How to Open A Sacred Space
When individuals embark on a Shamanic journey, opening a sacred space is first step they should take. But what exactly does it mean to open a sacred space? And how does it work? In her latest book, author and gardening expert Maria Rodale explains how this simple practice can enhance journeys and help strengthen our connection to the world around us.
The following is an excerpt from Love, Nature, Magic by Maria Rodale. It has been adapted for the web.
Opening A Sacred Space: A Unique Journey
Before starting a journey, it’s important to open a sacred space — which creates an area of protection around us to keep us safe while traveling —to make sure that the power we interact with is positive and good. While I do not literally take you on a shamanic journey in this book, I want you all to know the beautiful power of opening sacred space so you can understand the reverence with which people journey. I would also like to ensure that whatever you read in the rest of this book brings only good things to you!
I love hearing Lisa Weikel open sacred space because her words are so beautiful and relaxing. She combines the traditional Four Winds Society version with her own elaborations.
When I journey alone, my opening of sacred space is shorter and to the point (like me). Sometimes I listen to a recording of others opening sacred space rather than speaking words myself. Remember, what matters most is heartfelt intention. But let’s start my journey stories with Lisa’s luxurious opening words, so you have a sense of what it’s like when I say, “She opened sacred space.”
To the Winds of the North
Saywarkintey, Royal Hummingbird, Huanakari,
To the Grandmothers and Grandfathers who’ve come before us and all those who will come after us, our children’s children’s children:
Come! Be here with us now as we do this work.
Ancestors and Ancient Ones, warm your hands by our fire, whisper your wisdom in our ears.
Hummingbird, help us be still amidst the chaos of the outside world so we can drink deeply of the sweetness and wisdom that surrounds us.
Wolf, leader of the Clan of Teachers, please go out and gather our greatest teachers and ask them to sit in council with us, helping us remember and embrace the lessons we set for ourselves in this lifetime.
To the Winds of the East,
Apuchine, Hatun Kuntur, Huaman, Hatun Tuku: Eagle, (Great) Condor, Hawk, and (Great) Owl:
Come! Be here with us now as we do this work.
Teach us how to fly wing-to-wing with Great Spirit, high among the Apus, the Sacred Mountains, so we can look down on our lives and our destinies and se our experiences from a different perspective. Help us see the choices before us and pick up the strand of destiny that calls to our heart most brilliantly. Please join us, Ancient Ones—our personal, sacred mountains—as well as all of the Appalachians, the Andes, the Rockies, the Himalayas, Uluru, Mount Fuji, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Caucasus, the Pyrenees, the Scottish Highlands and Irish Cliffs, and all the mountains from all over the world. Please protect our medicine space and bring us your accumulated wisdom.
To the Winds of the South,
Sachamama, Great Serpent, Amaru:
Come! Be here with us as now we do this work.
Wrap your coils of golden light around us,
Help us shed our fears and worries, our old beliefs and prejudices, or whatever may weigh us down or hold us back from being the brightest expressions of our true selves. Help us shed these, just as you shed your skin.
Remind us to walk gently upon Mother Earth, sensitive to and aware of our connection to Her.
Porcupine! Little one, please join us as well. Bring us your qualities of trust and faith, innocence and playfulness, all the while reminding us that we have the ability (and responsibility) to set and keep effective and appropriate boundaries.
To the Winds of the West,
Otorongo, Mother/Sister Jaguar, Choquachinchay, Rainbow Jaguar, you who makes the great journey from this world to the next, and back again; Grandmother and Grandfather Bear, keepers of the wisdom that resides within all of us:
Come and join us in this work.
Guard our medicine space as we journey into the dark unknown, discovering and exploring what we may have hidden from ourselves; give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear that which will aid us in understanding ourselves and our purpose here on Earth. You have seen the birth and death of universes, so come and help us die to the old ways of being that no longer serve us.
Remind us that, with you by our side, we have nothing to fear.
Above all, help us approach this work and live our lives with the highest integrity and impeccability.
Pachamama, Danu, Gaia, Sweet Mother Earth:
You are the Mother who never leaves us.
You feed us, clothe us, and shelter us. You provide us with everything we need not only to live but to thrive.
We honor you and ask you to join with us, consciously, not only to heal ourselves, but to heal all your children, two-legged, four-legged, many-legged, no-legged, winged ones, furred ones, finned ones, stone people, plant people, standing tall people—all. We offer the healing benefits of our work to All Our Relations to use as they are willing and able. Aho mitakuye oasin.
Spirits of the Land where we live and where we are at this moment: Thank you for all you do to ke p our homes and spaces in balance. Thank you for inviting us to reside, work, and play here. Please, take your place by our fire and allow the work done and insight achieved within this Sacred Space to cleanse, benefit, and heal you—and this land—as well.
Intitayta, Mama Kia, Hatun Chaskas (Father Sun, Grand- mother Moon, Brothers and Sisters of the Great Star Nations), Illatixi, Wiracocha, Wakan Tanka, Ascended Masters, Angelic Realm, God, Goddess, All That Is, You Who Are Known by a Thousand Names, and You Who Are the Unnameable:
Please come, shine Your light down upon us,
Illuminate our hearts, minds, bodies, and fill us with your wisdom, your insight, your unconditional love and compassion. Help us feel your forgiveness and peace, as well as joy and gratitude for being allowed to live one more day in beauty and grace.
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