Honoring Our Ceremonial Circle:
AUUC’s Sacred Outdoor Space

By Michele Porzel

One of the factors that helped us buy our land was a sacred feeling that many of us felt when we came to walk the land. There was a deep sense of connection to the land and a meditation-like quality when we sat in the woods and envisioned how not only the church building would shelter our community but also how this land would. So, as the building grew, so did the desire for an outdoor space where members could come to just enjoy the quiet of nature, to pray, to meditate, to hold ceremony and to heal.

Finally, on April 29, 2001, a group of AUUC men and women created and dedicated this sacred space in our woods, which we alternatively call a Medicine Wheel and a Ceremonial Circle.

It was a group effort. The Explorer Scouts, along with AUUC members, cleared the space as part of Chris Boyls-White’s Eagle Scout project. Bob Westin and Jim Roy built the benches and we dedicated the space on April 29, 2001.

 Our Sacred Circle

AUUC’s Medicine Wheel, meant for ceremony and contemplation, has been vandalized several times recently. Please respect this sacred space and help teach others the proper use of the area
Dedication Ceremony

To give you a sense of the deepness of this group’s intention, I quote here from the dedication ceremony. As we began the actual digging and clearing of the ground for our sacred circle, we brought in our “love of and hopes for the honoring of our Mother Earth and for creating this sacred space…We are here to construct sacred space for ceremony, for healing and for learning…Today this site invites us to create a center circle, a medicine wheel, that will serve as a focus for all future visitors and events.”

We asked assistance from…”Mother Earth and Father Sky, the center of this space, the four directions – north, south, east, west – … from water, fire, air, earth, minerals…the plants and trees, the birds, animals, and insects of this land. We asked our own guides and those of this land to be with us.”

We asked them to guide our hands, our hearts and our minds in creating this sacred space. We asked that “Within this circle, let energy be focused, let healing occur, let all who are in need receive the healing they need.”

Just before the center altar stone was laid down, we placed various personal times there to hold our intention...”a sea shell that the water element will be bring flow into our lives; the feather that the birds will be with us and that our hopes will rise to the heavens; the crystal so that the clarity and healing will be part of our experience here; and the chip of beaver crafted wood that we will always be connected to the animals of this place and the productivity of our lives.”

A rectangular marble stone was laid down as the center stone in the Medicine Wheel. “This stone depicts the Creator forces. The Creator is the beginning of life and its ending, the great mystery within all things and around all things, the universal energy, that which many people address as God. In many Native languages, the word for the Creator was a verb, indicating the movement, the activity, the motion, the pulsation of this sacred, never-ending force…All minerals, all plants, all animals, all colors, all humans, all spirits are part of the Creator. This Creator stone is the place on the Medicine Wheel that teaches us about our own ability to create, about our faith, about our own sacredness, and about our ability to develop to our fullest.”

This then were the final words of our deeply felt dedication: “When you are afraid, when you do not have enough energy, when you either fear that you cannot create things with your mind or that you cannot create things with your heart, when you feel that you do not really have a deep knowledge of the universe, you should come to the center of Medicine Wheel and ask for help for what you need. When you are not quite sure what your spiritual values are or you feel the need for change or when you desire an initiation into a different way of seeing life, at all of these time you should go to the Medicine Wheel, to the Creator.”

We had hoped that this circle would fill the needs of this community for time beyond our lifetimes. We hoped that the generations to come would love and honor this space as we did.

Please Respect This Sacred Space

We remembered, but obviously others didn’t learn this about the circle or remember.

I have recently heard this area called the “Fire Pit” and since last fall, it has been used several times by teens to roast hot dogs and to inhale various substances. These actions are not safe and they are a desecration of the purpose of this circle. No fire is to be set on the stone. The Central Altar Stone is marble and was broken by the heat of the fire and by someone throwing a stone onto it. It will be replaced this spring after we are sure that everyone understands the purpose of the circle and respects its healing use by others.

Please, if you have children at AUUC, tell them about the circle, visit it and let them know its proper use. If you know of teens outside of AUUC, who know of the circle, please tell them how we want it used. When we dedicated the Circle in 2001, we thought it would remain a sacred space beyond our lifetimes. Please help us sustain that dream for yourselves and for your children – a safe space in the woods to connect to nature and self.
The Flute Player
O Great Spirit,
Help me always
to speak the truth quietly,
To listen with
an open mind
when others speak,
And to remembe
the peace that
may be found
In silence.

Cherokee prayer

Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church is fortunate to be located on a site that includes both extensive open land and deep woods that adjoin Burke Lake Park, a large regional park in Northern Virginia.
Playground

Not far from the playground and picnic area, there is an opening into the woods that leads to the Circle.
Path starting point

To get to the Circle, one must first cross Possum Run,
Possum Run

Path up the hill and then follow a  path out of the stream valley and into the woods.

The path winds around a bit, but eventually reaches the Circle.
Circle

The Circle is a simple bench (that seats 36 to 45 people),
Circle 2

with a center circle of stones to reflect the sky and mark the cardinal directions. The tree limbs meet about 80 feet above the Circle to form a ceiling like a gothic cathedral.
alter circle

What kind of Circle is it?  That depends on what it is being used for.  For the pre-school children, it is a story circle at the end of a long hike through the woods.  For others, it is a prayer circle, a meditation circle, a worship circle, or a place for small meetings or a private wedding.  Every few months, it is the site of religious services that are held by AUUC in the evening to help re-establish a feeling of connectedness with the natural world.
night1

The path and Circle do not have electricity, so flashlights are needed to get through the woods.  Candles in the center circle provide the light needed for the evening's activities.
center circle at night

The services are intergenerational,
children at worship

and include singing, poems, and stories from the world's religions.
Singing

But mostly, the service is about connectedness, and a sense of adventure and belonging for the children,
group in the circle
singing the way out And as the service ends, the congregants sing their way out of the woods.

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