Product Description

There are many books that explore actual, physical, sacred space and pilgrimage sites. This is a different book. It introduces seven traditional 'sacred spaces' but then leads readers into a deeper reflection on what such 'sacred space' means in their own lives and experience. The seven sacred spaces are: the Celtic Cross; the infinite knot; hilltops; wells; springs; causeways, bridges, thresholds, burial grounds; boundaries; In each chapter the author introduces a 'sacred space' as the main theme and then illustrates this by associating it with a particular stage of life and a particular sacramental experience. The ideas are then brought together by means of a scripture story. The text is also illustrated with full colour photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119206 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From the Back Cover
The Celts believed that the visible and invisible worlds, the material and the spiritual, were one. For them, certain places were sacred - places where the divide between visible and invisible was very thin, where the presence of the spiritual was almost palpable. They revered such 'thin places' as 'sacred space'.

In this book, Margaret Silf introduces seven traditional sacred spaces:

* the infinite knot
* the Celtic cross
* hilltops
* wells
* groves and springs
* thresholds and crossing places
* boundaries

Each chapter features one of these sacred spaces and through them we are led into a deeper reflection on what such sacred space can mean in our own lives. The author weaves into her text imaginative retellings of sacred stories from scripture and legend to help us find the thread of our own story, and she encourages us to reflect on how we might mark the key stages of our journey in a sacramental way.

Beautifully written and illustrated with evocative photographs, Sacred Spaces is a book for all those engaged on the inner journey, whatever the starting point. Drawing on the riches of the Celtic tradition, it helps us to see that as we go deeper into our own sacred space we move closer to the centre and heart of all creation.

About the Author
Margaret Silf is a writer and retreat leader. She has been trained by the Jesuits in accompanying people in prayer and is author of the highly acclaimed Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey and Taste and See: Adventuring into Prayer (both DLT) and editor of The Wisdom of St Ignatius of Loyola (Lion). She has been described by the Tablet as 'one of the most talented spiritual writers'. She is married with one daughter.

Excerpted from Sacred Spaces by Margaret Silf. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Hilltops: Summits of Vision

What is it that draws us to the tops of hills and mountains? How can we explain that special thrill of touching the stones of the summit cairn? Whether our aspirations roam the Alps or Himalayas, or are content merely with the humble hillsides of our neighbourhood, there is something powerfully attractive about the top of a hill. Not surprisingly, hilltops are significant landmarks in our human search to connect to the divine.

I have spent many weeks of my life walking the hills of my homeland. When I reflect on these wanderings, I see, in my mind's eye, apparently interminable strings of summits, linked by ridges and plateaux, and separated by valleys and clefts. Whenever a summit is reached, there always seems to be another, higher one, just out of reach, demanding another burst of energy to reach it.

And this is a helpful picture, too, of how our 'spiritual journey' often looks. There are moments of vision, making the climbing worthwhile, but wherever we stand still to take stock, there is always something more beyond our range, drawing us onward, attracting us in spite of the rocky journey that seems to separate us from our hearts' desire.

So many stories from ancient spiritual writings and traditions, including those of Celtic times, speak of hilltops as sacred space. Hilltops are as close as we get to heaven, perhaps, and a potent reminder of our deep longings to reach out towards what is utterly beyond ourselves. They also afford a view - a fresh perspective of the land from which we have come - and new insights into the journey that still lies ahead.

Customer Reviews

Following St. Patrick around
Seven is a magic number in many ways. In this book, 'Sacred Spaces: Stations on a Celtic Way', the author Margaret Silf walks the reader through seven traditional sacred spaces:

- the infinite knot
- the Celtic cross
- hilltops
- wells
- groves and springs
- thresholds and crossing places
- boundaries

Each of these spaces has a unique spiritual dimension in various Celtic ways of thinking and being. Silf devotes a chapter to each, reflecting on ways that this Celtic understanding can shed deeper meaning on our own lives. Drawing from scripture, Celtic legend and lore, and simple storytelling, Silf helps us chart our own journey through these sacred spaces.

This book is visually stunning as well as interesting to read, which helps the reader draw upon other senses as well as the imagination in pursuing this kind of sacredness. 'With our minds we know our lives are a mass of complication. If you think back to yesterday, or forward to tomorrow, you will surely become aware of a whole catalogue of problems, dilemmas, choices and compromises, beaten into some kind of shape on the anvil of your circumstances. A far cry from the perfect balance of the infinite knot. Yet in your deeper reaches there are whispers of simplicity, harmony, a joining of opposites, a reconciliation of irreconcilables.'

Silf uses personal reflections from her own life (a person who works at home, a person who has been trained by Jesuits in prayer and spiritual direction, a married person, etc.) to illustrate how these connections can be made for those of us in 'real life' situations. So often spirituality seems so disconnected from ordinary daily practice, and so difficult to incorporate into day-to-day activity, as if it is only possible to have 'spirituality' when the rest of life is done, or put on hold. Celtic practices strive to recognise the spiritual dimension in all that we do, and Silf's incorporation of sacred spaces can turn everyday activities as simple as walking through a doorway into a connection with the sacred.

Silf explains that Celtic spirituality holds thresholds and crossings in high regard. Thresholds are doorways -- this can be symbolic of any transition, major or minor, in our lives. A new job, a new child, a new relationship, a departing by moving or death -- all of these are thresholds we cross. We can remember each time we open the door to home of the sacredness of where we are, where we've come from, and who we've journeyed with. A lot in a small symbol, if we would but pay attention.

Other images -- hilltops (how often did prophets in scripture of various religions go to mountaintops or hilltops for a stronger connection with the divine?), the cross (strong symbolism for Christians, surely, but who else uses the cross, and in what ways?), wells and springs (pools of possibility, Silf calls them) -- all these images and more yield treasure to they who seek it. 'In every moment that we live and breathe, we are growing into it, dreaming and real-ising our own part in the Dream of all creation, reaching out to each new horizon along the Way that leads us Home.'