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Creating a retreat asks us to construct a sanctuary or space that becomes sacred. It involves creating temenos, which is a space that allows a certain spirit to breathe life into our activity. The area must be kept pure for sacred work. It may be a permanent location, such as a Monastery or Temple, or it may be created as a temporary sanctuary such as a room in one’s home that is set aside for a period of time in order to perform a short retreat from the world.
The essential aspect of creating Sanctuary is to mark out a perimeter that creates a border and allows a sanctifying of everything it contains. In Wicca, one draws a circle and sanctifies the space within the circle. In a Monastery, the entry gates provide the entrance and exit point. If creating a sanctuary in one’s own home, a doorway might be used. Then it is important to honor that boundary and keep it sacred in one’s own consciousness so that the sacred aspect is upheld.
Thresholds of any type can provide sanctuary. The important aspect is that our inner self must resonate to the fact that it can retreat in quiet and disappear into the ‘place’ without fearing disturbance. It provides quiet time to reflect and to be without having to do.
As you engage yourself in spiritual practice within your sanctuary, you will fill it and form it with your personal energy and change the vibration of the space. It will begin to vibrate with your own energy, and people may even begin to feel the energy when they enter.
Meditation is an advanced form of centering prayer. When meditating, we ask Spirit to speak through us, and we affirm our willingness to be a channel for Spirit. When we meditate we feel the power, wisdom, and creativity within ourselves. Through meditation we strengthen ourselves, and we find the strong center within. We are able to feel the creativity, strength, and truth of God or the Divine move through us and out into the world. Meditation teaches us that the Divine dwells within us. It is a point of absolute truth and wisdom. This Divine place is reached through silent intentional contemplative prayer. It moves us toward the path of the mystic and to the Source of our being.
Meditation brings us into a direct relationship with our minds and bodies. We are faced with habits of thought, and we experience unconscious thoughts that rise to the conscious mind. Meditation on an object is called concentration meditation, while meditation on the inner process is called mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is a form of Zen meditation. By using it, we learn about our habits of thought, our emotional responses, and our body tensions. We meet the Divine within, and we begin to transform ourselves. Much of our own suffering arises because of lack of awareness. By practicing mindfulness, we become aware of our own victimizations.
Concentration meditation allows us to explore unique states of mind. It takes us out of the present moment of time and space and into eternity or the ground of being. We identify with the eternal. These methods are all quieting exercises or receptive prayers, and they are different from simple active forms of prayer. Concentration meditation is especially helpful to promote movement into mystical states.
Journaling is a time-tested way of personal growth and self-understanding. It can be used in one’s spiritual journey to document the events of one’s life. It can also be used to access the unconscious, heal old emotional wounds, reach for greater vision, and help one to connect to that infinite source of guidance, inspiration, and wisdom inside.
The Progoff Method was created by the late Dr. Ira Progoff in 1966 as a result of his work with psychotherapy patients. Since Progoff was trained in Jungian methods, much of the Progoff work uses Jungian methods such as Active Imagination. Working with the journal will help individuals increase their intuition, creativity, insights, energy, and self-esteem.
Progoff’s (1992) method gives the user specific ways to work with the unconscious, to explore one’s life history, to deepen meditation, to connect to deeper meaning in one’s life, and to explore personal symbols. Other journaling methods are useful as well. While Progoff’s is very detailed and expansive, other methods such as Julia Cameron’s (1992) Artist’s Way and Christina Baldwin’s (1990) Life’s Companion. The best way to begin journaling is to buy a notebook and set aside time each day. Journaling software is nice to use as well, because it can be password protected.
When you begin, you can pick a quote that interests you, write about an event that has meaning, reflect on your day, write your autobiography, etc. The possibilities are endless. To use it as a spiritual quest, the three references listed above are excellent ways to get started.
A spiritual journal is a bit different in that it is not a diary. Rather it is a way to keep up with your spiritual journey. It can include personal reactions to spiritual matters, a place to dump feelings and thoughts, a cathartic place to write out feelings, or an intellectual aid to cultivate deeper understanding and insight. It can also be an account of your spiritual history.
Ritual is an act or ceremony, generally connected to religion or worship. It can also be a ceremony used to evoke or invoke something in one’s life or consciousness. It defines a detailed method or procedure to be followed. Routine or procedure are instrumental in defining ritual. Rituals are usually created to achieve a specific condition or end. Belief and faith in the ritual is what gives it power. Willingness to open to its healing or transforming nature is what allows the healing and transformation to occur. Ritual calls for vulnerability and openness to change. Daily prayer or meditation is a ritualistic act.
The basic steps to creating a ritual are as follows:
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Focusing on a goal or intention – what do you want to achieve?
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Planning your ideas – think about what you need to do to make the ritual real to you.
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Preparation – prepare for the ritual, and as you prepare, fine tune your plans until they feel right. Planning and preparation are as much of the ritual’s power as doing the actual ritual, because they keep your focus on what you are intending to do, and they allow your intuition to provide you a safe container for your feelings about the issue at hand.
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Manifestation – perform the ritual. In doing the ritual, you need to be aware of the shift that occurs – either in thinking, feeling, or acting. This is important for the full manifestation of the ritual.
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Incorporation – an ongoing process. Sometimes full change takes time.
When planning the ritual, create a sacred space by marking it, cleaning it, decorating it, and placing significant elements in it such as candles, incense, and music.
Rituals are often used in community to invoke rites of passage. Most notably, in ancient tribes, passage into manhood or womanhood were ritualized moments. We can do the same thing by ritualizing our own life passages. Rituals can be created around graduations, marriages, divorces, midlife transitions, and wisdom transitions. The possibilities are limited only by one’s own creativity.
Prayer is a powerful way to open the heart when one is stuck in anger, fear, self-judgment, resistance, or depression. It is our attempt to communicate and have a relationship with the unknown element; to either find understanding, to negotiate or bargain, to seek love, or to give thanks. When we pray, we bring our inner awareness into our everyday actions. We then create behavioral change from the knowledge we have gained. Prayer is the ritual that cements our awareness into our actions. The true essence of prayer is to touch God with our hearts and become so preoccupied with God that nothing else matters. We can theorize and philosophize about God, but to experience God, we must apply ourselves to a practice. Prayer offers a form and process for that practice, and it leads us into a direct and profound experience of the Divine.
Prayer usually falls into one of several categories:
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Petition which is asking something for oneself
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Intercession which is asking something for another
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Confession which is repentance of wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness
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Lamentation which is crying out in distress
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Adoration which is giving honor or praise
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Invocation which is summoning the presence of the Almighty
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Thanksgiving which is offering gratitude
How do we pray? Simply by opening our hearts to "The Divine". The very heart of prayer is to become vulnerable and allow a relationship to develop between yourself and what you define as "The Divine", whether it is a Divine Being called God, or the Divine Within yourself. Allow the relationship to blossom and grow!
Shrines and Tabernacles are ways to create enchantment in your life. Shrines are usually places which are considered holy due to associations with saints or Deities. Altars are traditionally places or structures, often a table, where sacrifices are made or where one puts items to create a center of worship. Both are perfect vehicles for ritual, however one must travel to a place considered a shrine, whereas altars can be created in one’s bedroom or study, in one’s own home. They can become a Shrine if imbued with holy presence. The true power of a shrine or altar is it connects and reconciles the outer symbol with the inner experience and help us make a leap into the mystical experience.
The word shrine means box or container for sacred relics or objects and a place to pay devotion. It can serve as a container for our daily practice and our daily rituals that surround our devotion to the Divine. It is a way to sanctify our practice and symbolically set it apart from daily activities. The creation of a Shrine or Sanctuary can be a symbolic act in itself. First one must decide who or what the shrine is to honor, the deity, god, or object. Then one can choose a special box or container to house the objects. If it is a picture, it could be a special frame or shadow box that holds the picture.
Shrines can also help us stay focused on what we are trying to create in our lives. If we are attempting to manifest a certain consciousness, then the picture of a mentor or an item that represents the state of consciousness may invoke the emotion or sense of devotion. If it is an object or item, then a replica or picture of that item may suffice. If it is a search for one’s authenticity or genuine nature, then items from one’s life or symbolic images of oneself, such as metaphors for transformation that hold certain meaning (butterflies, shells, etc.) may serve. The key is that they have a personal meaning and evoke an emotional response. Orientals often erect shrines to ancestors as a way of connecting to their wisdom. Shrines and altars can also be erected for healing, or exploration. Let your creativity and personal need be your guide.
The best way to create a shrine or altar is to search for objects that represent devotion. They need to touch the heart at a feeling or emotional level, and they can be personally historic, as in family pictures or articles, or they can be religious devotional items such as pictures of a special religious leader. They can represent nature, as in objects that represent earth, air, fire, and water. They can be combinations of the above as well. It is best that they have a transcendent and personal meaning.
Divination is the method that we use to enhance and connect to our intuition. It is a way to tap into the intuitive part of life and seek messages from the unconscious. Divination is a time honored tradition that uses the Tarot Deck, the I Ching, or some other symbolic method. They all help us look into the unknown and connect with collective consciousness to bring back wisdom and insight. We become a Shaman and take a Vision Quest into unknown realms.
The ingredients of divination include a rite or ritual, some kind of material for reflection, and a conclusion that helps reveal insight for decisions. The ritual sets the stage and opens the door for intuition. The material can be anything that you can believe in and expect to gain answers from, such as the Tarot or even a sacred book. It must have a magical presence or potential. The conclusion is the answer to your question or concern that comes from connecting to your intuition.
An easy way to gain answers to questions is to pose the question, open a scripture or sacred book to a random page, and select a verse for contemplation. Close your eyes and repeat the verse or sentence to yourself and allow the answer to the question to come to mind.