Sacred Space

The idea of ‘sacred space’ is likely as old as humanity itself. And the underlying idea of sacred space has remained the same throughout time- even though, from culture to culture, from one person to another, from century to century the words of humanity’s spiritual vocabulary has changed: Sacred space is a physical place where the Divine or the supernatural can be glimpsed or experienced from the material world in some manner.

Humanity’s first sacred spaces were not altars as we use most commonly today, however. But were instead places already known to be holy, where the presence of the supernatural or a Deity was keenly felt- and where, as a result, their rites and ceremonies began to take place. And for Pagans, this same concept of a place imbued with such holiness is a common one that still remains even today.

For our ancestors, though, many of these sacred places were on elevated peaks, near water and strands of trees, or deep in the Earth, in caves and caverns. These sacred trees, sacred mountains, sacred animals are all found in a wealth of religious traditions throughout history and well into the modern era; the world is full of ancestral sacred places. And spaces that have been used for such worship over generations may well acquire an atmosphere of sanctity ... It’s good to visit and experience such places- but it's equally good to create sacred spaces of your own as well.

Building an altar or, later, a Temple, however, does not inherently make a place holy; the holiness of the space often precedes, or subsequently follows, the ritual gesture. More importantly, the distinctions between the sacred and the profane- the spiritual and the mundane- simply did not exist for most of our ancestors. Landscape and space were holy because they manifested the Divine and supernatural ... The idea that a building or edifice- a Church or a Temple- is needed to make a place holy is a much more recent idea.

Separating our ‘spiritual’ identity from the other identities we have in our lives is also, in the scheme of history, a recent event- and a much more Western one at that. In most other parts of the world, the ritual offering of gifts to the Divine’s at home and at work, at personal and public altars and shrines, is a part of everyday life; even in our Western past, the progression of life and the act of making offerings were once virtually inseparable.

Rediscovering the importance of sacred space and activity within our lives can take many different forms, and there is no true 'right’ way of creating- or using- any kind of sacred space. Especially since sacred space is here all of the time anyways; it doesn’t come or go, it’s here always- and it’s been here all along. And so we do not literally create it as much as we simply practice showing up to it once we're aware of its existence.

Since NeoWicca is a religion, its rites are held in what is described as such a kind of ‘sacred space’. But in reality, it's a bit of a misnomer; the Divine are present everywhere and in everything. As a result, the whole universe is technically sacred space, and the whole world is sacred to us. There is no individual sacred space for this reason.

This, however, is frequently too much for the human mind to comprehend, except in certain mystical states. And so we have a need to ‘rope off’ particular areas for worship and ritual. The idea of 'sacred space', then, really becomes shorthand for the particular area within the world where we decide to do our rites and rituals- and this is done through the erection of ‘Temples’ of our own, via the casting of Circles.

The Circle is sacred space, just like a church or temple; it's a special kind of barrier that is nonphysical and metaphysical in nature, and which is used to magically separate the sacred from the mundane in order to create a space that is 'between worlds’. The Circle is always created for a particular purpose, but is allowed to dissipate after each use.

Some Wiccans use their living room as their Temple. Others rent public spaces such as a gym or Church Hall; one-person Temples can be set up in a small bedroom, while a larger group often needs more space than that. However, a Temple doesn’t have to be the same place every time. It can be just as transitional as an Altar is. Indeed, they typically are- after all, our real Temples are the meadows, forests, beaches, and deserts of the world; when we are outdoors, we’re surrounded by the sanctity of the Divine, in true sacred space.

We make do with what we can access and comprehend, though. And regardless of where we establish them or how temporary we make them, personal Temples can be as elaborate or as simple as you want them to be. Still, such space is special, and so is deserving of effort; there will certainly be times when it’s necessary to work in far from ideal circumstances, but one should still do their best every time they erect the Temple for ritual. Or that, if one does have the space to create a permanent Temple within their home, they still put every effort into making it a beautiful and pleasing space.