Creating Sacred Space
Sacred space is a healing sphere that is pure, holy and safe. We can create sacred space and summon the healing power of nature anywhere on Earth. Much of our fear and pain derives from the feeling that the world is not a safe place for us. Within sacred space everyone is protected.
When we open sacred space, we leave behind the affairs of ordinary life, the bustling world of meetings and schedules, and prepare to meet the Divine. Sacred space allows us to enter our quiet inner-world where healing takes place. Within sacred space our burdens become lighter, and we can be touched by the hand of Spirit. Sacred space also gives us access to the luminous healers, the medicine men and women who assist us from the Spirit world.
There are two powerful ways to create sacred space: calling in the directions and expanding the eighth chakra. The first creates the sacred space of the ecosphere; the second creates the sacred space of the noosphere. These sacred spaces share the basic concepts that all of life is inter-related and inter-dependent. In connecting with others of impeccable intent, and in partnership with spirit, we are empowered to envision and manifest a world that is dynamic and evolving.
Sacred Space of the Ecosphere
In the space of the Ecosphere, awareness exceeds that of the self to summon and embrace all of creation.
The opening of this sacred space is essentially an invocation, calling the spirits of the four cardinal directions—South, West, North, and East—and Mother Earth and Father Sky. Begin by facing the South direction and then each direction in turn, repeating the following procedure: Smudge – fan smoldering sage or incense—or blow scented water. Then hold your arm up, the palm of your hand facing outward and recite the appropriate verse of the invocation, calling upon the archetype representative of that direction. The archetypes are more than symbols; they are primordial energies or spirits, having qualities and powers of their own. We summon serpent in the South, jaguar in the West, hummingbird in the North and eagle in the East. When summoning Mother Earth, actually touch the ground where you stand; when summoning Father Sky, reach to the heavens.
PRAYER FOR CREATING SACRED SPACE
To the winds of the South
Great serpent, Wrap your coils of light around us,
Teach us to shed the past the way you shed your skin,
To walk softly on the Earth. Teach us the Beauty Way.
To the winds of the West
Mother jaguar,
Protect our medicine space.
Teach us the way of peace, to live impeccably
Show us the way beyond death.
To the winds of the North.
Hummingbird, Grandmothers and Grandfathers,
Ancient Ones
Come and warm your hands by our fires
Whisper to us in the wind
We honor you who have come before us,
And you who will come after us, our children’s children.
To the winds of the East.
Great eagle, condor
Come to us from the place of the rising Sun.
Keep us under your wing.
Show us the mountains we only dare to dream of.
Teach us to fly wing to wing with the Great Spirit.
Mother Earth.
We’ve gathered for the healing of all your children.
The Stone People, the Plant People.
The four–legged, the two–legged, the creepy crawlers.
The finned, the furred, and the winged ones.
All our relations.
Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, to the Star nations.
Great Spirit, you who are known by a thousand names
And you who are the unnamable One.
Thank you for bringing us together.
When you have finished your healing work, sacred space must be closed. Follow the same procedure as for the opening, acknowledging the four directions, Mother Earth and Father Sky. Thank the archetypes for being with you—serpent, jaguar, hummingbird, and eagle—and release their energies to return to the four corners of the Earth.
This sacred space may be open for weeks during the dying process and should be refreshed each week. After death and the rituals that may follow, it should then be closed.
Sacred Space of the Noosphere
In the space of the noosphere, we share in global consciousness to envision the fulfillment of humanity’s highest potential. To create this sacred space, we utilize the light of the eighth chakra, the wiracocha, which resides outside the physical body but within the Luminous Energy Field. The power of sacred space is amplified many times when we expand this radiant orb and rest within it. It is that part of us that is always one with God.
Open this sacred space by imagining your eighth chakra like a small radiant sun above your head, an orb the color of the rising sun. Bring your hands over your chest into prayer pose. Slowly raise your hands, still in prayer pose, until they are above your head. Sense your fingertips entering the globe of the eighth chakra. Sense how this spinning sun yields and opens to you. Very slowly, like a peacock opening its fan, expand the circumference of this brilliant orb to envelop you by turning your palms outward and then extending your arms, bringing them down to your sides. Now bask in the light of your eighth chakra that surrounds you.
This orb can then be extended to envelop your loved one, like enfolding her within a warm blanket of light. When you expand this sacred space around a loved one it allows her to be held in stillness and quiet and shields her from the static of the world.
It is important always to close sacred space after you have completed your healing work. Gather the luminous orb of your eighth chakra to its place above your head and bring your hands back to prayer pose.
Sacred Space—an Island of Tranquility for the Dying
Sacred space protects your loved one from disruptive outside energies. The legends of the rain forest people say, that at the moment of death the hungry ghosts of all those whom we have hurt or offended gather around our deathbed to claim their due; they follow the deceased until they have achieved retribution. These hungry ghosts can be interpreted as psychological demons representing all of the unfinished business from our past. That's why it is so important to reach closure with our life. Once we do so, the hungry ghosts are dispelled; forgiveness dissolves them into thin air.During the dying process every feeling is amplified. Painful events from the past, the confusion of dying, and the grief of family members in the room, all add to the chaos. When you hold a loved one within your Luminous Energy Field, you are creating an island of tranquility. In that calm, it is possible for the dying person to regroup, recognize loved ones, and discover the luminous healers waiting on the other side.
The shamans of the upper Amazon believe that the purpose of all their training is to learn how to leave this life alive. This does not mean that they intend to take their physical bodies with them, but that they seek to maintain their consciousness intact through the journey. Being in the sphere of Sacred Space will empower the dying to die consciously.