Creating Sacred Space
When we open sacred space, we leave behind the affairs of ordinary life, the bustling world of meetings and schedules, and prepare to meet the divine. Sacred space allows us to enter our quiet inner world where healing takes place. Within sacred space our burdens become lighter, and we can be touched by the hand of Spirit.
Sacred space is a healing sphere that is pure, holy and safe. Everyone within this space is protected. Sacred space also gives us access to the luminous healers, the medicine men and women who assist us from the Spirit world. There are two kinds of sacred space the shaman works with; sacred space of the ecosphere and sacred space of the noosphere.
Sacred Space of the Ecosphere
You can create sacred space and summon the healing power of nature anywhere on Earth. After we finish our healing work, sacred space must be closed by again acknowledging the four directions, Heaven, and Earth. Begin by facing South. Smudge or blow the scented water to the South, then hold up your hand, palm facing out. Recite the first verse of the following prayer, calling upon serpent. Face each direction in turn as you repeat the process. Touch the Earth and look to the Heavens when directing your prayers there.
To close sacred space, thank serpent, jaguar, hummingbird, and eagle. Release their energies and allow them to return to the four corners of the Earth.
This sacred space may be open for weeks during the dying process and should be refreshed each week. After death and after the body has been prepared it should be closed.
PRAYER FOR CREATING SACRED SPACE
To the winds of the South
Great serpent,
Wrap your coils of light around us,
Teach us to shed the past the way you shed your skin,
To walk softly on the Earth. Teach us the Beauty Way.
To the winds of the West
Mother jaguar,
Protect our medicine space.
Teach us the way of peace, to live impeccably
Show us the way beyond death. 
To the winds of the North.
Hummingbird, Grandmothers and Grandfathers,
Ancient Ones
Come and warm your hands by our fires
Whisper to us in the wind
We honor you who have come before us,
And you who will come after us, our children’s children.
To the winds of the East.
Great eagle, condor
Come to us from the place of the rising Sun.
Keep us under your wing.
Show us the mountains we only dare to dream of.
Teach us to fly wing to wing with the Great Spirit.
Mother Earth.
We’ve gathered for the healing of all your children.
The Stone People, the Plant People.
The four–legged, the two–legged, the creepy crawlers.
The finned, the furred, and the winged ones.
All our relations.
Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, to the Star nations.
Great Spirit, you who are known by a thousand names
And you who are the unnamable One.
Thank you for bringing us together.
Sacred Space of the Noosphere
Besides calling in the directions, there is another powerful way that we can create sacred space. We do this by utilizing the light of the eighth chakra, which resides above the head. The power of sacred space is amplified many times when we expand this radiant orb and connect with it. The eighth chakra resides inside the Luminous Energy Field, outside the physical body. It is that part of us that is always one with God.
Imagine your eighth chakra like a small radiant sun above your head. Picture an orb the color of the rising sun. Bring your hands over your chest into prayer pose. Slowly raise your hands, still in prayer pose, until they are above your head. Sense your fingertips entering the globe of the eighth chakra. Sense how this spinning sun yields and opens to you. Very slowly, like a peacock opening its fan, expand the circumference of this brilliant orb to envelop you by turning your palms outward and extending your arms. Bring your arms down until your hands touch the chair, and notice the light of your eighth chakra. This orb can then be opened around your loved one, like folding them under a blanket of light.
It is important always to close this sacred space after you have completed your work, such as cleansing the chakras. Gather the luminous orb of your eighth chakra to its place above your head. When you expand this sacred space around a loved one it allows them to be held in stillness and quiet and shields them from the static of the world.
The sacred space protects your loved one from disruptive outside energies. The legends of the rain forest people say, that at the moment of death the hungry ghosts of all those whom we have hurt or offended gather around our deathbed to claim their due; they follow the deceased until they have achieved retribution. These hungry ghosts can be interpreted as psychological demons representing all of the unfinished business from our past. That's why it is so important to reach closure with our life. Once we do so, the hungry ghosts are dispelled; forgiveness dissolves them into thin air. When you expand your luminous field over your loved one, you are creating an island of tranquility in the middle of a storm. In this island, relatives who have passed on and healers from the Spirit world assist the dying person. The shamans of the upper Amazon believe that the purpose of all their training is to learn how to leave this life alive. This does not mean that they intend to take their physical bodies with them, but that they seek to maintain their consciousness intact through the journey.
During the dying process every feeling is amplified. Painful events from the past, the confusion of dying, and the grief of family members in the room, all add to the chaos. When you hold a loved one within your Luminous Energy Field, you are creating an oasis of peace. In that calm, it is possible for the dying person to regroup, recognize loved ones, and discover the luminous healers waiting on the other side.