The Sacred Outdoors: Zion, Utah, USA
Summer of 2025
Zion is an incredible place to continue your spiritual journey or have it awakened. While in Zion you will be in awe of the giant mountains made of rock nestling you in their valley. During our summer vacation, we got to stay at Zion Canyon Campground, which is the last campground before you officially enter the National Park. What is most important and what this blog series is about, is the sacred land this beautiful National Park is on. As we travel around the beautiful country, we call the United States we must actively remember who the original stewards of the land were and still are.
Upon entering the park and the surrounding area, it is not made clear who the original stewards were and still are. Many of the most sacred places on this soil have had the original people forcibly removed, assimilated and banished as a past relic. So, upon further examination, I found some information at the Human History Museum. Again, it wasn’t made crystal clear who the original people were and referred to various tribes: the Hopi and the Southern Paiute. The museum has an eclectic display of items, baskets, grinding stones, beadwork, and regalia clothing.
With further research on the Zion National Park website, which is more of the tourism website and not the National Park website, more information is given about the original inhabitants. It shares that the Anasazi people were the first inhabitants and after the Anasazi people, the Southern Paiute people occupied the canyon, which they called Mukuntuweap, which means straight canyon. Western settlers did find the land to be like a temple and wanted to preserve the land. However, western settlers did only what they knew and deemed the land a monument. Originally it was named Mukuntuweap National Monument during this time, but when the area was recognized as a National Park, the name was changed by a Senator and his team.
During my online research I have yet to find an official National Park website that talks bluntly about the forced removal of the Southern Paiute people on this traditional land. Only when I go to Native American forward websites, does the story start to unfold. I find this problematic because the typical traveler is not going to dig this deep or even know to ask questions about the original stewards of the land. It is my belief that more information should be presented at the park in person and online. The topics that need to be disclosed are:
1. Understanding the original inhabitants is crucial to connecting to the land on a deeper level that most travelers are seeking.
2. How the original inhabitants were forcibly removed from the land by western settlers.
3.Where the descendants of these original inhabitants are located now and what they continue to do preserve their culture.
4. An action plan describing how the original inhabitants’ descendants are being invited back to the land as stewards.
As you travel, I urge you to begin to ask these deeper questions and learn about the original stewards of the land and how they are still utilized as a priceless resource in the continued understanding of a place.
Channeled Message
As I travel to these sacred lands, I will be channeling messages from the land for the collective. My messages are just that, messages. They are not the final ultimatum or final word. I am just sharing my gifts of talking to Mother Earth and asking her what is it that we need to know while we are on your sacred land. Take any parts that resonate with you and leave what does not. Remember, you have full access to talk to Mother Earth yourself and I encourage you to start your practice today.
While hiking “The Narrows” in Zion, I asked the land, what do we need to know? The Narrows was full of insightful wisdom. When I channel a message, I usually hear words in my head and just get a deep inner knowing. Sometimes that voice is so loud, I can’t help but to listen. It is very crucial that when you do hear a message in any form that you ask if it is for your higher good.
In the case of hiking The Narrows, the river was sending a message about how sometimes we view the bottom in a negative light. The Narrows communicated to me that being at the bottom is a beautiful thing. As I walked through the river up between the giant rocks that make walls, I had an inner vision and knowing that the times we feel that we are at the bottom, it is the time we need to sit with our feelings, wade through the moment and then let that moment take us to an expansive opening.
As we navigate our bottom with the best that we know, we can find our way to a new beginning. Many times, we panic at the bottom, we have broken everything we know, hurt the people we love, and most of all betrayed ourselves. However, we have a choice at the bottom, we can either flail around or we can calmly look around and take in the scenery. This may feel like an impossible ask when we encounter a bottom, but the universe will give you many chances to practice utilizing your spiritual gifts to navigate a tricky bottom. While at the bottom, if you are looking around, you are going to find pieces of treasures. Things that would never normally expose themselves had you not ever hit rock bottom. Collect these treasures for future manifesting and make your way to the canyon entrance that will bring you spiritual expansiveness.
Closing
I hope that you will someday travel to Zion National Park and connect with Mother Earth and past ancestors to truly feel and connect to the land. Zion is waiting to meet you and expand your spiritual path.
References:
https://zionnationalpark.com/history-heritage/
https://www.nps.gov/articles/about-the-southern-paiute.htm
https://zionnationalpark.com/history-heritage/
Mother Earth Herself, my guides, angels, masters, teachers, and healed ancestors.