Altaring Spaces

Evoking Sacred Space

Entrance to Ifa shrine and sacred grove of Osun, Nigeria, 

Photo by Olaniyan Olushola

Have you ever paused to appreciate a tree? The ocean? Have you felt lucky to witness family welcoming a loved one home? Or has the pure joy of Fido reunited with his person amazed you? Have you ever wondered at the urge to build the cathedrals of Europe, or the time and effort children put into building and nurturing a fairy castle or fort? These are all ways of creating, evoking, and experiencing sacred space. These are all ways of connecting to the spiritual and the meaningful through our environment.

How do you evoke sacred space and focus ritual through mindful use of objects? Creating sacred space is an art and technique. Sacred space is created in Christianity, earth-based traditions, and modern architecture and practice. What is your plan for creating sacred space in your home, places of worship, and community?

Rituals

Some rituals create sacred space: a Chalice Lighting, a Sage or sweetgrass smudge, Ritual Words like "We are between the worlds, beyond the reach of space and time, joy and sorrow, birth and death" or " Our father, who art in heaven..." and House Blessings.

Dia de los Muertos altar, Wikimedia Commons

Sacred spaces can be created temporarily. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition of the sand-painting is one example of that. March 19th marks the Catholic celebration of St. Joseph’s Day where Catholic New Orleanians construct elaborate altars in honor of this saint. The tradition, commemorating the relief St. Joseph provided during a famine in Sicily, began in the late 1800’s when Sicilian immigrants settled in New Orleans. St. Joseph is the patron saint of social justice. Whole neighborhoods, italian, catholic, and none-of-the-above, participate. Since the altars thank St. Joseph for relieving hunger, offerings of food are essential.

Survey Your Environment

You've heard the phrase "your body is a temple"? How might your relationship to your body change if you understood it to be a sacred place, a temple, a shrine?

What sacred places exist in your home? Your workplace? Your neighborhood? In my home I have an altar with the ancestor photos on it, an eagle feather, a candle, my mother's ashes and a pine cone that looks like a rose that was given me by my son. My neighborhood has small shrines in it where people have built a whimsical or practical holders for free books.

Individual objects can carry sacred meaning. Pick an object that is in your eyesight right now. What story is in this object and what does that object need to do? What is its mission or purpose? For example I can see some clerical stoles that came to me from my grand uncle who was a minister. I have had them for years and never worn them because the symbols on the stoles are not my symbols. Today I decided that the stoles need to be used in worship. They were made for that. So I am mailing them to a colleague who can use them. Whatever object from your own life you have selected, take some time to tell its story, meaning, and purpose. Now ask yourself, "How will I be true to that purpose?"

Go Forth and Make the World Sacred

Photo: Flickr user R, Creative Commons

If you are a part of a worshiping community I invite you to consider the following:

•        How do our worship and gathering spaces present visual cues? Can people who enter that space easily answer the questions “Where am I?” and “What’s expected of me?”

•        How do our worship and gathering spaces offer respite from the outside world? Can people find a place of peace that is accessible and comfortable?

•        How do our worshiping and gathering spaces connect to our history and traditions? What symbols or design elements evoke a sense of the sacred and tell the story of the divine at work in the world?

•        How do our worshiping and gathering spaces integrate elements of nature? How can we bring the outside in and take the inside out?

Pagan Altar, Creative Commons

As you think about your personal sacred spaces and your community sacred places, I invite you to explore the following questions:

•        What might you change about your home?

•        What might you change about your work space?

•        What might you change about your worship space(s)?

•        What spaces and places might you seek out and why?

•        How might you nurture and transform your self through sacred space?

•        How might you nurture community and social justice through sacred space?

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Reverend Amy offers an "Altaring Spaces" retreat. Join her for the next one!