You are the temple...
The phrase “my body is a temple,” is a metaphor often thrown about by gym bros and health-conscious nuts that won’t eat a slice of sugary birthday cake once a year.
But what if, when we spoke these words, we connected with them spiritually, not just physically? The phrase implies there is an exclusivity, a preciousness, and sacredness that exists when it comes to our physical form – only the most organic of spirulina smoothies may enter…And whilst this metaphor is powerful and invokes a sense of discipline, there is a missing piece of this puzzle.
Temple, from the Latin: templum; open or consecrated space
If we are the temple, we are the consecrated space, a place of spiritual blessing, of divinity, and sanctification that is not accessible to everyone. There are holy places just for us, chambers of silence, altars of offerings, grail cups of holiness that only we may drink from.
I experienced an intense awakening several years ago after a plant medicine ceremony where I connected deeply to Mary Magdalene, and the energy of the divine feminine/masculine.
I remember lying on the floor of the yoga studio, running my fingertips up and down the left and right side of my body, noticing all the ways I had abused or neglected either side of the archetypes of masculine and feminine. It cracked me open to the idea that the integration of both is what truly brings harmony back into our energy body – our temple cannot be cared for by warring factions. We cannot thrive without love and in balance within.
This sacred relationship with our earthly vessel as a living temple is not about control or the denial of the things that make us experience joy or pleasure, but a connection that we cultivate through devotion to self, presence, and embodiment.
Recently, I wanted to bring this vision to life in the form of a guided visualisation on our YouTube channel, where we enter the inner temple and drink from the Holy Grail with the comforting presence of Mary Magdalene. This practice is a journey of coming home to oneself, drinking from the Grail symbolising divine union, of refilling your energetic cup, and sitting with reverence at the holy altar of who you truly are.
Perhaps the truest act of devotion isn’t in denying the cake, but tasting it slowly, reverently, and knowing that pleasure too is holy.
The temple is not a destination we are constantly working towards.
It’s who we already are.