After the Harmonic Convergence

Christopher Jelm came to Sedona in November 1987, as part of a wave of people arriving after the Harmonic Convergence. He perceived the New Age community as different groups "doing their thing" although on the social level, there were lots of networking activities, potlucks, and parties. The community was more cohesive when it was smaller.

Thousands of people had descended on the town to celebrate the Harmonic Convergence. It was a turning point for the whole town. Business people began to see economic possibilities in New Age activities.

There was, however, no central community focal point, for the New Agers. Christopher kept hearing people say, "We need a Center." That was what made him think of starting the original Center for the New Age. His was the first attempt to pull together the various groups and establish a community-based Center under one roof. The blueprint that was created carried through all the years that the original organization existed.

"We began with a circle of 20-30 people meeting in homes," he says. The project started on limited money, a few personal loans. It broke even in about five months. In terms of community service it was viable almost instantaneously.

The Center for the New Age opened at the Keller building in March 1988 and had a Grand Opening in April. There was a marvelous turn-out from the community, says Christopher. The new business had a limited lease, knowing construction of Hillside Shops and Galleries would start in 1989. The location worked well for that first year.

They ran into only two problematic incidents. On one occasion, a polite man sitting at the back of the lecture hall, asked Jelm, "Do you folks take Christ as your savior?" Christopher felt it was not a time to discuss the matter and asked him to call at his office later to talk about it but the man didn't call.

Another time a rowdy New Ager who was being loud and boisterous had to be put off the property.
 
 

One of biggest upsets in the Sedona community had to do with the "A" team. They preceded Christopher Jelm. Ten or 12 of them were riding around town. One person remembers mopeds, another bicycles. They wore white jumpsuits with a big "A" on the chest, and cloaks which flapped in the breeze behind them. They claimed to be channeling Arcturian energy and that some were ET walk-ins.  The "A" team managed to obtain a huge truck of crystals from Arkansas. They rented space, a table in the parking lot of the Center for the New Age, to sell them. The owner of Crystal Castle nearby was said to be very unhappy about the competition and felt they were taking business away from his store. This all happened before sign laws and incorporation of the city in 1988.

The "A" team under the name Extraterrestrial Earth Mission developed tapes, seminars, a newsletter and a mail order catalog business aimed at helping people discover their true strengths and gifts. Regardless of the dramatic trappings, the material presented in their seminars, printed material and on tape was inspiring and helpful to many people. The ET entities they were channeling changed several times and withdrew in the 1990's, saying their work was complete. The group dispersed.
 
 

When Jelm first came to town, The Tibetan Center in VOC was just getting ready to move to Colorado. It was a school for channels linked to an organization there. One student, a woman named Cheryl Funk became a local channel. Jelm recalls that a couple of good channels were getting messages from Djwhal Kuhl, the source of Alice Bailey's books. Djwhal Kuhl was also known as The Tibetan.

When the Center for the New Age had to move in 1989, they  decided to occupy the space in the Village of Oak Creek above the Mandarin Restaurant which The Tibetan Center had used previously.

This choice did not work well at all for a business which depended upon public customers. Unfortunately, it was the only place they could find at the time.  After about six months at that location, the Center returned to West Sedona in the summer of '89, moving next to where Pietros restaurant would come later on Highway 89A.

Jelm, who had a business background, says the Center experimented to discover what worked and what didn't work. The key functions for the Center, those that were most useful and productive were: some retail sales for cash flow, fairs once a month, (they were almost a trade show), lectures almost every night of the week, rooms for rent (as long as they were located in the Keller building) psychics and healers on duty and a food coop (which lasted only a few years). There were Sunday morning church services, and major monthly concerts. The Center became a focal point for several New Age comedy groups.
 
 

In 1993, when I moved to Sedona, the Center for the New Age had been operating successfully in its West Sedona location for some years and was looking for a new manager. I became a volunteer. Christopher Jelm was retiring from active association with the organization but he stayed to oversee the interview and hiring process.

Then the building was sold and the new owner refused to renew the lease, making it plain that he did not want a New Age oriented business there. For months the newly hired manager, Julian, searched the region for a viable location at a reasonable rent. Several potential landlords were quite plain in their prejudice against renting to a New Age-oriented business. The Center was unable to find reasonably priced rental space anywhere in Sedona. Since the Center already had a national reputation and regularly received phone calls from out-of-state people who wanted to visit or present there, it did not make sense to consider moving out of the city.

Finally, forced to move, the Board decided to take the risk of renting a much larger and more expensive location on the opposite side of Highway 89A. The rent was going to be more than twice what it had been before. The Center moved into its new quarters in 1994, attempting a major expansion.  For a while, it looked as though the experiment would succeed. There was a wonderful Grand Opening celebration on the solstice in June attended by several hundred locals who enjoyed musicians, songs, dance and food. However, financial problems led to the final closing of the center in January 1995. Anita Dalton then took over the name Center for the New Age and started a private profit enterprise. It is located next to Crystal Castle.

Jelm remembers that when the original Center for the New Age moved to West Sedona there was a restaurant called Food among the Flowers nearby. It served natural food and had a garden area in back where you could sit outside. The restaurant became a New Age gathering place. It was the only natural food restaurant in town at that time.

Food Among the Flowers was located behind the Darling shops, then moved to where Pietros is now and finally closed. After the restaurant left, the Angels, Art and Crystals store started in the same space and now has moved to a much larger location on 89A, next to where the Center used to be. Meanwhile, another angel store, Angel Treasures of Sedona, has opened near the "Y" on 179.

Christopher had a lot of visions for the first Center. He felt that they broke ground on community outreach and acceptance with the Chamber of Commerce and City Hall. In the period when I served as Program Director, I took a full schedule of events to the Chamber of Commerce every month and they posted it under glass on the outside bulletin board. We also kept a lot of flyers available for pick-up inside.

The Red Rock News used to carry a New Age events calendar once a month as did the Sedona Journal of Emergence. These functions are now carried by local free publications: Good Times Sedona, Four Corners, and Open Mind. The SJE has become a national rather than regional publication and it no longer makes sense to carry the local events calendar.