Embracing the Enchantment & Intrigue of the Unknown
New ways of thinking about sacrifice and the sacred.
It can be helpful to understand that the term, “sacrifice,” derives from the Latin, “sacer”, meaning “sacred,” and “facere”, meaning “to make or to do.” “Sacrifice” means “to make sacred.” So what do we mean when we make something sacred? Can we ourselves be sacred?
Hang with me for a moment as we peel this down to the essential qualities.
Organized religions have long used the term sacrifice to signify a religious rite in which an object is offered to a divinity (AKA: a Goddess/God/ Goddess), in order to establish, maintain, or restore a right relationship of a human being to that entity. The original use of the term referred to a specific act in which objects were set apart. We could say that in this way they were “given away”, or given to the Goddess/God/Universe, etc…
Peel back a few more layers and we get to the seed idea of giving away or releasing some part of our idea of ourselves. In effect, we allow some thought of who we are to be liberated or released. When we do this consciously and with a clear intention to think, act or feel in some way that we are as yet unable to imagine, we have sacrificed that aspect of our idea of self. We are in effect liberating ourselves from an aspect that currently keeps us stuck in certain behaviors (actions), thoughts, or emotional responses.
When we consciously sacrifice to let go of whatever aspect trips us up, we are making ourselves, or an aspect of ourselves “sacred”.
It’s a simple, (and I find deeply challenging) practice but well worth the effort because by when we offer up a part of ourselves to something greater- whatever that is for you, we are acknowledging it. This is not about negating or refusing a part of ourselves. To offer it up is a way of saying, “I’m grateful for this thought, behavior, emotion, action, AND I see that it no longer serves me, so I’m giving it to…(add your personal entity here)”.
When we acknowledge that whatever part of us we are sacrificing, was useful at some point in the past, and is no longer useful, we create space for something new, unexpected, and perfect to arrive.
As an old boyfriend once told me…”It’s hard for the right person to walk in when the wrong one is standing in the doorway.” It’s the same for energy — Nothing new comes in when we hang onto old beliefs, thoughts, behaviors, actions, or feelings.
I hope you found this helpful- if so please share it with someone who might benefit.
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