The beach is usually quiet, from a traffic perspective, with the sound of the waves that can vary in pitch, tempo and volume. It is ‘my bit of beach’ and so often I go there to walk, to think, to be in the presence of the Almighty. This quiet bit of space is sacred space for me where I have made altars, shed tears, spent time wrestling the God, and where I so often feel at home and find stillness and peace. I find stillness in a place where the movement of the sea never ever ceases!
There are those spaces of time, some in solitude, others in the company of others, where you feel so freely and fully yourself and every time you are there, or remember, you can exhale and feel so alive. I have struggled to really name these places and the only term I have found is ‘sacred space’. This term does not really define or give a fullness to what I feel - it seems too nebulous, too open ended to gather up what my soul, my inner being, experiences, and recognizes. Yet there are many places where this kind of space waits for me. It is not one in particular but rather various ways and locations that seem to hold this definition for me.
Recently as I read through Sin Boldly - A Field Guide for Grace, by Cathleen Falsani, I read something that gave borders to what ‘sacred space’ is. It became tangible and definable:
“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again,” (Joseph) Campbell, the American mythologist said”. pg 113
Campbell’s idea of what this means has thrown open a window to a much larger clearer view of sacred space. We are such complex beings, made up of so many pieces and stories, journeying and pilgrimages, altars and turning points, light and dark. So therefore a single solitary ‘sacred space’ where we can find ourselves again and again would never be enough to hold all we are. For me I would add that they are places where that ‘home’ includes holy places.
My work place is a beautiful lodge at the beginning of the road leading to ‘my bit of beach’ and so I have begun to go early on my work days, park the car and walk along this road of sacred space. This is a place I come to meet my God and to be embraced in the intimate time that I find in Holy Presence at the edge of the sea here. It is a place where my heart comes home in this Presence of being fully and completely known and understood. Where the sensual, solitude loving woman I am is home.
In the open spaces where I feel the wind upon my face, my skin the contemplative within me is home and waiting for the stillness and knowing that God promises when I wait. Places that invite me into contemplation and stillness are safe and holy places.
The gift of a loving relationship with my husband holds many levels and facets. Yet the woman that emerges and finds herself within his embrace in our most intimate times is one I am only coming to welcome home. It is a place of such safety and freedom and home that is a very holy place.
Traveling brings out the adventurer in me but the deeply feminine soul within comes home when I am in Europe. I cannot explain it, but it is like I have come home when I am in this place of old culture, vibrant living, food that is a sensuous event, and rituals that are old and rich. The Spirit, Sophia - wisdom, opens me up to seeing Holy Presence in old and deep cultures and languages that are not my own.
The kitchen where the life carrier, nurturer, goes to work preparing food, setting the table, creating the atmosphere for others to come and dine - this is truly sacred space for much of me knows it is truly home and alive and vibrant here. The preparation, serving and sharing of food is a deeply holy, healing and life giving ritual.
I come home to where I reside with my husband at the end of each work day. Coming home is also the place where I ‘find myself again and again’. The beautiful little house in the woods is a sacred space surrounded by trees, where we have put our stamp together into the structure. While it shelters us from the rain, and keeps us warm, it is also the place where we are learning to both bring ourselves more fully, honestly and openly into partnering together in life. All of me is constantly being invited to live large here.
The Synagogue is the oldest one in Toronto, on a less traveled street out of the way. Yet as I stood in front of it many years ago I began to weep. Not knowing why, I only knew the ‘how’ my soul felt a sense of deeply sacred presence. Holy Presence was there for me, very large for me, on this holy ground.
The other day little Sophia, 3 years old, came running into the kitchen to see the Executive Chef, her daddy. As she was lifted and squeezed into his loving embrace my heart was squeezed in wonder. She is a perfect little beauty and there is something holy when you observe this love between a parent and their child. I was observing their sacred space. Places where they come home to over and over again - where they bring themselves into ‘home’. Beauteous as Chef would say!
Just thinking of the places that were sacred and what part of me comes home again and again put a new dimension to these thin places that hold beauty, mystery, wonder and the ingredients and essence of who each of us are. Perhaps these ‘sacred spaces’ awaken me each time I am aware of being there. In each awakening there is a deeper degree of living. And perhaps it is in choosing to live that all we are within journeys into ‘home’.
