Creating Sacred Space

Shamans always begin healing ceremonies by opening sacred space. In this 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. After we finish our healing work, sacred space must be closed by again acknowledging the four directions, Heaven and Earth.

Sacred space is a healing sphere that is pure, holy and safe. I imagine it as a shimmering cupola above the area where I do my healing work. Everyone within this space is protected. Sacred space creates an environment where our defenses can be lowered, where we can explore our soft, tender underbelly. Sacred space also gives us access to the luminous healer - the medicine men and women who assist us from the Spirit world.

You can create sacred space and summon the healing power of nature anywhere on Earth. You can use it while your own prayer reveals itself to you.

The shaman's covenant with Spirit is that when she calls, Spirit answers. Powerful medicine people from the Spirit world appear in the form of luminous beings who assist us in our healing work.

You can employ a smudge stick of sage or a litle scented water if you like. Shamans throughout the Americas accompany their prayer by fanning smoldering sage or incense with a feather in the appropriate direction they are addressing, or holding their hand up to the sky and saluting each cardinal point. You will need to determine the points; ideally this is done with a compass, but a close approximation based on your knowledge of the landscape is fine.

Begin by facing South. Smudge or blow the scented water to the South, then hold up your hand, palm facing out. Recite the first verse, calling upon serpent. Face each direction in turn as you repeat the process. Touch the Earth and look to the Heavens when directing your prayers there. You close sacred space by thanking serpent, jaguar, hummingbird, and eagle. Release their energies and allow them to return to the four corners of the Earth. To connect with the energy of one of the directions, do not close that direction. Instead call on that archetype to enter you and accomany you on your path. (I do this by turning to the East, for example, and instead of closing that direction I blow the spirit of that archetype into my client's crown chakra. I imagine the spirit of eagle entering them and informing their lives.) Then thank Mother Earth and Father Sky.
--- by Dr. Villoldo; www.thefourwinds.com