The Soul of Space: What Is a Sacred Place? And How to Create One
The word sacred has always been associated with the sacredness of the world’s predominant religions. The most wonderful thing is that its origin has nothing to do with any association to religious worship groups. It is both curious and beautiful to see that its etymology leads you not to any monotheistic cult, but to the reconnection with your deepest essence. Sacred comes from the word ‘Sacer’—’separated from the common, set apart, inviolable’—therefore, it means to separate, to consecrate an experience. Regardless of whether it is to a single God, multiple divinities, the universe, consciousness, silence itself, or an expansion of yourself.
Separated from the common, set apart, inviolable. When you separate something from the everyday, you are showing that what you separate is different to you, and for some reason you place it on a pedestal, or in an elaborate, uncommon vessel. In some cases you frame it, engrave it, or remember it—therefore, something sacred is something that is deeply special to you.
The moment humanity considers itself the centre of creation, this sacred rhythm breaks. Because it ruptures the dialogue and interaction with other elements. You do not need a religion to enjoy a sunrise or sunset, to feel grateful for walking barefoot on grass or on the beach. For the peace you feel when contemplating a landscape and simply being part of it, without the need to be the protagonist to whom everyone pays homage.
We live in shelters, but we long for sanctuaries. What is the difference? The difference is sacredness.
Sacredness is linked to the attitude I hold from the moment I open my eyes upon waking and maintain throughout the day in every act of presence as I carry out my activities.
But the great question is: Can domestic spaces (your home) or urban spaces offer us the opportunity to live in this attitude of presence, to nourish us?
For a few, the answer may be yes, but for most of society, the answer is no. In large cities, we inhabit small cubicles designed in a standardised way to meet a minimum of basic needs. I call them basic because they only fulfil the requirements of certain physiological aspects of the human body. Providing shelter at bedtime, carrying out actions that are necessary and basic for human beings—resting, sleeping, eating, and so on.
But what about those actions linked to the realm of the senses, the emotions that are an essential aspect of mental wellbeing? The disconnection we experience today is linked to the pace of life in the industrialised societies where modern humans live. That thirst to satiate ourselves with information and gadgets to adapt to this rhythm of growth does not allow us to stop and find silence. Mental, emotional, and physical silence. This should be the natural rhythm of the human being. A moment where nothing happens and you simply ‘Are’.
The Four Pillars of Sacred Space
1: The Serene Canvas Upon Which You Paint the Reality You Desire
A sacred space does not impose an emotion; rather, it creates the calm necessary for your own emotions and longings to manifest.
All traditional cultures have built sacred spaces in which a high degree of connection was experienced. Sacred spaces nourish those who occupy them. Nature lovers enjoy a transcendent connection with it. Pagan traditions explain this mystery as sacred, as a communion with nature.
Emotions and sensations are the brushes that paint our reality.
Modern and excessively minimalist designs lead us to experience our surroundings with fear, to feel small, immobilised, or overwhelmed—and thus led to blockage. Blockage is a feeling very similar to stress, as it prepares you to escape or defend yourself.
This occurs in the public spaces of large cities; shopping centres, supermarkets, museums, and so forth implement flows that guide us (and I am not saying this is illogical or unnecessary), which we interpret and store as part of our behavioural patterns.
If you are constantly exposed to this type of design, you are conditioning your brain to certain ways of acting. If these patterns are transferred to your home, they condition you completely.
Therefore, the space that provides you with that haven of peace, that cave where you disconnect and nourish yourself to recharge your mind and soul, is the sacred space that allows you to be. And from that centre, you can paint whatever reality you choose.
2: The Space That Evokes Freedom
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
In the same way that the physiological structures of human beings are almost identical—when we refer to bones, muscles, organs, skin, and so forth—yet each human being is different in their way of being and thinking. Homes should be that space that allows you to manifest what is essential in you: mental clarity, fluid movement, deep breathing. It is a design that liberates, not one that restricts.
It is not about reducing and pursuing minimalism for aesthetic purposes, but about eliminating the superfluous to make room for what is essential in you—your identity, expressing your unique essence. Where there is emotional neutrality, where you are not conditioned by standardised forms and structures. Therefore, you are free, because those barriers that limit you do not exist. You are free because you can be yourself. Because you read yourself in every corner of your space.
3: Sensory Connection and Contact with Nature
“The buildings I love tell my body: ‘I feel good in you’. It is a sensation of being welcomed, of being embraced.” — Peter Zumthor
Senses and perception are the key to understanding the human being. We perceive buildings emotionally through our senses. Colour, form, textures, scent—these are the elements through which we communicate with our environment. A sacred space is designed to provide the variety of elements that generate wellbeing.
A sacred space is experienced with the whole body, not only with the eyes. It is the texture of wood beneath bare feet, the way the evening light caresses a wall, the silence that allows you to hear your own breathing. The small story told by the rays of sun that slip through the window at dawn. Being able to feel the space in which we live—its materials, its forms, colours, scents, and sounds—is how we communicate with them. And it is in natural materials that we find this connection. Far removed from the world of plastic and synthetic, which disrupt energy flows.
Nature, once again, is that piece of code that helps us complete the puzzle of personal wellbeing. Living nature nourishes us, heals us.
4: The Reflection of the Soul—Your Personal and Genetic Imprint
“The door opens, but not only to enter—so that the soul may expand.” — Gaston Bachelard
That sacred place is the space that tells your story without words. A place that resonates with your memory, your archetypes, and your deepest essence. It does not follow trends; it follows your inner truth. It is the nest of the soul.
What happens is that in most cases, due to the great disconnection suffered by modern humans, they cannot even recognise what their story is, what that deepest essence is. And as if trapped in a prison of forms, colours, and even scents of imposed patterns, you drift further and further from yourself.
A subtle dialogue is required, one that can perceive your personal and genetic nature. So that your imprint can permeate every corner of your home.
The Awakening of Perception—And My Role as Guide
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust
All these pillars are activated through a shift in perception. This is where implementing sacredness as an attitude becomes essential. It is a change of vision where designed forms and your way of being begin to resonate. They become a dialogue charged with coherence.
My work is not only to design the space and harmonise its energies, but to teach you to ‘see’ it and to ‘live’ it in a new way. It is a co-creation. One in which I guide you to unite your essence with the essence of your home.
The Roots of Wisdom
This need you feel is not new. It is humanity’s most ancient wisdom—from the druids who venerated a clearing in the forest to the Romans who respected the genius loci. Today, science and the art of design allow us to recover this lost wisdom.
In ancient indigenous or pagan traditions—more specifically, the worship of divinities, and how most of them paid homage to elements of nature—why? Because of their great importance, their grandeur, their power and meaning.
The Sun, for example, has been worshipped for millennia by human beings, but could we live without the Sun? The Sun is the sustenance of all life on the planet; thanks to it, we live. And that is precisely the value and importance that ancient men and women expressed toward the sun, considering it a Being that should be adored, honoured. The same occurred with water, fire, wind, the earth itself. Honoured, respected, and remembered as beings of great power that sustained, sustain, and will sustain life on earth.
Pagan cultures held this sacredness for the elements of nature, for the foods they consumed; they thanked the sun, the water, the earth—why? Because without them, we would not have the food that sustains us. Without them, they could not build dwellings, heal when they fell ill. The same is seen in indigenous cultures that remain alive today, where the acts of their lives are surrendered to a natural cosmic rhythm in which they are one more piece within this mechanism.
Dr. Natalia Botero
Architect specialising in Vastu Shastra, Neuroarchitecture, and Biophilic Design www.espaciosparaser.com
Does your home support your wellbeing? → Let’s talk about your space
