Sacred Space
My family heritage goes back to the indigenous people, the Basques, residing in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain. The Basque language, Euskera, is unrelated to any other language and is the oldest language still spoken today. My father's parents were both full-blooded Basques. My mother's father was Basque and her mother was French Canadian. I remember being very interested in Native Americans as a child even though I don't remember my parents drawing any parallels between my grandparents and Native Americans. When I was in college, I visited my grandmother in Winnemucca, Nevada quite often. She was one of the first born in the US. Her stories showed me similarities between the Basques & Native Americans.
The ancient Basques never founded a country or nation and yet they lived autonomously within Spain and France. Native American peoples were nations living across the expanse of a land not yet known or named by others. They lived autonomously across the lands of this continent, North America. Long before others began to claim land in the Americas, Native Peoples lived with deep respect for themselves and others. When they established their homes, each dwelling was considered the personal Sacred Space of the family who built and lived within. Weapons were kept outside and a burden basket hung at the entrance. This basket reminded the ones who lived their & any who visited to leave their anger, frustration, or any negativity outside the home, outside the Sacred Space of another.
Books can and have been written about this beautiful and powerful concept of Sacred Space. What I have learned has been very powerful in teaching me to respect myself and others. For me, Respect means living from a place of love & compassion that honors who I am and what I believe about life, death and all that comes before and after my human being-ness. For me, Respect also means allowing others, especially those who may believe differently, to do the same. Sharing without judgement or the need to change another is the ultimate way of respecting their Sacred Space. True change comes from within and, I believe, that within is the most Sacred Space where a person discovers the Divine Presence.
May I share this beautiful prayer from the book Sacred Path Cards, The Discovery of Self Through Native American Teachings by Jamie Sams.
Great Mystery,
Teach ne to honor
The Laws of Sacred Space,
The customs and Traditions
Of every creed and race.
Great Mystery,
Teach me to develop
The talents that I own
And to behave with reverence
In another's home.
Great Mystery,
Teach the child in me
To accept with grace
The part of Sacred Mystery
Found in every space.
Jamie Sams had ancestors form the Seneca, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Mohawk tribes. She was a member of the Wolf Teaching Clan and an author of books regarding Native American Spirituality. She passed away 2020.
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