoes from a place where time stand still.  The modern everyday world blends over something ancient, deeper, whose roots of wisdom are still held in these Holy Stones. I listen, I see, and I bow my head in reverence to the beauty that is here to behold and also be a part of. This is the door way to the Beauty Way. It is reflected in the Natural Surroundings but also is a door that opens up deep inside of my soul.