The Sacred Spaces

I love taking my students through the great museums of Europe.

               Whenever I take them to a museum I have yet to visit on my own, I am faced with the challenge of making the visit meaningful, truthful, and authentic as I can without any preparation. I want to honour the curators as well as the artists whose work are on display. But, truth be told, this challenge excites me!

               As I enter each room, I look around for items that easily demonstrate my over-arching theme. I tell the kids about the term hieros gamos, or ‘sacred marriage’ between the earth and the sky, which refers to the concept of obtaining and maintaining balance. While it is a complicated term to understand when you are a teenager, it is eventually understood. More importantly, though, it is so universal that it is guaranteed to be recognizable in any room in any museum anywhere.

               So, in each room I choose a number of specific pieces and discuss them as pertaining to my theme. If I don’t know the painter, or when it was painted, it hardly matters as that is not my topic. Hieros gamos is. After discussing each of them I move on to the next room and find my next examples. This goes on for about 30 – 45 minutes and then I release the kids and ask them to look for specific examples of concepts I want them to explore and we meet up in a half hour or so.

               If I can be honest for a moment I will admit that I am absolutely brilliant at this! I look really smart and educated in a wide array of fields and mediums, when all I am really doing is discussing my topic.

               The only time I faltered was when I took kids to the Neus Museum in Berlin a few years ago. I faltered and got teary eyed when my gaze fell upon the bust of Nefertiti. I kind of fell in love with her in front of everyone. I could not rip my eyes away from her!

               I took our kids in this fashion through the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman art and artifacts and hieros gamosed the hell out of them. After we were all done we wandered about the museum alone and I overheard a couple of the girls.

               “Do you think he knows all this stuff by heart?”

               “Obviously. It was his first time here. You could tell.”

               “Yeah. He got lost in the section with the mummies. He knows a lot.”

               “Yeah. He does. It’s kinda weird, actually.”

               I’ll take it! It means they were listening. Not necessarily awestruck, but listening.

               When we arrived at Stonehenge we were alone. Not only that, we were granted access to the inner circle of the monument. Our group, along with our guide, followed the marked path until we reached a spot where the rope was undone and the space this created was the threshold to our ability to wander about the stones in the early morning dew on Salisbury’s plains. 

               We were quiet at first as we wandered about and soaked in the energy of the place. The stones become massive at such proximity. They tower above you as the sun rises behind them and the wind whistles around. Stonehenge, inside, is both protection from the elements as well as an amplifier. For this visit there was not the downpour I experienced last time. Nor were there so many people.  On this day, the stones provide respite from the wind even as it playfully whips about you.

               Our guide spoke fondly of the site. She obviously had a personal relationship with this place. And who can blame her? The pictures of Stonehenge belie the spiritual nature of the place. Whether it was a calendar, a burial ground, or holy ground, there can be no argument over the sacredness of this place.

               When the dowsing rods came out the excitement grew. Our guide walked with them loosely in her hands and when she crossed a certain spot, the rods spun and pointed to each other. Most kids, and all of the adults, tried this out as well with the same response.

               That early morning in that amazing space we shared with each other…and nobody else…bonded our group. We were getting along, but since our return to our group seems to have become more cohesive, more comfortable with each other.

               Perhaps the old gods are smiling upon us this year.