During these unprecedented times, I gravitate to what I refer to as ‘sacred space’. For me, this is a place in my home that I have set up where I can retreat when I need to pray, meditate or just sit in silence reflecting. This period of self-isolation is offering me the time to look within, ask questions and search for meaning.

 

What is happening in the external world is a reflection of what is happening within and in order to understand the deeper meaning of this virus, I have been asking many questions to try and grasp the full meaning of this planetary event. For I truly believe we are entering unchartered waters and are on a journey into the collective unknown. We are all in this together, experiencing something that is affecting every single one of us everywhere at the same time. We need endurance because we can’t walk away from this experience, we have to go through it together and find strength from the collective even while in isolation.

 

A few days ago, I felt the inner urge and need to create a sacred space for myself. I knew that I needed to set up my altar which has been in a box since our move to North Carolina two and a half years ago. I knew just the place for the altar, underneath a beautiful silk banner of Long’s Peak, Colorado along one of the walls in my bead room. I found a small table that wasn’t being used and covered it with a towel with the Irish prayer that begins with “May the road rise to meet you, may the wind always be at your back”. As I took each item out of the box, I placed it on the table-top until it was in the order that seemed right to me in the moment. I had forgotten some of the treasures I had collected from distant lands and seeing them again touched me very deeply. When I had finished putting each item in its place, I struck the Tingshas to use sound vibration to help sanctify the altar then smudged everything with sage and lit the candle. Now, when I enter into my bead room, this sacred space instantly brings me to a place of greater calmness, a refuge from the storm. I sit and meditate, focused on my breath, emptying my mind until I find a place of deep inner peace.

 

If it calls to you, may each of you reading this find a way to create safe sacred space for yourself and use it as a place to find your inner peace.  It will help counteract the fears that we all are feeling during these unsettling times.