survey about sacred spaces in people's homes

[firecat]

A friend of mine who is not on LJ is setting up a sacred space in her house. She sent me the following questions. If you have a sacred space in your home please consider responding in a comment. Feel free to tell other people or relevant communities about this post. I will pass along any responses. Thanks!

I'm interested in hearing about sacred spaces people have set up in their homes. By sacred space, I mean any place dedicated to your spiritual being or practice. It could be an altar in a corner of a room, or a whole room. Or a whole house.

• If you do have a space dedicated to your spirituality, do you have a name for the space? Did you consecrate it in any way?
  
• Do you have a name for your particular spiritual orientation? Do you practice alone, or do you belong to a group of some kind? If both, how much do you use your own space to practice?
  
• What sorts of objects are in your sacred space? Where do you find these objects? (E.g. the beach, a metaphysical bookstore, religious supply house, eBay...)
  
• Do you use incense? What kind, and where do you get it?
  
• Do you use musical instruments? Recorded music?
  
• Do you perform rituals (in your sacred space or elsewhere)? What kinds of objects and music do you use?
  
• How do you determine what kinds of objects/incense/candles etc. you need? (Follow a list in a book, just stumble across 'em, use your intuition, etc.)
  
• Have you made any objects yourself for use in your spirituality? Would you be willing to describe them, and how you came up with the idea for them?
  
• Do you allow people into your space who are not into your type of spirituality?

Comments

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

I have a little altar at home ... I hope a picture is OK.



I didn't consecrate it. It just sort of "grew" organically. Mr. B. (my husband) got the Ganesh statue for me from Bangalore. The muffin is for Ganesh; he likes sweets ... :D

The enamel plate of the stag on the right was from my late mother-in-law. It reminds me of the Horned God of ancient pre-Christian Europe. The painting of the woman in green is based on the Our Lady of Guadalupe icon from Mexico. A friend gave it to me a long time ago. It sort of stands in for the female principle of the universe; I especially like it because her cloak is green (Mother nature, etc.)

I can't use incense at home because it irritates Mr. B's nose and chest.

Ritual really eludes me. I never grew up with it (no religious upbringing whatever) and so can't ever get organized about it. I do like feeding Ganesh, though ... :D

LOL, anyone can look at it, whether they agree with me in spiritual matters or not. I am nominally Anglican (Anglo-Catholic) but like to honor other elemental beings too.