Sacred Space

Abstract

Sacred space has an ambivalent status. It is located in the here and now and at the same time functions as an opening to another world. Sacred spaces are thresholds to a larger universe. They allow humans to communicate with gods and spirits. To capture the ways in which spiritual power is enshrined in places, buildings or landscapes, it is necessary to consider the association of sacred spaces with material objects, collective rituals, and bodily orientations. Sacred spaces may be known, demarcated or even embellished, or they could be unknown, hidden, and secret. Identifying and appropriately treating them requires the agency of mediating personnel. Religious authorities facilitate rituals that enliven sacred spaces and maintain their holy status. The body is central to this process. It engages in a dialectical process of making space holy and absorbing the sacred energy of cosmologically significant spaces.