Chakra, Energy Body, Sacred Space
What is Sacred Space?
Sacred space is a healing sphere that is pure, sacred, and safe. It is one of the core principles of Shamanic Teaching. We use it in all aspects of our lives when we need assistance. Sacred space allows us to enter our quiet inner world where healing occurs. Within this space, our burdens feel lighter, and we can touch the hand of Spirit.
Our Personal Healing Journey
Sacred space also gives us access to luminous healers—men and women who assist us from the Spirit World. By creating sacred space, we open a gateway between the Middle World, where we live daily, and the sacred grounds of the Upper and Lower Worlds. The Lower World, as referred to by shamans, relates to our subconscious, while the Upper World connects to the superconscious and the luminous beings. We can create sacred space anywhere on Earth, beginning our personal healing journey.
How Do We Create Sacred Space?
First, we call upon the four organizing principles of the universe, which protect us by placing us in right relation with all life. The ancients learned that all the poetry of creation is composed of the four letters of the four directions. In biology, we know them as the four protein bases that form DNA, the code of life. While science merely describes this alphabet, the shaman learns to write poems with it.
Experiential Psychotherapy Workshop
By calling upon these four archetypes—“Serpent,” “Jaguar,” “Hummingbird,” and “Eagle”—we symbolically align with their archetypal qualities. When we connect with these forces, we are protected, and the organizing principles of the universe respond.
Opening sacred space also helps us move out of linear time and into cyclical, sacred time. This is our agreement with Spirit—when we call, Spirit answers. Below is a prayer for creating and opening sacred space, which you are welcome to use.
Archetypal Qualities:
Serpent Archetype
Each of these archetypal animals emits a different energetic flavor. In the south, the serpent symbolizes knowledge, sexuality, and healing. Perhaps the most universal archetype, the serpent has always represented the healing power of nature. The caduceus, formed by two serpents intertwined around a staff, represents this. In the East, it is the coiled serpent of Kundalini energy. The serpent symbolizes the primal connection with the feminine and is a symbol of fertility and sexuality. It embodies the essential life force seeking union and creation. We can invoke this creative principle by calling upon the serpent archetype to rekindle our zest for life and physical vitality.
Jaguar Archetype of the West
The jaguar renews and transforms the life of the rainforest. While the serpent represents gradual healing, the jaguar brings sudden transformation, fire, and death to all things lifeless. Although it may seem strange that transformative power is also linked to death, the ancients understood that what remains unchanging is lost. The cycle of chaos and order, expansion and contraction, is the natural cycle of life.
The jaguar’s qualities allow us to transform our bodies to heal faster and age more gracefully. Growing up, I believed in the metaphor that we have nine lives, like cats. When we reach the end of one of these lives (others might call them stages or phases), it’s essential to give the old self a proper burial before leaping forward like a jaguar into who we are becoming. Otherwise, we may spend years trying to fix an old self we have already outgrown. The principle of life and death represented by the jaguar helps us release those parts of ourselves that need to die, restoring hope and balance from chaos.
Hummingbird Archetype of the North
In the north, the hummingbird represents the courage needed to embark on an epic journey. Hummingbirds migrate across the Atlantic, traveling annually from Brazil to Canada. Once we touch the energies of this archetype, we connect with our inner hero and propel our own epic journey, which eventually leads us back to our source, where our spirit was born. It provides us with boldness and certainty.
Eagle Archetype of the East
The eagle, or condor, representing the East, brings vision, clarity, and perspective. The eagle perceives the entire landscape of a situation without being hindered by details. The eagle’s energies help us transcend and become the creators of our own lives. Its eyes see both the past and the future, helping us understand where we come from and who we are becoming. The eagle allows us to rise above worldly struggles that consume our energy and attention, giving us wings to soar above the trivial battles of everyday life to the high peaks close to Heaven. The eagle and condor symbolize self-transcendence.
Earth and Sky
The Earth
Earth is the nurturing and receptive principle, providing nourishment and renewal. Summer leaves turn into rich soil. When we greet the Earth, we acknowledge our connection with all forms of life—trees, fish, birds, and stones.
The Sky
When we greet the Heavens, the Sun, and the Moon, we recognize our celestial brothers and sisters and dedicate our healing efforts to the Great Spirit, the Creator of all. The last two directions—above and below—represent the masculine and feminine. The shaman seeks to maintain and perpetuate this balance, understanding that life is a delicate dance between change and the unchanging.
The Incas believe the soul has three parts. When people die, one part (the changing) returns to the Earth to be reabsorbed into nature, becoming one with all life. Another part (their strength and wisdom) returns to the sacred mountains, and a third part (the unchanging) returns to the Sun.
How Do We Create Sacred Space?
Facing each direction, we say the following:
To the Wind of the West
Great Serpent,
Wrap you coils of light around me.
Teach me to shed the past,
Just as you shed your skin,
To walk softly on the Earth.
Teach me the way of beauty.
To the Winds of the South
Great Serpent,
Wrap your coils of light around me.
Teach me to shed the past,
Just as you shed your skin,
To walk softly on the Earth.
Teach me the way of beauty.
To the Winds of the West
Mother Jaguar,
Protect my healing space.
Teach me the way of peace, how to live impeccably.
Show me the way beyond death.
To the Winds of the North
Hummingbird, Grandmothers and Grandfathers,
Ancient Ancestors,
Come and warm your hands by my fore.
Whisper to me in the wind.
I honor you, those who have come before me,
And those who will come after me, the children of my children.
To the Winds of the East
Great Eagle,
Come to me from the place of the rising sun.
Hold me under your wings.
Show me the mountains I only dare to dream of.
Teach me to fly wing to wing with the Great Spirit.
Mother Earth
I pray for the healing of all your children,
For the stone people, the plant people,
For the four-legged, the two-legged, the creepy-crawlers,
For those with fins, fur and wings. For all my relations.
Father Sun, Grandmother Moon
Star Nations, Great Spirit,
You who are known by a thousand names,
Thank you for allowing me to sing
The Song of Life and Joy for another day.
At the end of our healing work, we close the sacred space in the same way it was opened, simply by giving thanks.
What is Shamanic Teaching?
Shamanic teaching combines ancient Shamanic knowledge with modern psychotherapeutic practices, resulting in a profound inner transformative journey. The shamanic teachings are a map of four steps one must take to become a person of knowledge and power. The tools gained during training help balance the body and soul, reconnecting us with the Earth. Through shamanic teaching, we consciously participate in our future evolution.