Cyprus Aphrodite Birthplace Sunrise
Originally uploaded by springtide9
“What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.” ~ Paulo Coelho (The Witch of Portobello)
A temple is a sacred space dedicated to sharing the teachings of a specific deity. It can also be a place of public worship, though I’m not much for distancing aspect of worship. To carry a temple means to carry a sacred space where teachings you’ve been given can be shared with others. It expresses acceptance of the teacher in all of us and a willingness to return the generosity shown to us by the divine.
There are many ways to carry a temple. A temple can be as elaborate or simple as you like. You can have an urban temple, an outdoor temple, you can have both. For some people, the altar makes the temple. For others, their body is their temple. My teachings reflect a temple dedicated to sensuality, pleasure and creativity, but also delight, enchantment, and adventure. Anywhere those energies exist can be viewed as sacred and I try to express them daily, through my thoughts, actions, and celebrations. Because I walk with a spirit that celebrates the inner divine, most of my personal temple practices don’t seem to need much more than my loving attention. I believe that my senses are meant to celebrate my physical universe and find the pleasure in daily things. My life is my dedication.
Even so, I feel like to grow further I’ll need to create a temple space for my companion work. It’s important because I’ll learn to create a physical space that will nourish the inner space to flourish. It will need to be a nourishing space where we can find harmony between the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual selves. It needs to be easily accessible from both my home and gardens, as well as reasonably accessible to any travel routes. My city celebrates a lot of festivals and cultural events that I would love to explore more. We have winters that can turn harsh so I’ll need to be close to both food and drink and any other supplies I or a guest might need. There will also have to be plenty of plants. Celebrating what I want to explore will probably be the most fun about creating this space. It’ll have to be a space where art, creativity, pleasure, sensuality, and a fair amount of plants come together. It not only has to have space for everything I like to do, but space for what guests like as well. It needs privacy, warmth, and lots of opportunity for play.
Creating a temple space opens me to a more interactive experience with the spirits I feel affinity with. It is place for them to draw strength from. Like a home, a sacred space fills us with warmth and love. It feeds the little golden flame we carry inside, warming us wherever we go.
