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‘Things on my shrine’

Marian Hill by : Marian Hill

My view of existence is complex — it is a combination of many beliefs and cultures. I acknowledge this by keeping a shrine of things that have a spiritual significance to me. Many of these items photographed from my shrine are centered on nature. It’s more so about objects that show the spirituality of nature and self empowerment. These things, to me, bring me balance and peace in my life by representing concepts that I relate to.

A wooden Buddha head from Indonesia. The craftsmanship of this item constantly impresses me — the weight of the wood and the beautiful smooth color brings me peace.
Holy Mother Pyramid. A find from Mexico. I love the way the light hits the beautiful face of Mary. 
Anxiety stone. I’m not sure what kind of stone it is, but I’ve been told it helps relieve stress. I can always use that. But the shape, the weight and the color of the stone brings me peace when I interact with it. I often put it in the freezer and place it on my forehead when I have headaches. 
This is a chunk of Himalayan salt, the cleanest of salts on the earth. It’s purity it stunning, and it provides hope. The earth gives us stability, and this is a reminder of that to me. 
Broken incense dragon. I have owned this thing for a very long time, I can barely remember exactly where I bought this. It recently was knocked over and the nose was lost. My attachment to this clay incense dragon is long and deep, so I don’t mind the missing nose. 
The sage and the shell. This is a bundle of sage I burn every day, in the morning and in the night. It helps me clear my less supported, bass-level anxieties that stop me from sleeping. The shell has been a decorative piece in most rooms I’ve ever lived in, following me from one house to the next. It’s a wonderful piece of memory for me. 
Incense box. This box once held a bottle of lavender perfume. It was given to me as a present. I, unfortunately, couldn’t handle how strong the lavender scent was and would often go faint if I wore it. The box though, decorated with a chakra map, has intrigued me always and I’ve kept it and lost the lavender. 
Rock from Indonesia. I found this stunning rock on a beach in Indonesia. The spiral reminds me of Fibonacci numbers, and so I find this sacred.  
Out of all the things I keep on my shrine, this might be the strangest. The shell is actually a little box and contains my wisdom teeth. Yes, really my wisdom teeth. I felt like I needed to add a physical presence of my own on the shrine and teeth have varying importance across all cultures. 
David Bowie Candle. David Bowie is my icon and I’m inspired by him in many aspects of my life. Not only does Bowie iconography mean something to me, but the fact that this was given to me as a present makes the significance of it all the more. 
Tags : photographyreligionshrinesspirituality

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