Hollie Reid Landscape #2

When I was reading Landscapes of the Sacred, I came across the line, "Sacred place is a site recognized as manifesting its own inherent, chthonic power and numinosity." (pg. 43) I was really confused at first as to what it meant. After some research I paraphrased it to A sacred place is a site recognized as providing direct, clearly evident to the mind, evidentiary support for its own essential underlying power in, under, or beneath the earth and power or presence of a divinity. I further simplified it to A sacred place provides clear evidentiary support for the earths underlying power and the presence of divinity. What this is saying is that a sacred place is not simply any area, but one that begs the existence of a higher power. Many miraculous sights cannot be explained by the uneducated human, such as placement of waterfalls, rainbows, and canyons. These things seem so wonderful and complex. Their being is independent of whether we are there to experience them or not, and we are blessed to have experienced them. These things are not manmade. They are natural. The existence of these sacred sights and places are not comprehendible by most humans. Most humans understanding of nature is that it was created by God. They have simply been present since the beginning of time and these sacred places are used by many humans as evidence of a higher power, or the existence of God.