Traveling Jo

The mystery surrounding the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming is layered—ancient, sacred, and largely unexplained. For centuries, Indigenous tribes have made pilgrimage to this high-mountain circle of stones, journeying hundreds of miles for ceremony. Each tradition unique, yet all carry a shared legend: "This was here before us. Older than our people. Built by the Scarface, the Burnface. Created by those who came before Iron." The Wheel points to the stars. How did so many tribes—separated by vast lands and languages—come to know of it? Why journey so far, again and again, just to stand in its presence and make offerings? What truths remain about this circle? And what truths have been hidden? The road trip from Utah to Lovell, Wyoming was meant to take eight hours. But with wildfire detours and winding backroads, it took ten. Still, when we arrived, the land met us in serenity. Our lodging was remote, pristine. A duck pond mirrored the open sky, where clouds unfurled in sha...

SHADOWS AND LIGHT I sat silently in a beautiful Meadow. A Vortex in Sedona, AZ. Vortexes are places where the energy is powerful. So powerful that you can see the trees and plants growing in swirls.... As I sat I noticed a beautiful Shadow Cast upon the large red rock cliffside....and I observed how shadows are seemingly alive... They grow and diminish throughout the day, they shift from side to side, they stretch tall and shrink small... in fact- all day they are engaged in a magnificent dance of creation.  As I pondered this I wondered.... "Do Shadows have consciousness? Do they have an awareness? Are they alive? Do they know they are really just an illusion? A semi-reflection of something that is real and alive and tangible? " The moment this question formed in my mind---- I heard a small voice in my heart whisper: "I wonder if humans think they are real... or do they know, they are just a reflection ...?"  ~ktjo

I was a few miles outside of Sedona, Arizona and headed south to Phoenix when my friend texted "Bring me back some dirt from Sedona!"  I googled the closest park and "Montezuma's Well" popped up on by navigation. I had intended to find a simple community park with a bench to sit for a moment and journal. The universe had different intentions. I came across a footprint in the cement. I thought about the fact that whoever stepped there, wasn't "supposed" to. And yet, here it is. Preserved.  I wondered if across the world, wherever there are stone markings, were they vandalizing? Were they "stepping outside" of the lines? Here we are, preserving the rebels footsteps. The rebels are the ones who step outside the lines, who leave a mark. The conservative point fingers and build fences and tell the rebels to conform- and the rebels don't. They push the edges of the leading edge. Then time goes by, generations pass, and the conservatives of ...

I left the Bell Rock vortex at 9:45am. As my shivering fingers and warming feet soaked in the heat from the warming SUV I had rented, I searched for Hot Coffee nearby and found Oak Creek Espresso.  Arriving into the eclectic and cozy atmosphere, the coffee barista cheered and welcomed every customer. With a strawberry blond pixie cut, button down flannel and swaying stone earrings she took my order for a coconut milk latte. I watched as she and her coworkers seemed to know most of the people ordering drinks and pastries by name. With a boisterous and kind laugh she asked them how they were doing and made everyone who entered feel important.  My beverage was just what I needed to thaw the frost that had seemed to reach my bones. Having hiked in 24 degree pre-sun coolness wearing dress shoes, I was now walking around wearing black gym socks underneath my fancy sandals. I looked comical- and I didn't care.  Oak Creek Espresso shares the parking lot with a Local Artist Collec...

Phoenix, Arizona is a sprawled and flat city across a flat and sparse land. Downtown feels like Las Vegas without all the gambling and neon gimmickry.  My hotel was within walking distance to the conference center- but I opted to drive, based on the bars on the windows of the gentrified outskirts off the main business hubs and unsure of what time I would be leaving the conference- wondering if it was wise to walk alone as a woman down unknown streets after dark.  The second morning of my stay, which was also the last day of the conference, I lounged in the hotel lobby waiting for valet, when an idea flew through my mind like a bird across the sky; a vision of me sitting at Bell Rock in Sedona, Arizona; playing my thousand year old Ancient Singing bowl. It dawned on me that I had free time to make it there and back before my flight the next afternoon. At risk of being late to the business training with Keira Brinton of JOA Publishing, my past publisher, I cancelled my last nigh...