The Great Creator has liberally blessed the earth with life preserving, thirst quenching springs of clean, fresh water.
However, there are also special springs, touched with sulphur and carbonation that are not as numerous.
These unique srings were created for the spiritual and physical rejuvenation of the body, mind and spirit.
The Native Peoples have long understood the sacredness of these healing waters, soaking
in the heavily sulphured waters to clean and speed the healing of wounds and other afflictions.
The presence of invisible carbon dioxide gas in the water expands capillaries near the surface of
the skin and the heat speeds circulation, thus aiding in the elimination of toxins and other
detrimental pollutants hiding in the blood and fat cells. In addition, the lymph system, which is
often sluggish and ineffective due to our less active lifestyle, gets throughly stimulated by the
increased circulation. Arthritis and other chronic debilitating conditions and diseases benefit from all this
increased activity as well. The body requires stimulating activity, usually obtained from walking,
sports, and other physical recreation, yet their impaired conditions prevent them from getting
what they need. This is especially true with immune system diseases such as cancer.
Common sense has long told man what the doctors are only beginning to learn . . . that
movement equals life and energy and that loss of movement and circulation equals a downward
spiral towards atrophy and eventually, death. Babies and small children often make their elders
nervous and uncomfortable because their intense movement reminds those who are slowing down
that their days really are numbered.
Do you have a hot springs near you? If so, consider yourself blessed. These special waters
are found in areas where the earth is still growing and shifting as along major faults and tectonic
plates, where molten rock, or magma is close to the surface and source of underground water.
In our southern Utah area, the healing springs of Pah Tempe are located in the Virgin River
near the town of Hurricane and Zion National Park. Reservations are not needed for to enjoy the
springs, but if you wish to stay in the bed and breakfast inn located at the river click here for
pictures and information.--- ---Reservations
The springs,
located in cascading pools and along the river are superheated by hot flowing magma 6,000 feet
below the surface. Water temperature reaches between 106 and 108 degrees as it forces its way
up the cracks in the earth’s surface. These highly sulphuric springs smell distinctly, at times
of rotten eggs, but bathers are quickly desensitized to it after a few minutes. The initial
odor is a small price to pay for the many benefits available. For those who still have their
doubts, the smell virtually disappears after only a short soak.
Pah Tempe is a well-kept family resort where drugs, drinking, smoking and nudity are
prohibited. Overnight camping and lodging is enjoyed by many tourists with Europeans and
Asians as frequent guests. The springs offer a complementary activity to muscles sore from
hiking the scenic wonders of the nearby Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands and Bryce
National Parks. Many local regulars bring their children and spend long relaxing hours in the
pools and bubbling river. Some bring picnic lunches and make a wonderful day of memories for
themselves and their families. Many current regulars were initiated into the life extending and
stress relieving practice of regular soaking by parents or grandparents who understood the rare
pearl of great price they had been blessed with and wanted to instill this appreciation in
their offspring. Even when the elders have passed on, those who remain have wonderful
memories of togetherness and still feel close to them when they are at this sacred place, deep in
the rugged canyon of the Virgin river. This feeling of closeness to all that is good and eternal is
common in wilderness refuges the world over.
Pah Tempe is considered by many to be the most healing hot spring in the United States, followed by
others in Italy and Greece. The locals who regularly visit the springs all have a story they will
share about these healing properties of the water.
All beings who love and appreciate Mother Earth automatically become members of the
Earthkeepers Nation. This tribe has members from all tribes, races, religions, and classes.
Earthkeepers pick up trash in the wilderness or at special spots like hot springs, not because
it is the proper thing to do, or someone might be watching . . . but because it actually hurts
them to see ugly disrespectful litter on the face of Mother Earth.
While there are innumerable blessings. Those with heart trouble, diabetes and hypertension
must be judicious in their exposure times. If you suffer from any of the above problems from the
hot springs experience, wisdom in all things is the overriding principle. If you suffer from any
of the above problems to a serious degree, a consultation with your doctor or health care
practitioner is important, if only for your peace of mind. If circulation becomes intense and
you feel light-headed, get out and lay down for a while until you cool down.
Indigenous peoples, mainly Utes, Navahos and Hopis camped by the springs for weeks, taking the waters continually, until
they felt renewed physically and spiritually. They still come today, as their ancestors, some believing
that the body must not be bathed in any other water for four days after soaking. The springs also provided a zone of sacred
neutrality where neighboring tribes could work out political stalemates and territorial disputes.
As The Roman Empire established outposts in Europe, they also took over local hot
springs and built Romanesque bath houses, marbled and tiled. This isolation and exclusion
process where the water source was enclosed and separated from its natural setting reduced
the overall power of the place and its ability to connect one with all that is. In other words,
the holistic essence of nature was cut asunder, diminishing the Creators gift.
Our earth is alive. It breathes. In some geographical areas the earth breathes in. In other
places the earth breathes out, as at a hot spring. Obviously, our Mother Earth is not human as
we, but alive and full of the Creators Spirit and purpose. Self-contained, with an eternal
purpose, our living planet is capable of growth, cleansing and regeneration.
Scientists have only begun to understand what earthkeepers have learned through the Spirit. Protecting
these sacred springs where peoples of all nations come for healing may be of little significance to
those whose priorities are shaped by land developers, water parks and golf courses that bring both money and
destruction of limited water resources to our parched desert home. However, our Native friends and relatives are aware that
tampering with the waters of this sacred spring may lead to a greater drought that we have ever experienced before.
It is not a new story that the Creators gifts have been trampled underfoot by greed and exploitation.
In 1981, Spencer W. Kimball, Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, denounced the
proposed MX missile base in the west Utah/Nevada desert saying that we came here to establish a base
of peace for spreading the gospel and we must not allow such a destructive
thing to be built in our midst that would wreck havoc with human life and the ecology.
Probabilities of destruction are a part of prophecy, but as the MX base was averted by wise counsel, it behooves
those who have partaken of the blessings
of peace to thank our Creator by saying:
 "Let Pah Tempe remain a place of peace!"
–Laura Martin-Bühler  2002
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