Delineating the Sacred

For the last moon I did a daily practice of casting a circle and entering sacred space. Sometimes I did a small bit of ritual, sometimes not. The point was not to overload myself with elaborate ritual expectations, but to develop a practice that would make the ritualization of space habitual and easy. Despite my mind's best (and often fleeting) intentions, I find it hard to create moments to acknowledge or ritualize my inner spiritual desires.

When my mind is engaged in daily, routine business, it can be so difficult to spark an awareness of spirit, of authentic self, or higher purpose. My most consistently successful practice to help open myself up to that is sitting meditation. Yoga, when I do it as a spirit opening practice and not simply as a workout, can help do the trick as well. And occasionally I can get inspired for a strategic walk or outdoor time that gives enough space to be aware of the sheer miraculous nature of being alive. But it has always been a bit more challenging to intentionally open up space at a given place or time (like a full moon, or the solstice, or my mom's birthday) without making it feel contrived or awkward.

So the daily circle casting was designed to help ingrain the practice and make it thoughtless and easy. The circle is a psycho-spiritual symbol that helps the mind transition to a different state of awareness. This altered or heightened consciousness allow the ritualized expression of spiritual states (prayer, silence, ecstasy, song, sex, etc) and satisfies an inner need to recognize the transient, intense, and bewildering ride of human existence. Some would say (and if they say it enough perhaps it becomes true) that the circle also acts as a container. This allows the psychic and emotional energy released by the ritual games to be collected, concentrated, and focused towards a singular intent, recognition, or prayer.

It was a good start to a life-long practice. I have a strong desire to become fluent in creating and entering sacred space. This is important both to have regular access to replenish and nourish myself, but also to open channels to help others I love when they are needing to visit the same.