Sacred Sites. The Library of Esoterica

Sacred Sites takes us on a journey through the history of sacred art and architecture, exploring the countless ways in which people imbue their surroundings with profound and lasting meaning. From what may be our oldest spiritual practice, the veneration of the womb with the body as a temple, to the belief in imaginary worlds, we traverse the vast landscapes of mysticism, religion, and fantasy.

We gather for worship, circle the campfire, bow before the forest altar, and praise our chosen deities in the temple. Through pilgrimages, we forge indelible paths on which we walk our meditative journey across continents, and new generations of feet tread upon this sacred ground. Through our devotion to the spirit, we design new worlds—wild, imaginative odes to what we hold sacred: golden temples carved into rock, vast spirals shaped from sand and earth, silent sanctuaries hidden in wooded groves. We paint cave walls, mark the way with rock art, and lay roses in candlelight at the shrine in reverence.

Slowly, stone by stone, following a cosmic, sacred geometry and architecture, we erect monuments for our gods. These hidden patterns are found in the mysterious, towering pyramids that appear all over the world and across a stunning variety of cultures; in the marble sanctuaries built for Greek and Roman goddesses; in the wind-swept mountain monasteries of ancient Asia and in the cliff dwellings of the Native Americans in the Southwest.

Nature, art, beauty—these are the common elements found in both the places our ancestors considered sacred and in the multitude of environments where we modern humans strive to connect with the origin and with ourselves. The fifth volume of the Library of Esoterica traces the path from rugged stone temples to transcendent works of modern architecture, honoring the collective history of spaces that have been made sacred through human reverence.