A Sacred Encounter

Emily Aquilina

I never realize how much I appreciate the landscape that I grew up with until I come home. I live in Culpeper County about a half an hour from Shenandoah national park and Skyline Drive. From my front porch I have a great view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the rolling forested hills that lead up to them. On a clear morning I like to wake up and go for a jog along the dirt road on which my home is situated. I am greeted by the horses and cows that inhabit the fenced fields and I find my “happy place” sweating amongst the trees and flowers that grow along the winding road.

While I do go on these outings to rid myself of stress and enjoy the great outdoors, I don’t always go in search of “sacred place.” I have, however, found it without trying. This, I feel, qualifies as a sacred place by the standards set by Lane and several of his axioms.

It was early and I was no more that a mile from my house. I was at a place on the road that dips onto a bridge that crosses over a small creek and I decided to stay for a moment and throw rocks into the water below, as is habitual. After a moment or so I noticed a strange sound coming from the darkness under the bridge. Curious, I slowly descended the hill down to the creek and looked under the bridge. I was greeted by a black bear the size of a sofa who was rolling around in the water, apparently to cool off from the sun that was already blazing hot.

I was frozen to the spot, not with fear, but with fascination. It was shocking to be in the presence of something so powerful in what appeared to be its natural state. Whether or not it noticed me I didn’t know, but I never felt like I was like I was in danger and all of the stories of bear attacks that had been used by parents to keep us clear of danger left my mind.

I feel that this makes the bridge by the creek a sacred place because of the ways that it conforms to the axioms of Lane. He says that “sacred place is not chosen, it chooses.” I did not go out in search of a sacred place and yet I found it as if that place was choosing me. It felt almost as if both I and the bear were meant to meet under the bridge and the place that we were meant to meet was the bridge.

Another of Lane’s axioms says that a “sacred place can be tred on without being entered.” I had jogged countless times over that bridge and had never once experienced anything more than a small amount of fun at tossing a rock and watching it splash to the bottom of the pool. It was only when I came across the bear that that place gained a power to be considered sacred.