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Inspiration from sacred places

Pictured from top: Callanish stone circle, UK; Norwich Cathedral, UK; the green man detail at the cathedral

Being inspired by wonderful places is an uplifting experience. And, when we are seeking specifically to uplift our spirits, sacred sites will provide what we’re looking for.

Along with inspiring natural sacred sites such as Uluru, churches and temples are places where we find solace and we are able also to connect with the spirit world. Many churches and places of worship worldwide offer us open connections to all spirits and Gods such as temples in the far east and India. Church of England churches in most cases open the connection to three significant spirits: the father, the son and the holy ghost. Catholic churches also open the connection to Mary, mother of God.

Some Christians see the 3-factor spirit world in the Church of England church as symbolic. Of course, it is literal to many; God being a father figure in heaven; Jesus his literal son on Earth, and the holy spirit, the spirit of God. For others, the trinity is symbolic of heaven, earth and the human spirit.
What is certain, is that churches – and temples – are places of worship, whether we see the ultimate spirit world being represented by the one God, as in Christianity; or the trinity; or by several gods, such as in Hinduism.
Many existing places of worship have been placed where strong religious activity has occurred in the past, previous to the church or temple being built. Religion was predominantly a nature-based practice before organised religion such as Christianity and Bhuddism emerged, and so many churches are built at sacred sites which previously were built at important energy sites where key earth based energy lines or intersections of ley lines accumulated and many either next to water, or on top of underground water, especially in the UK and Europe.
Still today, we see remnants of the ancient cultures in modern edifices throughout Europe. For example Norwich Cathedral in the UK bears echoes of Gothic architecture in the ceilings which are reminiscent of walking through a forest grove, with the branches interlocking overhead. 

There are also sculptures of the green man within these interlocking ‘branches’, reminiscent of the time when people believed and revered the idea that a ‘green man’ was the inherent energy on Earth that helped propagate vegetation, crops and therefore food. In other words, the green man was the driving force in all nature; the spirit force that drove all things on earth.
Those who built edifices such as Norwich Cathedral and incorporated beliefs that went before them into the Christian edifice demonstrated respect for long-standing beliefs. It is gratifying in that the usual rhetoric that Christianity took over, or even demolished, previous belief systems is clearly something that does not apply in this case. The merging of a Celtic or pagan belief system (the green man) with a modern Christian system (the cathedral is Church of England) at the time of building gives testament to the deep spiritual understanding of exactly what the father, the son and the Holy Ghost mean in a more general sense. That is, that we have the spirit world (father) we have the body (Christ) and we have our own consciousness (or mind). And that sacred places enable us to experience these facets of ourselves in times of need.
Powerful places such as Norwicxh Cathedral and the Catholic churches of Sacre Coeur in Paris, and the church with its healing waters at Lourdes, and churches and temples throughout the world, serve to connect us with higher powers of divine influence. 

When we are in need of solace, or when we feel in any way misaligned in our lives, and need the support of divine power, these places serve to reconnect us. They serve to recalibrate our own integration and understanding of higher powers through our own consciousness, our spirit and our body. 

We will often feel perceptively uplifted after a visit to these powerful places as our beings are realigned with this higher power and with our earthly nature as we feel more grounded and prepared to go ahead in our daily lives and also in our own minds, hearts and souls in the lives we currently lead.
Where structures were not built by our ancestors with such spectacular tools and architectural means as Norwich Cathedral and the Sacre Coeur, places of worship that are equally as impressive and powerful places were pinpointed/marked out with stones, for example Stonehenge in Wiltshire and the Callanish stone circles in Scotland. Others, which are readily visible earth works such as Silbury Hill, also in Wiltshire, and natural phenomena such as Uluru in Australia are palpably powerful places where the mind, body and spirit can recalibrate and reconnect with a sense of divine power, earth energy or simply with our own selves.

It is in the attempt to heighten our experiences as human beings that all these edifices and nature-based points exist. And to visit some of the sites mentioned above most certainly is uplifting and provides hope for each and every one of us.

Photos: the ceiling in Norwich cathedral, UK, reminiscent of walking under a forest grove

The green man, evident in the architecture in Norwich cathedral.

Callanish stone circle, Scotland, UK

 © Patsy Bennett 2025