Sacred Spaces
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SACRED SPACES BODHI TREE’S GUIDE TO CREATING SACRED SPACE IN YOUR HOME A BODHI TREE PUBLICATION CONTENTS 1 Introduction 3 Detoxing Your Home’s Energy 10 How to Smudge 16 Using Essential Oils: A Room-by-Room Guide 27 Burning Incense for Self-Care, Space Clearing and Spiritual Cleansing 35 Creating a Meditation Sanctuary at Home 43 Conclusion INTRODUCTION In our busy, technology-driven world, it’s more important than ever to have a sacred space that allows us to carve out moments of calm, help us find our center and just be. We created Sacred Spaces to help you do just that. Your home isn’t just a place where you live. It’s a sanctuary for your mind, body and soul that’s in constant need of energy clearing and attention. For us, the art of creating sacred space is one of the anchors of our spiritual practice. It grounds us in times of uncertainty and liberates us during moments of distress. As you may know, we began our journey in 1970 on Melrose Avenue. Bodhi Tree Bookstore was the epicenter of the New Thought movement in Los Angeles and was the place to find metaphysical books and goods and to hear top authors and thought leaders speak on a wide range of topics. But more importantly, it was a sacred space for seekers from around the world to gather, connect and just be. 1 While our current journey is in this digital space, we want to share our knowledge to help you create sacred space in your home. In this ebook, you’ll discover how to detox your home’s energy, how to perform a smudging ritual for clearing and protection, how to use essential oils and incense to find calm and transform your mood, and even how to create your own meditation sanctuary. May this wisdom serve you and your sacred space well. Blessings, 2 CHAPTER 1 DETOXING YOUR HOME’S ENERGY by Meredith Sloane 3 START WITH YOUR HOME’S ENERGY FOUNDATION Think of your first chakra (also known as the root chakra) as the foundation of your energetic house. Associated with grounding, home, survival, fears and needs, the first chakra is the one upon which all the other chakras are built. With a weak first chakra, there’s the risk that everything will come tumbling down when an emotional earthquake occurs. In order to balance the first chakra, you need a safe and grounding home space. Most of us spend a great deal of our lives in our homes, and almost a third of our life sleeping. Our home is our nest. We choose the location and furnishings in our home. So, our houses are filled not only with our energy, but also with the energy of those we invite in. Creating a solid, peaceful environment can be done in four easy steps. 4 4 SIMPLE STEPS TO DETOXING YOUR HOME’S ENERGY Step 1: Clear out non-useful items When rebuilding your home’s energy foundation, it’s essential to clear out old energies first. You can begin by getting rid of objects that you no longer use, from clothing to kitchen utensils. It’s important to know that every object contains a vibration, so the more you have, the more energy is in your home. By letting go of items you no longer need, you’re creating more open, energetic space in your house. With less clutter, good energy can circulate through your house with greater ease. Step 2: Throw away items that no longer resonate After purging non-useful items, begin to look for things that no longer resonate with your current state of energy, such as possessions you’ve grown accustomed to but that no longer represent you. It’s easy to tell if an object resonates with you: If you still love it, it’s a vibrational match. A good place to start is by assessing furniture or wall art. We often overlook things that have been in our homes for long periods of time; they become normal to us, but normal doesn’t always mean it has a high vibration. If an item doesn’t resonate with love, it’s time to let it go. 5 “If an item doesn’t resonate with love, it’s time to let it go.” 6 Step 3: Clear out old energies with shamanic rituals Once everything in your home represents who you are today, it’s time to clear out old energies. A good clearing tool is palo santo, a “holy wood” used by Peruvian shamans. Set the intention to clear your space and then, with a window open in each room, walk the perimeter of each room with the lit palo santo stick. After the energy is cleared, use ethically sourced sage to raise the vibration. Close all windows, light one end of a bundle of sage, and again walk the perimeter of each room. (See Chapter 2 for more detailed instructions on how to smudge your space.) Step 4: Fill your home with high-vibrational energies Once your house is clear of old energies, it’s time to fill it with all things high-vibrational. Invite over loved ones and those who you laugh with. Fill the rooms with happiness, love and joy. Bits of nature, such as flowers or driftwood, also raise your home’s vibration. To uplift your spirit, place essential oils such as lavender, jasmine and lemon in a diffuser to fill rooms with inviting scents. Spend time nesting in your home and doing things you love. You can start a new creative project such as painting or crafts or curl up with a great book. Try to minimize time spent arguing inside. If you have an argument with a loved one, take it outside if possible. The more love you create in your space, the safer the space will feel for you to do your first-chakra work. 7 When we clear our home, we create a sacred space that’s ideal for hosting and maintaining positive, productive energy—and a solid foundation for balancing our first chakra. Give it a try. 8 “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself over and over again.” — Joseph Campbell 9 CHAPTER 2 HOW TO SMUDGE by Justine Amodeo 10 WHAT IS SMUDGING? As noted in Chapter 1, smudging is a simple yet powerful ritual to clear the energy of a new home or office, a space after an argument or even crystals or jewelry. It can also be used to clear the body, mind and spirit of any negativity by circulating the sacred smoke around the body before smudging your space. It’s an ancient Native American ceremony that dates back to prehistoric times. 11 WHY IS SMUDGING EFFECTIVE? Recently, science has proven that smudging is actually one of the most powerful antiseptic technologies ever discovered. In fact, a 2007 scientific study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that smudging with “medicinal smoke” for one hour reduces airborne bacteria by more than 94%. It also found that the purification or disinfection could be maintained for up to 24 hours if the room stayed closed. That’s because, when burned, sage and other herbs actually release negative ions that can purify a space. And while many plants and herbs have been used around the world for this purpose, indigenous cultures in North and South America find sage and palo santo to be the most potent. Palo santo, which means “holy wood” in Spanish, is a fallen wood from a sweet, fragrant tree from South America that has been used for centuries for cleansing and healing ceremonies. California white sage has been used by Native American tribes for rituals and prayers to bring balance and peace to a space. 12 THE TOOLS YOU’LL NEED TO SMUDGE 1. Ethically sourced sage, palo santo, mugwort, sweetgrass, cedar or the smudging herbs of your choice. 2. A feather or a smudging wand to disperse the sacred smoke as you cleanse the energy all around you. 3. A lighter, matches or a candle to light your smudge stick. 4. A sustainably harvested abalone shell or heat-proof dish to place your lit bundle in when you’re done. 13 HOW TO CLEAR YOUR ENERGY WITH SMUDGING Step 1 When smudging, light one end of your sage bundle or palo santo stick, and make sure to gently blow out the flame while keeping the end lit. Step 2: Fan the medicinal smoke with the feather or wand in four directions to honor the indigenous prayers going out to the elements of earth, water, air and fire. Step 3 To set down the lit or still-hot smudge, place it in an abalone shell or heat-proof dish. Don’t forget to give your feather a final pass through the sacred smoke to clear away any energies it absorbed before using it again for a smudging ceremony. 14 “Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.” – Walter Pater 15 CHAPTER 3 USING ESSENTIAL OILS : A ROOM-BY-ROOM GUIDE by Sarah Ban 16 Another way to create sacred space in your home is by diffusing essential oils. The life force of plants, essential oils have aromas that are so transformative that they can draw you in, arousing your emotional and mental states. Aromatherapy, the practice of using essential oils for healing, is thought to work by communicating with the amygdala and hippocampus, the parts of the brain that serve as “storehouses for emotions and memories,” according to the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Guide of the University of Maryland Medical Center.