In many ways it seems strange to talk of “sacred space” as all of the Earth and its peoples can be regarded as sacred. Therefore it might be more correct to look at “consciously designed or used sacred space”.

Power Points and Sacred Sites

There are points in the landscape that seem to have a particularly charged atmosphere, places that seem special to many people, whatever their religious belief system. Such locations may be known as “power points”. They often have a long history of human activity, even though they may be located in rather remote or inhospitable landscapes. They are often associated with high ground, mountains or cliffs that drop sharply to the sea. Some of these areas are deeply wooded, while others are desolate moorland, or even arid desert. Openings in the earth seem to have a particular attraction, with caves holding a long-standing fascination for us. Similar honour seems to have been accorded many of these power points in cultures from one end of the globe to the other. There are often local myths and legends regarding feats that have taken place there.

So what is it that attracts us to one particular spot as opposed to the acres of surrounding countryside? It is difficult to be clear about the reasons but there does seem to be a magnetic variation or anomaly at such places. For instance, you may find that a magnetic compass will behave very erratically at a sacred site, with the needle constantly spinning or perhaps pointing South instead of North (try it for yourself!). Although we are not aware of it on a conscious level, we spend our entire lives interacting with the Earth’s magnetic fields, as indeed do the other creatures who live on our planet. It has been found that we have magnetic detectors in a number of different locations around our bodies, such as at our brows, so it may be that we are drawn to locations with a particular magnetic imprint. (If this seems far-fetched, consider the number of whales that have become beached due to mis-reading the shifting magnetic fields).

For dowsers and geomancers, the other significant aspect to the underlying cartography of a power point or sacred site is the presence of water and energy lines of one kind or another. One of my greatest teachers and honorary uncle is Sig Lonegren, respected geomancer, dowser and initiate of the earth mysteries whose website www.geomancy.org is the mother of all geomancy sites, especially regarding sacred sites and sacred space – check it out if you haven’t already done so. Sig has spent decades visiting sacred sites all over the world and has consistently found that they are sited over a crossing of underground water veins at the very least. They are frequently sited over a blind spring (known as a water dome in the US), which is a bit like an underground volcano of primary water, with streams radiating out from it. Many sites will have energy leys flowing through them, and a number will also be linked into a system of ley lines (lines of sight connecting sacred sites).

Whatever the reasons that have initially attracted us to the power points, our reactions to them and interaction with them vary considerably in expression, but often involve an acknowledgement of our recognition of the intrinsic power of these sites. This is frequently found to be marked physically by the building of either a consciously designed and dedicated sacred space or a secular power base such as a castle, city or fortress, or indeed, both.

Why exactly this may have been done can only be surmised but it seems that there may have been a two-fold motivation. The first reason was probably that our ancestors who had by now moved to an agrarian lifestyle, understood that it was the Earth that supported and nourished them by providing water, giving them a good harvest, and rich woodlands with fruit, nuts and berries. To appease the Earth Spirit, they probably built structures to honour and give thanks to the Divine, in the hope that subsequent harvests would be just as bountiful. The second reason for creating these spaces was to allow them to connect to the Divine in a more focussed way. For instance, consulting the Oracle of Delphi effectively allowed one to hear the voice of the gods. Somehow, the priesthoods came to realise that the more clearly defined and focussed that the temples were, the more clearly could such a connection be established and maintained. Even more to the point, such refinement allowed the supplicant to be more easily heard.

Consciously Designed Sacred Space

There is considerable evidence that for the past 5,000 years at least Man has felt drawn to locate sacred spaces, be they temples, pyramids, stone circles, or oracles at some of these special power points. How much earlier this tradition may have developed is difficult to gauge as previous structures may have been buried or rotted away, depending on the materials used. What seems clear, however, is that there was a highly developed wisdom, science and culture behind the design and installation of such structures. Each is constructed with care and precision that shows a deep understanding of such fields as astronomy, number and measure, proportion and geometry, as well as an understanding of working with stone and other materials that we still struggle to comprehend, never mind emulate.

For instance, even so-called stone circles (more accurately known as stone rings) are not just a vague grouping of stones, or even a perfect circle that might conceivably have been placed on the circumference of a circle drawn with a simple compass of string-like material and a marker stick. In reality, there is complex geometry inherent in their design with some of them being egg-shaped for instance. We can reproduce most of them on paper, but it requires a considerable degree of knowledge and understanding to be able to do so. How then did these allegedly primitive peoples not just manage to map this on the ground, but to move giant megaliths into the correct position, having frequently transported them over vast distances? Not just that, in many instances the stones are aligned with astronomical markers on the horizon, such as the point at which the Sun rises or sets on a significant day, or a particular point in the Moon’s cycle which varies over some 19 years.

If you would like to learn a little more about Sacred Geometry and why different structures may have been chosen for different locations or reasons, please refer to the Sacred Geometry section.