Many people like to have a theme to their travel. For example, some people like to focus on golf courses.

Others like to go to museums.

Visiting great churches or great architecture can be inspiring and a fun theme.

Whatever you choose, it can add depth, structure, and meaning to your travels.
My theme in recent years has been to visit as many spiritual vortexes as I can.

What is a spiritual vortex? Nature has tremendous displays of energy. If you believe that energy is the stuff of which we are all made, then perhaps you can agree that the combination of powerful natural energy and our own mental and spiritual energy can deepen and enrich our experience here on earth.

Here is Sedona Arizona, which is what comes up first when you google spiritual vortex. This is a land of all kinds of spirits. You can believe all or none of them, But this is a great starting place to analyze one of the theories about spiritual vortexes--that the passing of many people through a particular spiritual place increases its power by virtue of the energy of the people who pass through it.
but what constitutes a spiritual vortex?

This is Mecca, a classic example of a powerful energy vortex that is created by the sheer numbers of people going there on a spiritual journey. And of course, the energy of all devout Muslims directing their prayers towards Mecca 5 times a day.

Jerusalem is another center of religious pilgrimage, with great spiritual power.

These are some of the spiritual vortexes I have visited: The first time I experienced an intense spiritual awareness in nature was when I was in college and saw the Grand Canyon for the first time.
I was struck by the immensity and power of the place. I had spent my teenage years searching for something I could believe in among different, mostly Christian religions and this is what finally spoke to me. This is still one of my favorite places on earth.

Some say that this is the spiritual center of the Grand Canyon--This is Vulcan’s Anvil, an ancient volcanic remnant that sits in the heart of the Grand Canyon. It is a sacred site to the Hualapai Indian Tribe, and many river guides have rituals they will perform here to ensure a safe run in Lava Falls. Also, we were told that at the tribe's request, no one is allowed to touch the Anvil unless they are a member of the tribe. Our guides took us around the plug, but not near enough to touch it.

The Integratron is one of my personal favorite places. Located in Landers, near 29 Palms and Desert Hot Springs, it's only a 2-hour drive from Los Angeles. It has a complex history that spans the 1950s fascination with science fiction and communication with outer space into the present day, where you can go to experience sound baths in the acoustically perfect wooden dome to become centered and at one with the universe. Supposedly its builder, George van Tassel, began conducting weekly meditation sessions in 1953 in the rooms underneath Giant Rock which, he claimed, led to UFO contacts and finally to an actual encounter with extra-terrestrials when a saucer landed from the planet Venus, woke Van Tassel up and invited him onto the ship. There the aliens gave him a formula for a proprietary frequency for rejuvenating living cell tissues. In 1954 he began building a structure they called "The Integratron" to perform the rejuvenation. George described his creation this way, "The Integratron is a machine, a high-voltage electrostatic generator that will supply a broad range of frequencies to recharge the cell structure."
The location of the Integratron is an essential part of its functioning. Directed by the aliens, Van Tassel bought the land, designed and built the Integratron on an intersection of powerful geomagnetic forces that, when focused by the unique geometry of the building, concentrate and amplify the earth’s magnetic field. Magnetometers read a significant spike in the earth’s magnetic field in the center of the Integratron. Unfortunately, van Tassel died right when he completed the building and was never able to experience the cell rejuvenation he had worked toward for 19 years. If you want to experience the Integratron in a wonderful way, they have a New Year's Day program that includes a sound bath, the ceremonial burning of your written intentions and hopes for the new year in a ceremonial bonfire, and a drum circle for only about $30. It sells out quickly, so watch for it on their website.

The Fengdu Ghost City is a strange sort of tourist attraction modelled after Diyu, the concept of hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism. It was built over 1,800 years ago with a number of temples and statues which has become a tourist stop for cruise ships passing by on the Yangtze River.

We chose to believe it still had some power.

The Great Wall of China is said to have spiritual significance as well as historical, military, and architectural significance. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is the only human-made sight that can be seen from the moon.

One of the great spiritual destinations in the world is Machu Picchu, in Peru. Much is unknown about it, but the story I like is that the Incans built it to serve partly as a spiritual retreat. There are 3 main trails to Machu Picchu, the commercial trail, which is more level to transport goods easily, the military trail, which is a fast trail for soldiers to defend the area, and the spiritual trail, which is the most arduous and time consuming to allow for the mind and body to become clear and focussed on the soul and its journey, leaving the concerns of the world behind.
I can tell you, this is the hardest hike I have ever done--the spiritual trail is at the highest altitude, the Incan steps are tall, uneven, and require the most focussed attention to navigate safely.

But the reward at the end of the trail is great.

On my bucket list:
The great pyramids of Egypt.

Angkor Wat, in Cambodia

The Taj Mahal. We hope to go here at the end of 2017. The Indian government is talking about closing this amazing structure because it is becoming dangerous--the structure is being compromised by pollution and by the huge number of people who come here.

Easter Island. A mysterious, fascinating place. Who built these statues? Why? They have a great eery presence.

Stonehenge opens the door on the British Isles, which is riddled with spiritual vortexes dating back to the times of the Celts and the Druids.

Here is a cairn, which is a pile of stones built to mark a trail, or a burial site, or some kind of ceremonial site.

Callanish:
The existence of monuments in the area implies that Callanish was an active focus for prehistoric religious activity for at least 1500 years.[3]

Visiting ancient sites can be far more than simply an intellectual visit, certain locations have the ability to help us “tune in”, to nature and our selves. If you have ever wondered about the deeper side of ancient sites, and wondered if there is something else that western science has over looked…you can take tours will combine eastern meditative techniques and sound therapy tools, to move beyond the rational mind, this will help facilitate “experiencing” the divine. Or you can seek out these places on your own. No one can tell you that one or another place is or is not a spiritual vortex--if you feel something special about a place, that is your experience of it.

That is one reason why I keep coming back to DeBenneville.