Honoring the Sacred

What does the word “sacred” mean to you? What about “God”? Dare I ask, “prayer”? I know! For some of you this may be a tough ask.

If you’ve been raised anywhere near religion, then some of these will have very specific responses within your body and mind. For some, beautiful. For some, not so easeful.

I want to come back to the word “sacred”. What is sacred to you? What do you hold most dear to your heart? Sacred can have many meanings. Our precious time alone can be sacred. Our time spent with family or friends. The moments when we put ourselves in the way of immense awe — sunsets, sunrises, grand landscapes, etc. What do we experience when we feel these things? Perhaps a softening of the heart. An ease of the nervous system. A feeling of emotion that brings you to tears at times.

These precious moments exist within every single day, no matter what might be happening or where we might be. The sacred exists somewhere inside of every moment. We have a choice whether or not we choose to see it. To honor it.

We are living in some pretty crazy times and yet, the world has always existed within these times. Chaos is just as much a part of life just as it is a part of nature. The more out of balance things become, the more extreme the duality of light and shadow we will experience - this is what I believe at least. We must see the extreme of one so that that we can create a balance and become integrated into higher states of consciousness. Higher states of love.

From my own experience, I believe that the more shadow we experience, the more crucial it becomes to be with and acknowledge the sacred in our lives. To find that connection to something greater than ourselves to allow for a deeper surrender and trust. And I’d be lying if I didnt say it has been a long journey for me.

I was raised under the veil of Catholicism. Praying the rosary out of guilt and confessing what little bad I had ever even thought each week to a priest under the grief of Jesus’ bleeding forehead. I was raised to believe that to be in the presence of sacredness, one needed to admit that one was inherently rooted in sin. That it only took place on Sundays in churches and only in the ways that were taught in Catholic school. The right words. The right motions. 20 Our Fathers.

I never felt the presence of God in these moments. And yet, I knew that God existed. I felt it in my bones. I never really assumed God was a “he” either. I felt God when I was alone in the mountains where I lived as a child. Felt the presence of angels in the wild St. John’s Wort that grew in golden glittering sparkles strewn across our front yard. Felt something magical guiding me to hidden treasures whilst exploring underneath the gaze of looming magnificent redwoods. Heard loving voices while witnessing the birth of newborn horses during eclipses and long walks with labradors deep within the confines of the greater rainforest that surrounded me.

I felt Jesus walk alongside me at night in my room when my parents would shout obscenities louder than the raging thunder outside my window. Felt a hand upon my shoulder as I cried lonely tears into the furry shoulders of cats, longing for something, someone to hold me through the rage and fury of my family.

And now that I’m older, I see this was the sacred holding me. Mother Nature has always been my truest Mother. She has loved me, held me, guided, sheltered, pushed, taught and honored me back. She is today what I hold the most sacred because I see she is me and I am her. We are one. The sacred is ME. I just needed to gift myself permission to exist in this way. I needed to remove the layers of conditioning that told me to be in communion with God, I needed to look outside of myself - where I would never have found answers.

To pray to this God of my understanding is to walk slowly amongst the butterflies - dirt in between my toes and warm summer breezes calling me back to myself. I pray the rosary to connect to the seeds of the earth — to feel this Earth Mother in my hands. To remember and know her wisdom. To honor her possibility. To remember that in every moment, I can choose to see her. To see the sacred. No matter how tough, how gnarly, how unbecoming….there is and always will also be, beauty. In me and outside of me. I’m beginning to understand that at the core of the religion that attempted to contain me, were actually beautiful teachings. Teachings I am still trying to understand for myself.

This is is my mandate. A spiritual calling of sorts. A protector of the sacred. I see now this is what I am here for. To help myself and others remember this sacredness within and without. To understand the dream of it all — to realize we get to create the living nightmare or beautiful dream, for they exist within one another. This is the work I dedicate to you through dreams, mentorship and education because it is the work I will always do with myself.

And so, the next time you find yourself questioning your spirituality - please, consider this. For at least that moment, don’t look to a book, a Church, another person. Look to nature. Look into the eyes of someone you love deeply. The smile of a stranger. The connection with a new friend. The embrace of a newborn kitten.

Look into your heart. Remember a place amongst the stars, the waters or the trees and feel into this. See yourself reflected back at you. Let nature see you and gaze upon your beauty as you do hers. And then and only then, ask yourself again…what is sacred to you in this moment?

This moment, this breath, is all sacred because we are ALIVE. Is that spiritual enough for you? Isn’t it a miracle simply to exist amongst and through it all?

To be “spiritual” is kinda bullshit if you ask me. And before you go freaking out…hear me out. To be spiritual is just to BE as we were and are intended to be. It is our birthright to see God within and without. So to call ourselves “spiritual” is sort of ridiculous. We’re so apt to labeling things. Strip it all away, and God is all there is because God is love. WE are love.

I wish you all the love ahead. For yourself and for this world.

Honor the sacred my friends.

Honor yourselves.

With Love and WILD,

Niki