Seeking a spiritual energy experience? Skip Sedona and look in your own backyard

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Nov. 11. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• Sedona isn’t the only place for mind-body healing.
• Hollywood can finally return to work.
• Get a taste of the Mediterranean in this California city.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

Sedona isn’t the only place for mind-body healing

Vortexes are all the rage these days. Many claim that these special spots, where energy enters or projects out of the earth, have an almost mystical ability to heal and transform. And to get this experience, Sedona, Ariz. is (allegedly) the place to be.

Apparently, Sedona’s energy is so strong that the entire town is considered a vortex. “It feels good when someone can point to a spot and say, ‘This is it,’” Dennis Andres, the author of “What Is a Vortex?”, told my colleague Deborah Netburn. “But it’s not a spot. The energy is everywhere in Sedona.”

The surrounding views from Bell Rock Vortex with people sitting on an adjacent mountain top in Sedona, Ariz.

(Adam Riding/For The Times)

Still, Sedona visitors flock to specific rock formations in the region, such as Airport Mesa (great for sunsets) and Cathedral Rock (which glows when the sun hits it). While there, some visitors told Deborah they felt peaceful and grounded, “as if a calming energy was emanating from the Earth.”

In recent years, these vortexes have become increasingly popular and crowded, much to the chagrin of Sedona residents who have come to loathe tourists.

But Sedona’s supposed monopoly on geographic-based healing energies could be coming to an end.

Deborah found that some spiritual guides are trying to popularize the notion that one can have a special personal experience without being in a specific spot.

Vortex seekers can get the experience they crave without leaving Los Angeles. At least that’s what Pete A. Sanders, a founding board member of the Sedona Metaphysical Spiritual Assn. and author of “Scientific Vortex Information,” told Deborah. “Being inspired by a hillside you see or a nature picture can do it.”

Pete A. Sanders, a founding board member of the Sedona Metaphysical Spiritual Assn. and author of “Scientific Vortex Information, said vortex seekers can get the experience they crave without leaving Los Angeles.

(Ian Stewart)

Inspiring hillsides and nature visuals are abundant in L.A., which is probably why Pete believes that the Hollywood Hills, Griffith Observatory, and the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains are a vortex. “We love having people’s tourist money here,” he said. “But if people never come to Sedona, they can still have a vortex experience.”

Deborah writes that while this perspective is not universally accepted among Sedona’s vortex tour guides, many agree that focusing on just a handful of sites misses the point.

The vortexes in Sedona are a relatively new phenomenon, anyway. As Deborah details in her story, Indigenous people from the area have a different relationship to, and perspective on, the land.

So before you book that flight to Sedona, consider looking into what spiritual vortexes might exist near you. And if you do decide to go, try not to offend the locals.

The week’s biggest stories

Members and supporters of SAG-AFTRA picket in front of Netflix on Sunset Boulevard.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Labor

• SAG-AFTRA and the studios just reached a deal to end the actors’ strike. What’s next?
• Hollywood can finally return to work. But the industry isn’t expecting to quickly bounce back.
• Column: The Hollywood strikes are finally over. But we won’t repair the damage anytime soon.

Politics

• A new poll finds that California voters disapprove of Newsom’s performance as governor.
• Trump erupts in a chaotic day of testimony, in a rare glimpse of ex-president under oath.
• The Supreme Court sounds wary of extending gun rights to domestic abusers.

Climate and environment

• Early season atmospheric river to bring significant rain next week to Southern California.
• Plans to build a $200-million water pipeline across the Mojave Desert to supply the city of Ridgecrest are angering environmentalists, farmers and miners.
• With hot October temperatures, this is ‘virtually certain’ to be the warmest year on record.

Courts and crime

• The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi and stirring up right-wing conspiracies faces a San Francisco jury.
• ‘Conflicting statements’ complicate the investigation into a Jewish man’s death at a protest.
• A father and son were shot, dismembered and burned. This is the dark side of California cannabis.
  

More big stories

• As flames tore at the historic north blimp hangar in Tustin, not only did a piece of wartime history fall to ash but also a landmark significant to cinema.
• Droves of Californians are moving to Texas. Here’s the life they are finding.
• ‘The tenant from hell’ moves out of a Brentwood Airbnb after 570 rent-free days. She said she had a right to stay.
• SZA, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo lead female-dominated 2024 Grammy nominations.
• A successful liftoff: Space shuttle Endeavour’s rockets are installed.

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

(Jess Hutchison / Los Angeles Times)

Destined to die in prison, he vowed to change his life. How he found redemption and his freedom. Just a few years ago, Jarad Nava was serving a 162-year sentence for a crime he committed when he was 17.
Now 28, the young man who once thought he’d never see the outside of a prison works as an assistant for the state Senate Public Safety Committee.

More great reads

• New census numbers project more than 1 in 4 Americans will be Latino by 2060.
• One pandemic and two strikes later, what will become of the movie industry?
• He was jailed 23 years ago for murder. The evidence pointed to his brother. A judge has now set him free.
• Column: The lack of Latino representation in film is deeper than negligence. It’s intentional exclusion.
  

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

(Patrick Hruby / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 🍷 🏖️ Get a taste of the Mediterranean in this California city that is the ideal destination for a relaxing weekend trip.
• 🏰 Inside L.A.’s famous Art Deco penthouse, this show has you choose your own dark adventure.
• 👨🏻‍🎨 Ken Gun Min’s dreamy art — on display at the Shulamit Nazarian gallery — is like nothing you’ve seen before, and explores identity in L.A.
• 🎸Mosh at a cumbia punk show and pay tribute to ’90s backyard parties this weekend.

Staying in

• 🏈 Here are four things to watch during tonight’s USC vs. Oregon game.
• 📺 ‘The Curse’ — starring Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone — is a winding tragic comedy that is nothing if not ambitious.
• 🧀 Here’s a recipe for chili crisp mac ‘n’ cheese.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

L.A. Affairs

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

(Franziska Barczyk / For The Times)

I moved to L.A. and met a wonderful guy. I just wasn’t expecting his kinks. What Nick wanted in a partner was a wife and a dominatrix in one. I fell out of love as quickly as I had fallen into it.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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