My Body Is An Altar: Here’s How I Infuse It With Care and Intention
I love to create altars — tiny sacred spaces scattered throughout my home where I go to honor the space, express my gratitude, and connect with the energy surrounding those spaces. Each one is adorned with crystals, candles, herbs, rocks, sticks, feathers, pine cones, flowers (both fresh and dried), photos, art, and other small objects that are symbolic and hold great meaning for me. All of these objects are expressions of my sense of connectedness, and many are little treasures I found during some of the most special moments of connection with love, myself, my ancestors, nature, and spirit. They are reminders of how far I have come, who I have been, and who I am becoming.
The altar in my entryway is where I connect with my gratitude for my safe space to retreat in peace. The altar in my kitchen is where I go to connect with my intention to continue to strengthen my relationship with food and express my gratitude for the abundance of nourishment in my life. The altar in my office space is where I go to connect with my mission, my purpose, the energy of wealth and success, and to repair the relationship I have with money and abundance. The altar in my bedroom is where I connect with my deepest sense of self, the higher realms - my guides and angels - and my ancestors. Lastly, and for me, what feels most healing at the moment, the altar that is my own body is where I connect with gratitude and reverence for all that my body has endured and healed and the loyalty that my body has shown me even when I failed to do the same for her.
Every altar space is cleansed, adorned, and met with intention for the purposes for which it was created. I meet each one with daily offerings that include my presence, a gesture of gratitude, and gifts of sweetness, beauty, and nourishment. My body, my living and breathing altar, is no different. These days I do very few things with and for my body without intention. In this way, everything becomes a ritual - infusing action with care and intention and taking the time to notice the richness, fullness and the magic that exists around me and that I, myself, have the power to create.
I shower and bathe using natural soaps and take my time to cleanse each part of my body. This feels like a prayer, a gesture of gratitude, and an opportunity to cleanse any energy that is not supportive or aligned with radical authenticity. I nourish my skin with natural oils infused with herbs and nourish my body with whole foods, water, and healing herbs. Adorning and dressing my body has become a powerful medicine. In many ways, it is an opportunity to connect with my inner child, who had a passion for fashion but lacked the self-confidence to experiment and find her unique style. Today, I am enjoying taking the time to explore my creative expression with my clothing, jewelry, hair, and makeup. Every piece of jewelry, every color, every lipstick, and every fragrance oil invoking energy that I wish to embody - becoming an offering to the living, breathing altar that is my body.
Over the years, I’ve adorned myself with more permanent offerings: my tattoos, each marking a significant moment in my life or serving as a reminder of the qualities in me that I want to invoke during times of major transitions. Most of my tattoos came alive in formal ceremonies activated with intention and magic co-created with the artist. Even when my tattoos were not done in ceremony with the artist, I held that space and time as sacred and infused the tattoo with my own intentions. Whether my tattoos are seen or unseen, they become activated when I place my energy and attention on them. When I need to feel courage and strength, the tiger on my arm leads me. When I need to feel safe and protected, the sword reassures me. Everywhere I go, they go with me. I call on my body the way I would any other altar I’ve created. More importantly, as someone who has spent the majority of her life disassociated and engaging in self-abandonment and self-harming behaviors - including negative self-talk and setting unrealistic pressures and expectations - creating an altar with my body has changed my life. I see my body as holy and sacred and treat her as such.
Thinking of your own body as sacred has the potential and power to change yours too.
Imagine nourishing your body with foods and herbs that help you feel healthy, strong, and energized. Or wearing clothes that are expressions of your most authentic self. Or adorning yourself with jewelry that helps you to feel connected to your culture and your ancestors or awakens your most expansive, powerful self. If tattoos and piercings interest you, imagine the symbols, images, and words as stories, reminders, or markers of significant rites of passage or the energy you want to invoke to be with you as you move through your life.
When we begin to regard our lives and bodies as sacred, we make room for more beauty, magic, and abundance. We acknowledge ourselves as who we are, an extension of nature herself.
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