Altars & Sacred Places

Shamanista

Animism | Shamanism | Spirit Journeys | Healing

Altars and Sacred Places

In an animist culture, ordinary people, not just shamans make and use altars. An altar can be elaborate or very simple. It can be large and intricate or just a fiew special things carried in a tiny medicine pouch and set up whenever, wherever it is needed.

In a sense, a sacred place is also a kind of altar. Animists are aware that all things and all places have spirit. They honor all the earth as sacred. Yet they recognize certain places that are especially filled with spirit as sacred.

Altars

An alltar is a physical object or, more often, an arrangement of objects, used as a focus for prayers and/or magic.The altar serves as a mental focus for the person using it. In other words, an altar is just a tool.

An altar can be a massive architectural features, as in a Gothic cathedral, or a few small natural objects laid out on the cloth or leather wrapper used to carry them. A shaman's altar is more likely to be of the latter kind.

Sometimes an altar for a shamanic ceremony includes special sacred objects that may be ancient artistic treasures. Other times it may be just a few natural objects such as stones, leaves, shells, and flowers, that are returned to nature after the ceremony. The form, or arrangement, of the altar may be more important sometimes than the objects that are used in the arrangement.

Information coming soon on types of altars and how to make them.

Shrines

A shrines is permanent arrangements of sacred and/or objects, sometimes including a special structure, for a spiritual purpose. A shrine is generally used for prayer or ceremony, but some shrines serve mainly as a memorial to a person or spirit.

Because shrines often accumulate spiritual power from the veneration of the spirits they represent, the right shrine can be an especially powerful focus for a shamanic ceremony.

Information coming soon on making and using shrines.

Fetishes

A fetish is an object into which a spirit resides or can be called for a magical and/or spiritual purpose. When the spirit represented by the fetish is called, it inhabits the fetish.

The Zuni people of the American Southwest traditionally made tiny stone carvings of predators to carry with them and use in hunting magic. When he is in the wilderness, ready to hunt, the traditional Zuni hunter opens his medicine bundle, laying it out on a rock as a sort of altar, and asks the spirit represented by (or residing in) his animal fetish for help in the hunt.

Hal Zina Bennett has written about his own use of animal fetishes, including choosing and empowering them, in his book, Inner Guides, Visions, Dreams, and Dr. Einstein. It's a great book anyway and well worth reading. The book seems to be out of print, but you can still buy it on Amazon. To buy it click on the following link: Inner Guides, Visions, Dreams and Dr. Einstein

Hal Zina Bennett later wrote a very good book on specifically on using traditional animal fetishes for spiritual growth, titled Zuni Fetishes: Using Native American Sacred Objects for Meditation, Reflection, and Insight

For more books on Zuni fetishes, see Other Resources

In Africa and some other places ceremonial masks are kept for special ceremonies. During the ceremony, the spirit of the mask is called and inhabits the mask to bring blessings, healing, or information to the people. (In some cases, the spirit of the mask possesses the person wearing the mask, but that is not a shamanic ceremony. It's a different kind of spiritual belief system.)

Sacred Places

Despite the fact that the whole Earth is sacred, certain places seem to hold a special energy that many people can feel. In the Europe and the Near and Middle East, many such places are now covered with buildings, such as temples, churches, or mosques.

But many such places remain open and natural, such as Bear Butte (also called Devil's Tower) in South Dakota, Uluru (or Ayers Rock) in Australia, Enchanted Rock in Texas, and Silbury Hill in England.

Devil's Tower, Black Hills, South Dakota Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Ayers Rock, Uluru Park, Australia Photographic Print
Segal, Mark
Buy at AllPosters.com

Enchanted Rock, Fredericksburg, Texas Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Much more information coming soon on sacred places.

Sacred Earth

Many traditions hold that the Earth herself is a sacred living being.

Information coming soon on the sacredness of the living Earth.

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