Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona

by Susannah Crockford

Ask a random American what springs to mind about Sedona, Arizona, and they will almost certainly mention New Age spirituality. Nestled among stunning sandstone formations, Sedona has built an identity completely intertwined with that of the permanent residents and throngs of visitors who insist it is home to powerful vortexes—sites of spiraling energy where meditation, clairvoyance, and channeling are enhanced. It is in this uniquely American town that Susannah Crockford took up residence for two years to make sense of spirituality, religion, race, and class.

Many people move to Sedona because, they claim, they are called there by its special energy. But they are also often escaping job loss, family breakdown, or foreclosure. Spirituality, Crockford shows, offers a way for people to distance themselves from and critique current political and economic norms in America. Yet they still find themselves monetizing their spiritual practice as a way to both “raise their vibration” and meet their basic needs. Through an analysis of spirituality in Sedona, Crockford gives shape to the failures and frustrations of middle- and working-class people living in contemporary America, describing how spirituality infuses their everyday lives. Exploring millenarianism, conversion, nature, food, and conspiracy theories, Ripples of the Universe combines captivating vignettes with astute analysis to produce a unique take on the myriad ways class and spirituality are linked in contemporary America.

259 pages, Paperback

Published June 3, 2021

About the author

Susannah Crockford, Ph.D. (Anthropology, London School of Economics, 2017; M.Res., Religious Studies, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2010; B.A., Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, 2003) is an anthropologist specializing in religion, ecology, and political economy. Previously, she was a post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University, Belgium.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cultural anthropology is my new jam after reading this amazing book about new agers in Sedona. There are deep similarities between Sedona and the Puna district on Big Island, and Crockford's embedded ethnography helped me make more sense and context out of attitudes that baffle me. The chapter on food was especially insightful, and its chapter on conspirituality is frightfully relevant.

[Jens]

Excellent read on new age spiritualism. Class, race, gender, neo liberalism, the Great Recession, end of the Mayan long count calendar etc. are elegantly treated in this thorough social anthropological study of individuals on the margins of society and the futile attempts at separating from the "third dimensional sphere".

[elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

[ekrobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thought-provoking read!