This is such a beautiful, soulful, evocative piece from Andrea — have a look at these photos and her musings about these abandoned, neglected places.
I resonate because it’s something I’ve noticed since I was a wee snippet of a child and wandered such places, or passed by them and wondered about the stories held in their walls and in the ground on which they were built.
Sometimes, after visiting with or reflecting on these places that are like liminal, in-between ‘eco-tones’ or portals, I’d follow the whispers that surfaced and write them into a story that took shape.
I pass by some on my regular walkabouts, but this topic reaches out for me from time to time too, as with Andrea’s post or this bit of inspiration I came across a few months ago and that’s stayed with me, working like a seed in my awareness:
“In a symptomatic way vandalism — which favors schools, cemeteries, and churches — paradoxically draws attention to the sacredness of things. Frequently when we have lost a sense of the sacred, it reappears in a negative form.
The work of dark angels is not altogether different from those who wear white. Here, then, is another way to interpret the abuse of things – as an underworld attempt to reestablish their sacredness.”
~ Thomas Moore, as shared in this reflection from photographer David Masters.
… when we have lost a sense of the sacred, it reappears in a negative form.
… an Underworld attempt to re-establish sacredness.
Well there’s a theme … and that is what the Underworld attempts to do.
Let Andrea take you on a short walkabout and visit with a few of these richly storied abandoned places …
Big Love,
Jamie
September 7, 2015 at 6:29 pm
Thanks for re-blogging Jamie. This quote speaks to me in terms of what I feel about these places – there is something sacred about them – the ones in my post were never ‘sacred’ in this way, but I think they’ve become so.
September 8, 2015 at 4:37 pm
You’re welcome, Andrea. I enjoyed your piece and the photos.
I’m glad the quote spoke to you; it did to me as well. I think it speaks to the macro or general loss of the sacred (or banishing and oppression of it!) rather than places that might be considered culturally ‘sacred’, like spiritual or religious sites.
I like thinking of it as ‘the ground on which you’re standing is Holy ground’ … so they’re all sacred, in the perspective of the Indigenous Soul mind (if not the cultural one). So the neglect, abandonment, vandalism, etc. are a sort of visual evidence of the neglect or loss of the sacred, as I muse on it.
Really beautiful to think of them, see and sense them, as sacred places now. And to reclaim the Sacred in general.
Thanks again for sharing. It’s a theme I continue to reflect on, so I was glad to see your post and share it here as well.
Love,
Jamie