About Spirits of the Urban Sacred

Many of us raised in Western cultures have lost an important part of our collective “nature wisdom”.  Because of the scientific revolution and an emphasis on materialism, we’ve been taught that it is fantastic at best, and laughable at worst, to imagine that nature is conscious and intelligent.  Even more unfathomable to the rational mind is the belief that there are invisible realms within which dwell beings who can be our partners in creating a quality of life that serves all life forms.  Indigenous cultures have tended to continue to cultivate an awareness of a larger, more active multidimensional world within which humans are members of a large community of beings. They have also kept alive a sense of the sacred as part of everyday life, a sense that the natural world is as sacred and precious as any other living being.

Spirits of the Urban Sacred seeks to support a return to a more multidimensional and expansive collaboration between humans, other life forms on the planet, and the invisible realms that are inhabited by countless beings who want to collaborate and cooperate with those of us living in this three-dimensional world of matter.

There are many sources of information about these invisible realms and the ways in which they interact with us in every moment of our daily lives.  At Findhorn, in Scotland, there were early experiments and experiences involving conscious collaboration with nature spirits and what are called, in Sanskrit, devas.  When I was young, my grandmother taught me about these beings, saying that nature spirits are what she called “elementals”—the “workers” in nature, whereas devas, she said, are the “architects” of nature—the beings who create the blueprints for material form.  David Spangler, a spiritual teacher who has been actively engaged in collaborations with the invisible realms since he was a young man, has a number of publications on the subject of differentiating various kinds of invisible beings and how to interact with them.  His website is www.lorian.org.

When I say that devas are the architects of “material form”, I mean physical, emotional, and mental “forms”, as in material objects, including our bodies, expressions of emotion, and thought forms.  For example, I often think of beings such as the Spirit of Gratitude, the Spirit of Compassion, the Spirit of Kindness, the Spirit of Healing, and the Spirit of Focus.  Any essence or quality you can imagine has a living Spirit that represents it and it encompasses a particular frequency.  For me, these are beings who embody the qualities and essences of all the various states of being we experience, positive and negative.  When I bring them to mind, I have an opportunity to resonate with their qualities, which allows me to enhance or strengthen ways of being I want to express in my life.  For example, I often call on the Spirit of Kindness to fill and guide me as I go through my daily life.  Whether I actually receive this help, I do not know at conscious levels of awareness.  What I do know is that, when I orient to the Spirit of Kindness, I’m more likely to draw on that quality in my interactions as I move through a day.

There are many other embodying Spirits all around us. These are Spirits that encompass all the lives unfolding within the scope of their presence and essence.  For example, there are devic beings who embody whole landscapes, as with the Spirit of Central Park; buildings, as with the Spirit that embodies an apartment building, homes, an office where you may find yourself on a regular basis, and sacred sites all around the planet, just to name a few.  Next time you are in a building, or even in your home, take a moment to notice that each space you enter has its own “signature” quality, its particular tone.  Allow yourself to be curious about how it would feel to acknowledge and thank these Spirits for their presence and support, and maybe to ask them for inspiration.

What is unfamiliar to most people living in Western societies is that we can have conscious and interactive relationships with these beings of the invisible realms, and that these relationships can benefit everyone involved.  Even if you are someone who doesn’t perceive these beings, you can interact with them effectively simply by acknowledging their presence, offering gratitude, and engaging in an intention to collaborate with them.  It doesn’t matter if you have a conscious awareness of them.  Your intention is like a rudder and it will orient your actions and internal experience toward the collaboration you desire.

The practices and resources on this website are intended to help you develop a more living and dynamic sense of the support available in the invisible realms, and of the intelligence that moves through and in nature.  It also seeks to strengthen your sense of the sacred as part of your everyday life, as part of your relationship with people, all living beings, all the objects and gadgets of your life—to live a life expressing a sense of relatedness to, and respect for, all that you encounter.

We are all on this journey together.  May we travel in ways that protect our precious planet and support all our relations.

 

Read more about Nancy here.