It can be hard to tell the difference between two places, especially ones that are more than 1,800 miles apart. Asheville and Sedona don’t look at all like each other. One is a desert town in Arizona, and the other is the biggest city in the mountainous part of Western North Carolina. Different shades of green and blue can be found in Asheville’s nature, while Sedona is famous for its clear red rock shapes. On a deeper level, though, they are alike in ways that include history, geography, health, and faith.
Aether Vortexes and Ley Lines
Many people are drawn to Sedona because of its vortexes, which are said to also be present in Asheville. Miranda Peterson Harton, founder and owner of Namaste in Nature in Asheville, talks about vortexes in terms of ley lines. Alfred Watkins, a hobby archaeologist, came up with the idea of ley lines in the 1920s. Over the years, people have had different ideas about what ley lines are. Watkins thought of them as prehistoric trade routes or walking paths made up of invisible roads that connected different ancient buildings and landmarks.
Harston tells “I would think of ley lines as energy lines.” “The place where the ley lines meet is said to look like a vortex.” She says that ley lines are “more felt than seen and measured,” and that Mount Shasta in California, Asheville, and Sedona are all places where they meet. Though the concepts of ley lines and energy vortexes are not based in science, some people think that these spots are very good for “physical, mental, emotional, or energetic healing.”
Harton says she doesn’t know a lot about vortexes in general, but she has done a lot of study on the one in Asheville. She has also felt it. There is a change in the energy all over the area around Asheville, but she says that there are places in the mountains where the vortexes seem to be stronger. Harton and her team lead short hikes, yoga classes, and meditation retreats in the area so that other people can find and benefit from these energy hubs. Yoga, meditation, and awareness are used on these two-hour trips to “enhance” the experience of the participants with the vortex and Asheville’s natural resources in general.
People who believe in ley lines and vortexes can’t argue with the fact that being outside is good for your mind and body. Science has shown that people can hike for hours on end, take baths in the desert, and find peace while walking on the beach. Yes, you can get some vitamin D and lower your cortisol levels almost anywhere, even in your own backyard. But Asheville and Sedona have a lot in common: they’re both very beautiful places to visit. The Blue Ridge Mountains are right next to Asheville, and there are almost two million acres of national park land all around Sedona. These two towns are known for their health and wellness offerings, which bring in tourists from all over the world. One reason for this is that they are close to nature.
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The Beginning of Tourism
Sedona didn’t become a popular place for tourism and holistic healing until the middle to late 20th century, thanks to the vortexes and the New Age movement. But Asheville has been a wellness spot for a long time.
In the 1880s, increased train use had a big impact on Asheville, as it did on many other towns and cities. “Before that, ever since the first Europeans came to the area in the late 1700s, it was hard to get to Asheville,” says Kevan Frazier, who was born and raised in Asheville and is the founder of Asheville by Foot Walking Tours and the executive director of Western Carolina University’s programs in Asheville. Asheville changed quickly as travel became easier. From 1880 to 1890, the city’s population grew by 291%.
At the same time, Asheville was becoming a famous place for people with a wide range of illnesses, especially lung diseases, to get better. Frazier says that a group of doctors, the most important of whom were Karl von Ruck and Samuel Westray Battle, helped make Asheville what it is today. He says, “They were well-known doctors across the country, and it was they who started working with some of the hotels and resorts to market Asheville as a great health resort and a place to go when you needed fresh mountain air.” The mountain air was especially nice for people who had cancer. Framer says, “There were a lot of sanatoriums, and the fronts of them had what were called breathing porches.” “They thought getting some fresh air would help, and it did. It took away a lot of their symptoms.”