Elemental Shrines and Shrine Tenders

The four Elemental Shrines are portals for the community so that the community as a whole has direct access to and support from the elemental energies of earth, air, fire, and water. They create a foundational strength in the integrity of our LMCommunity container. The Elemental Shrines Tenders are the four people in LMCommunity responsible for tending the Elemental Shrines. Together, these four people make up the Shrines Council.

 

The elements, Air, Fire, Water and Earth are integral to our practice of Shamanism, and need to be honored and acknowledged for the role and guidance these elements provide in our day to day lives. Each element brings certain qualities into our community, and these qualities are anchored into our community sacred space container, through the shrines.

 

Beginning in 2009, four individuals volunteered to be Shrine Tenders as part of the manifestation through the Dreamteam Process. Working with Spirit and the elements these four shrine tenders worked with the shaman to prepare themselves, create the shrines and open them for the community. Subsequently the Shrine Tenders have established the process by which they assess the balance of the elements for the community. Where they find small imbalances, the shrine tenders follow the prescriptions from the elements to restore elemental balance for the community. Where they find larger imbalances the shrine tenders share the prescribed remedy with the community and guide LMCommunity in manifesting the remedy and restoring balance.

 

The Shrine Tenders are helping to evolve the LMCommunity’s understanding of their need for community elemental shrines and elemental balance, as well as, understanding the potential in working with the elements through the shrines in individual processes of healing and transformation.

The position of Tender is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the elements and to relate to our community and help define its function. Shrines can also be personal in nature. The elements and the Great Spirits of the Land have instructed us that each LMCommunity member needs at least a personal earth shrine, and ideally a personal elemental home shrine as well.

 

What are Shrines?

Shrines are portals for the community – so that the community as a whole has direct access to and support from the elemental energies. They create a foundational strength in the integrity of our LMCommunity container. The Shrines are intended to be outside altars, though some are created indoors. The Shrines are tended daily by the Shrine Tenders. LMCommunity has four elemental shrines – one each for earth, air, fire and water. Each element brings certain qualities into our community, and these qualities are anchored into our community sacred space container, through the shrines.

 

The elemental shrines are physical places in ordinary reality where the Tenders show up each day to make offerings – anything from tobacco to cornmeal to songs to sarsaparilla! Each Shrine Tender has asked their respective element what the preferred offering is, how specifically that shrine would like to be tended, and if there are other things besides offerings that the element requests.

 

Having vital, active, tended elemental shrines offers the LMCommunity the possibility of elemental balance within the community. This supports our stability, flexibility, and vitality as a community. With the spirits of the elements accessed through the shrines the shrine tenders are leading LMCommunity in understanding the value for and possibilities in working with our elemental shrines.