Pilgrimage to the Crestone Ziggurat

Crestone, Colorado is a spiritual center that includes an astonishing array of sacred sites. Within walking distance of this small international village are ashrams, monasteries, zendos, temples, chapels, retreat centers, stupas, shrines, medicine wheels, labyrinths, a ziggurat and other sacred landmarks. Most of Crestone’s major religious centers are sheltered in the juniper and pine forests on the lower slopes of the mountains south of town. The Camino de Crestone is a 26 mile inter-faith pilgrimage that visits 15 of the spiritual centers.
 

Since moving to Crestone, my wife, Elisia, and I have made pilgrimages to many of the area’s sacred sites. Although pilgrimage may seem an antiquated religious ritual, it remains a vibrant activity in the modern world as pilgrims combine traditional motives—such as seeking a remedy for physical or spiritual problems—with contemporary searches for identity or interpersonal connection. That pilgrimage continues to exercise such a strong attraction is testimony to the power it continues to hold for those who undertake these sacred journeys. Pilgrimage has been an essential component of my spiritual practice for over 30 years.  
 

Our first local pilgrimage was to the Crestone Ziggurat, a nearby landmark built by Najeeb Halaby, father of Queen Noor of Jordan, for prayer and meditation. Halaby, an American of Syrian Christian descent, built the Ziggurat in 1978 as a representation of the Zoroastrian gateway to heaven. Ziggurat comes from an ancient Assyrian word ziffurantu, meaning light pinnacle. A ziggurat, by definition, is a temple tower with an outside staircase that leads to a shrine at the top. The first of these temple structures were built in ancient Mesopotamia, or what is now Iraq. The purpose of a ziggurat is to get closer to heaven, the home of the gods; in fact the people of Mesopotamia believed a ziggurat connected Heaven and Earth. Essentially, a ziggurat represents a stairway to Heaven where one can commune with the divine.
 

Elisia and I walked to the ziggurat, which rises from a hill on the easternmost edge of the San Luis Valley less than two miles from our house. The wind began to gust as we made our way up the switchback trail to the castle-like observatory, which had been stuccoed a golden ochre color. The ascent up the rail-less ramp was treacherous due to the gusting winds. I hugged the inside wall of the structure as I made my way up the 40-foot tall tower. I stood on the summit and took in the stunning views of the San Luis Valley, one of the highest and largest alpine valleys in the world, encompassing an area of 8,000 square miles. The flat, expansive valley is ringed by the San Juan Mountains of the Continental Divide on the west side and the Sangre de Cristos on the east side. It is a truly inspiring place for prayer and meditation.