What Makes An Object Sacred? (priest, ritual, Earth, mysticism)

[Sunstone]

The news this morning carried a story of a nation of Native Americans who want a meteorite returned to them because they believe the meteorite was both stolen from them and is a sacred object. The story leaves me wondering just what it is that makes an object -- any object -- sacred?

How do people decide that some object is sacred? Who decides it? Is there any principle involved in deciding which objects are sacred and which are not?

More broadly, why do people hold some objects sacred?

[UltraViolet]

It's funny you should ask this question today,
as Friday (2 days ago) my daughter and I had
what I would venture to call a
supernatural day of "majick" ...
a "power" day... a "sacred" day...
a "mystical" day...
or as she called it "an eye-popping" day,
a 3-D "dimentional" day,
a "free (in the) spirit" day,
a "paradigm shifting" "LIFE expanding" day...
which brought us quite few "mystical/power/sacred" gifts,
some physical, some spiritual, some heart, some insight/mind.

It's a great story really,
and there's no way I could properly share it here.
I'm thinking though of sharing it in audio format,
and will let you know when it's recorded and up.

But the primary point here, in this post,
is that the universe gave to me an amulet on this day of power.
To the rest of the world it is a piece of jewelry,
a somewhat "goth" looking neclace,
but for me, it is an amulet.
Round and metal , just as an amulet would be shaped....
but with no SET PATTERN, (which speaks of my "mysticism")
no "insignia" , no "religious" or "traditional" shapes within...
but FOR ME! Incredible personal symbolisms within.
Mass produced yes....
as jewelry....
but elevated to the "sacred" for/by/with me.
For me it is empowering, (power-ring)
a em-power-ment (for me)...
a "shining purple spiritual spray",
an insignia...
of WHO I AM in heart, spirit, thought, vision and being.

And in conjunction with my NEW "purse"on (personal...personal tonal)
("my bag"...where I keep my "purse"onal stuff...)
it reveals a GREAT and empowering truth ABOUT ME.
I had been looking for a purse for MONTHS btw,
and had not found one that "fit me".....until Friday.

Both the amulet and the purse contain the same active symbolisms.

As many of you know,
I used to be a devout traditional Roman Catholic.
I used to wear a thing called a "scapular"
around my neck at ALL TIMES.
(to keep me "extra protected" from the fires of hell. sigh.)
I used to wear "medals" of saints,
to protect, and do this and that,
all "blessed" by a priest and so forth.

After leaving religion,
I haven't worn anything around my neck but my keys.
I stripped my life of all superstition,
and all tradition,
for a life of total open freedom.
A life GUIDED in THE MAJICK OF WHO I AM...
in God.

I do not relate anymore to the concept of "mass made" sacred objects.
I see and believe that TRUE sacred objects are ONLY FOR YOU.
That they are there, found in the world of the "ordinary",
but become ILLUMINATED and Transformed IN POWER,
JUST FOR YOU,
if you are open to seeing and accepting them.

Sacerd/Power objects for entire communities?
I do not know.
I do not know if that is possible.
RF is the only community in my life,
so what do I know about it?

(of course the govt. ought to keep their grubby little paws off people's power.
but THAT wouldn't serve THEM very well now,,, would it?!)
(oh yes... and the money... "ordinary" paper of illusory value & worth...
is a "talisman" handled & charged with "active-ated" power by the masses every day.
WHICH god is it that we trust in again? What SYMBOLISMS do you see there?
and WHO BENFITS by it? Who is emPOWERED by it? Who "owns" the "worth" of it's "charge")

but I digress..................

Then there was the child's sized witches "hat"
that just didn't fit me quite right...
not really at all.
(it was just for fun... but the message SPOKE there...)
and the little purple frog eraser...
(a power item ONLY for the day...)

IMHO....
What is sacred,
brings you deeper into life NOW,
and collapses previous paradigms,
and throws wide open the doors of wonder and possibility...

I'm really excited to do the audio.
My daughter MAY join me............
(we'll see)

[lava]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

The news this morning carried a story of a nation of Native Americans who want a meteorite returned to them because they believe the meteorite was both stolen from them and is a sacred object. The story leaves me wondering just what it is that makes an object -- any object -- sacred?

How do people decide that some object is sacred? Who decides it? Is there any principle involved in deciding which objects are sacred and which are not?

More broadly, why do people hold some objects sacred?

my answer would be 'energy'

[YmirGF]

Although I really love theNEWReality's thoughts on the subject, I simply do not believe in anything whatsoever as being sacred. It is yet another man-made affectation, imho. Like, c'mon... a meteorite? Sacred is just another word for attachment and any importance is solely in the mind of the believer. This does not mean that an object cannot be imbued with certain properties but it would be most helpful if people understood that it is their own minds, through the power of their beliefs that give the sacred "object" its sacred quality.

[UltraViolet]

Perhaps try substituting "treasured" or "deeply meaningful" for "sacred" Ymir?
I use words very loosely,
as they signify (even radically) different things to different people.

Some "attachments" (as you termed)
are unhealthy,
some are personally empowering.

Attachments to any THING
that RAISES the THING ITSELF
to a level of absolute NEED AND IMPORTANCE...
crosses over into the threshold of SUPERSTITION.
IMO.

However if a thing illuminates an attachment to a MEANING...
a MEANING that empowers you personally,
then it becomes "sacred' FOR YOU...
if only for a moment, a day, an hour, or a season or two...
some symbolisms remain in your personal defining for a lifetime.

Purse & Keys...
are reoccuring symbolisms in my personal story.

I stayed far away from the word "sacred"
and other "religious" type words for maybe 3 years,
before I realized that the avoidance of them was
BECOMING a NEW SUPERSTITION in me.

So I said to myself,
things mean to me,
what they mean to me.
I cannot walk around worrying weather or not
my life .... my words... fit the definitions of others.

I think we agree actually.
Can you find a "substitute word" for "sacred"....
that fits the context for both of us,
that the meaning itself may be better upheld and shared?

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

...just what it is that makes an object -- any object -- sacred?

Growing up I always thought of a sacred thing as being something that suggests or reveals something apart from "this world," being this world of things that we know. We weren't a religious family, so I didn't encounter any sacred objects myself, until I was about 34. I was walking home along a street I'd walked a zillion times, passing a corner I'd passed a zillion times, when I felt a connection with the world. I later came to learn that it wasn't the corner that made that moment special, but me... but if people mistake the corner for the source, then I could see it being a "sacred" place.

I read once that people can find a "sacred place" anywhere, if they learn to tap into what makes it sacred.

Originally Posted by Sunstone

How do people decide that some object is sacred? Who decides it? Is there any principle involved in deciding which objects are sacred and which are not?

Let's say (to use an example I heard once) that you climb near the top of a mountain. As you climb you develop a meditative state as your repetitive motions and deep breathing become unmindful. When you reach the top, you gaze out over a magnificent valley and the earth stretching behind it, and in that moment you stand in oneness with all of creation.

I imagine that's how people make things sacred. They form a connection of union (otherwise, it's someone else's sacredness they're addressing, not theirs).

Originally Posted by Sunstone

More broadly, why do people hold some objects sacred?

Identification.

(Isn't it funny how when the questions become more broad, the answers become more brief?)

[mostly harmless]

I would say intention.

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by YmirGF

...I simply do not believe in anything whatsoever as being sacred. It is yet another man-made affectation, imho.

What concept isn't?

[doppelgänger]

Objects are sacred because they are perceived to resonate with Holy significance that places them outside the realm of creativity, art, and self-exploration. That is a shame, as creativity is the key to the door into the sacred. Without the keys, all one can do is stand outside the presence of the sacred and gawk.