by T. Y. Chambers
I’ve travelled the world
searching for items for my sacred altar
A slab of worn wood
paint peeled back
placed in the corner of the room
A reminder to pray
A mirror to my soul
Take me back home to God
Meticulously placed beeswax candles resting in the four corners
A scattering of Turkish rose petals
An English yew tree branch
An autumnal cluster of leaves
Our Lady, calmly standing amidst the chaos
Arms outstretched in surrender
Yes
Here was my holy altar
But then I fell in love
and I discovered my moon-like heart
which waxed and waned
And when I experienced the dark,
prayer was my light,
Palms touching was my way back home,
The bow of my head was my surrender,
My knees on the ground
my truth
And so all the candles
And leaves
And roses
Fell away
until it was just me kneeling there
And it was then I learnt
that my heart is my altar
And in my search for God
I looked for sacred space
A place where the Divine speaks its
drop-to-your-knees
throw-your-hands-up
truth
Where I could dance between ancient oaks
And pray on mountaintops
And draw the Goddess down
But then my niece was born into this world
And her holiness was evident in her every breath
Her divinity pervading her every glance
Her Godliness
still in her touch and her smell
She had been created in sacredness
A literal sanctity that is the womb
I knew I had found my sacred space within me
So then I searched for The Word
A snippet of wisdom that would remind me of home
A map that would guide me back to where I had come from
A holy story
to connect me to God
Until one day I decided to read my heart
And listen to the rush of the blood through my veins
Sometimes, I was soaring over ancient Palmyra
and breathing in the fresh scent of Damascene jasmine
Sometimes I was underground
so alone with what I had done that my memories seeped into my flesh
And my regrets burned into my muscle
Until I realized my story had been written on my bones
And it is this story that is now my holy book
Its words
The Words of wisdom I spent so long looking for
I have given my whole life to my search for the sacred
And discovered myself.
My body is the temple
my altar stands within
My womb is my sacred space
The words on my bones
are the words of God
And the wisdom they contain
is my own
Here is the sacred woman
and this is the truth of her
So to you sister
I bow
