Temple Raising



On Sunday, April 1st, 2007, many of our members both new and old met to complete the construction of our new temple. Starting very early in the morning, the men and women of our community worked very hard to bring this new sacred space into being. The creative energies of God and Goddess manifested themselves through those who were called to serve them through lending their energies to this project.

The work began by placing the doors in the Southwest and Northeast positions, and then stretching the lattice-work walls between them. The dome was separated from the ring used to hold the rafters, and then with two men standing high up on the central scaffolding with the rafter ring, the first four rafters were lifted into place and fastened to the walls. The rest of the rafters were then joined to the large ring at the top of the roof, and one by one they were placed, tightened and leveled to shape the roof structure. The next step was to unroll the roofing fabric and position it over the doors, which took some minute adjustments to the positioning of the walls and the doors.

Since the tables were overloaded with food, a lunch break was called before they could collapse from the weight. After lunchtime, the crew went back to work, and the additional work of clearing the construction debris and cleaning the space around the yurt was undertaken. As the afternoon wore on, the excitement built as the walls were covered with the side fabric and the windows were aligned with the cardinal points of the four directions. Finally, just before the start of our full moon ceremony, the yurt was complete and we were able to have our first ritual in our new sacred space.

Our MoonCraft full moon ceremony was centered around blessing and consecrating this structure for the Divine work of healing, worship, fellowship and communion with the Goddess and God. We began with the cleansing and consecrating of the temple space, and then the waiting crowd were cleansed as they stepped into the circle.

We called upon the Elementals and Deity, and then undertook a journey of spirit to see our future. When we returned to Circle, we then placed tokens of our energies and intention into a vessel to remain in the temple, and meditated upon the sacred glyph of the planets while toning to raise energy. Our libation showed the fun side of our services with some colorful
egg cookies representing the new beginning of Sacred Circle. Announcements were made about community gatherings and future Sacred Circle events.

At the end of circle, we took part in our traditional healing prayer, sending love and light out to all of those in need of healing and support. Returning once more to our heart centers, we thanked the Elementals and Deity, asking them to remain with us in sacred space, and grounded our circle into the structure itself.

We are so thankful and grateful for all of those who made this manifestation possible, and we look forward to co-creating our sacred space in the future with all those in our community who come in sacred love and trust and with friendship and peace in their hearts.