Read

March/April 2010 Spirituality
Shrine-Making: Honoring Your Life's Journey

by Karen Barrueto

If you’ve got something to celebrate, something to work through, something to put behind you, or something to grieve, you have an opportunity to honor one of life’s passages. Paying tribute to an important event in our lives can reveal new insights and open up unexpected gifts these moments hold for us. One way to do this is to create a shrine.

The Latin word for shrine means a box to hold papers. It can also mean a case for sacred relics. I use the term loosely to describe any object that is created to hold meaning. The idea of a shrine has religious overtones that may or may not be meaningful to you. But the faith traditions that have used shrines and altars for thousands of years show how deeply rooted this practice is in human nature.

Shrines can be used to mark a variety of experiences, spiritual beliefs, events and transitions. They can honor a deity or deities, inspire us with the courage of a fallen hero, keep a precious relative alive in our hearts, remind us to pause for a moment and look at the bigger picture, put us in touch with what is sacred to us, and help us feel that we are not alone in the universe. You can honor any accomplishment or change that is important to you with a shrine.

Recently I had the privilege of hosting a wedding shower for a friend’s niece. We gathered together and created a “blessing basket” full of wooden eggs created especially for the bride. The eggs were decorated with words of blessing, favorite quotes, photographs, beads, paint, tissue paper, feathers and ribbon. They carried a personal message to honor the bride and groom’s love, dreams and future together. It was meaningful and fun.

There are innumerable ways to honor an experience in your life. You can begin by taking a moment to get in touch with something that carries emotion for you: a struggle, an event, a joy, a sorrow, a relationship, an accomplishment. Any one of these topics could be the focus or theme for your shrine.

Journaling is one way to explore emotions or ideas around your theme. You might find that meditation or prayer is a way to open up to the gifts and insights you need. Trust that your desire to work (or play) with this experience will attract to you the ideas and objects you need. Try to approach shrine-making with that wonderful feeling of expectation and curiosity you have when you go beachcombing — just keep your eyes open.

The objects you need for your shrine can be found anywhere. Take some time to look through your catch-all drawer, a stuffed closet, the attic or the basement. Maybe there's an object or photograph that speaks to you. Comb through magazines and cut out words or pictures to which you’re drawn. You could also go to garage sales, thrift stores or flea markets. Even if you're hoping to find something specific for your shrine, try to be open to surprises. Watch for serendipity.

A teenage girl came with her friend to my studio but she didn't have a clue what to do. While sifting through a bin full of miscellaneous stuff, she found a coin with her mother's birth date on it. It was wonderful to see the joy in her face when she announced that she was going to make a shrine for her mother’s birthday using that coin. There's no way I could have orchestrated such a moment. It was a pure serendipitous gift and it happens all the time when I'm working on a shrine for myself or someone else.

Here are some helpful hints to get you started on your shrine:

• Giving a title to your shrine and/or choosing a color-scheme can help guide the process.
• You can plot out the elements of your shrine on paper or be spontaneous and play with the objects you've gathered until they feel right.
• Don't worry about using everything you've found. Some things are just fun to discover, others might inspire your color scheme or design.
• Consider using a shadow box, loose drawer, cigar box or even an Altoid tin as a backdrop for your shrine.
• Use objects and images that are meaningful and symbolic to you — anything that captures an emotion or idea.
• You can incorporate flowers, a candle, incense, even food into your shrine.
• You can also create a ritual to accompany your shrine: a dance, prayer or song that will express what’s in your heart.

You may want to write the story of your shrine, including a description of the event or experience that inspired the shrine, how the process touched or surprised you, and any insights gained from creating your shrine.

Shrine-making meets a fundamental human need to create and to reflect on who or what is important to us. Shrines get us in touch with our values and connect us to the spiritual. Shrine-making opens us up to inspiration that can help us heal and grow.

Karen Barrueto studied for three years at the Jung Institute in Switzerland before moving to England where she studied art and psychology. She facilitates life celebrations using art in her studio or on location, offers shrine-making workshops and creates shrines on commission. Visit www.sacredartplay.net.