creating sacred space
 I want you to think about the home where you live—whether it’s a house, an apartment, a dorm room, or a corner of someone else’s space. Think of all that this place means to and for you—it’s the place you come home to, the place where you put your stuff, the place where you eat and sleep, the place you call your own. This place you call home is also your space, and what I mean by that is that it carries energy that surrounds you, emanates from you and that affects you on many levels, some of them quite profound. Your place is a certain kind of space—one that you can use to support your own spiritual and emotional resilience.
Think about all of the functions that your space must support. You use your space for so many different purposes and activities—it is where you nourish yourself, where you wash, groom and clothe yourself, where perhaps you connect with other people in an intimate way. Your space also reveals a great deal about you to other people who enter your space—it expresses your tastes, reveals your habits and reflects your lifestyle. It may impress others through its size, beauty or uniqueness but at the core of everything, your space exists you serve you and your needs. One of our deepest—and often unacknowledged---needs is for spiritual connection. While most of us make sure that our homes—our spaces—serve our practical, material needs for things like sleep, food, and storage, many of us live in spaces that don’t help us connect with our spirits. Living in a space that nourishes your spirit gives you a tremendous boost in being able to rebound from the trials and crises that life sends your way. Creating sacred space around you where you live is a concrete and powerful way to support your own resilience and is a practical and profound way to nurture your spiritual self.
Most of us think of sacred space as being religious space—we may think of things like churches, temples, mosques or other officially “spiritual” buildings. But the kind of sacred space that we’re talking about here is the kind that you create for yourself to very intentionally and personally assist your own spiritual connectedness. A good place to begin is to create a strong desire and intention to create a space—no matter how small—whose sole function is to feed your spirit.
A sacred space must allow you to step back from ordinary life in order to experience the spiritual connection that is always available to you once distractions and blocks are removed. You may have noticed that there are certain places out in the natural world where you find yourself able to take that necessary step back from the burdens and distractions of ordinary life and reconnect with your spirit. Many people are able to fill up their spiritual wells by spending time absorbing the powerful energy found by the ocean or on mountaintops. Finding sacred space in nature is actually very easy once we align ourselves with the spiritual energy that always abides in nature and waits for us to reach out. Spending time in nature is a time-honored and almost fool-proof way to reconnect with your spirit and give yourself the spiritual sustenance you need to handle the hits that come your way. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to create a space in your home that would help you keep your spirit nourished and strong so that you could better weather the inevitable storms of life? Creating your own personal sacred space is a practical and powerful way to boost your own resilience.
When you create a personal sacred space, you are intentionally bringing the sacred into everyday life. Your personal sacred space can be a place you can retreat to, place to find peace, a place to heal from the hurts that come your way. Think about it—in your home, you probably have a place to feed your hungry stomach, a place to put up your aching feet and a place to sit and talk with other people and fill your need for companionship. But is there anyplace in your home where you can go just to be with Spirit or God? Is there somewhere in your home where spirit is the focus? Studies have shown that students do better in school when there are designated places for study within their homes and this same concept applies to our spiritual lives. If you intentionally create sacred space, you are sending a powerful signal inward to your spirit and outward to the universe that you want to experience spiritual connection and the resilience that accompanies it.
It’s hard enough to settle down your thoughts, release the tension in your body and try to get in touch with the divine within when you are in crisis, but it may seem nearly impossible when you’re staring at piles of laundry, a sink full of dishes, toys scattered across the floor and a stack of bills. We all know there are circumstances we can’t control, and situations we cannot change, but with very little effort we can control our “space” and create a place where we can begin to heal and connect with our spirits. Sometimes the first step in “spiritual or emotional house cleaning” may actually be cleaning your house. Just as a nice, long bath can make us feel better when we’re down and out, clearing out the clutter and straightening up a bit can give us a fresh new perspective and actually encourage us to put some healing practices, such as meditating, praying or journaling, into action.
Once you’ve cleared some space, you can take the time to create a place that will be inviting and welcoming to your soul. By simply taking the time to create a sacred space in your home you are sending an invitation to the divine to please stop by and you are also giving your spirit an actual place to seek comfort. Your intention and your desire to invoke the divine combined with the efforts you put in to actually create this sacred space serve as a form of prayer in and of themselves. With this in mind, choose a space and objects that hold special personal meaning for you. Be creative, listen to your soul.
You don’t need to turn your home into a cathedral--although, a friend of mine actually designed and built his entire home as a sacred space. You don’t even need an extra room—your sacred space can be as simple as a few sacred objects on a windowsill in your kitchen or a special spot in your garden with a place to sit and pray. Whether you choose to create a prayer garden, an altar, a meditation room, or just a cozy spot in the corner of your bedroom, the important element is your intention for this space. Let your spirit guide you in creating the sacred space you need to help you bounce back from any hits that have hurt your heart.
If you need some inspiration, browse through the following books for ideas on how to get started.
- The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka
- Altars: Bring Sacred Shrines into Your Everyday Life by Denise Linn
- A Book of Women’s Altars: How to Create Sacred Spaces for Art, Worship, Solace, Celebration by Nancy Brady Cunningham and Denise Geddes
- Any books by Alexandra Stoddard
- Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
- The Home Organizing Workbook and The Personal Organizing Workbook by Meryl Starr
Check out my favorite local shop for all your inspirational and sacred object needs. Visit the store or shop on line.
• Dreaming Goddess
www.dreaminggoddess.com
9 Collegeview Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603
(845)473-2206
For more information and great articles on sacred spaces, check out these websites:
- sacredspace.com
- deniselinn.com
- notsobighouse.com
- maitrhea.com (one of Sarah Susanka’s websites, a non-profit foundationfocused on inner awareness)
- soulfuliving.com
- gaiam.com
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