Sacred Space

When I first started studying the craft I read a lot about sacred space. At first it seemed so confusing. I though sacred space was a place where you went through complicated rituals to create it. Now that I've matured and I'm finding my own path I understand it a little better. The best way for me to understand sacred space is to think of the wonderful peace, love, and trust I feel in my grandparents home (which is basically where I consider my home to be). That to me is sacred space, a place where you feel perfect peace, love, and trust.

Now that I'm in school and living in the dorms far away from home, I strive to make my dorm room feel that way. That includes keeping it clean, decorating it in such a way as to make it look and feel like my home, and while cleaning, kicking negativity out. A lot of the stuff I read about sacred space mentioned keeping altars in the living room, etc., but I've never really like having an altar. So, I keep my place clean and free of negativity and it feels like sacred space to me.

Along with my physical sacred space, I do have astral sacred space. Actually, I have a couple of them. One is a sort of meditation type room that has floor pillows, candles, and lavender incense. This is where I go when I just need to calm my mind and push the negativity that accumulates in my life away from me. Another one is kind of hard to explain. Picture a white cottage with a wide front porch with white wicker rocking chairs and a natural wood door (meaning you can see the knots in the wood and everything), in the middle of a meadow surrounded by a forest. Roses climb the porch railings, and there are window boxes filled with gorgeous flowers. This is my favorite place. I go to my cottage all the time. There is always a good cup of tea waiting for me by my rocking chair, and I've spent a lot of personal time with the God and Goddess here.

The little ritual I do while maintaining my sacred space here at the dorms is very easy. Miss K and I clean, and while cleaning I mentally picture removing all of the negativity. Mentally I might ask Aphrodite to come into my living room and my bedroom and bless it with her love and passion. And just like that my sacred space is complete. Even people who don't know how to feel magickal energies can feel the difference.

Mental space is mainly a mental exercise. I picture my places and mentally cleanse them of any negativity that might be lurking there, and move right on in. Each time I visit an astral sacred space I get rid of all negativity first and then speak with Aphrodite or just spend time sitting there getting back into a positive frame of mind. And that's all there is to it! What about your sacred spaces? Do you have a combination of physical and astral sacred spaces? Do you only maintain an astral sacred space or just a physical sacred space, and what kinds of rituals/spells do you do to create and maintain them?