If you have a household shinto altar at home, three different kinds of Shinsatsu(神札), a kind of talisman, have to be enshrined there horizontally, which is the right and orthodox way of putting Shinsatsu in an altar, so that holy energies of three different kinds of shinsatsu mix together to become the Trinity. A bunch of Sakaki plants has to be put on each side of the altar. By putting Sakaki, holy energy can stay there temporarily.
Shinsatsu you get from your local shrine is especially important. A shrine near the house your mother lived when you were in her womb is called Ubusuna-kami(産土神). This shrine is important in that the deity enshrined there influenced the constitution of your spiritual body, while a deity enshrined a shrine near your current house, caller Uji-kami(氏神), is more important. This is because the local deity has more influence on you now than Ubusuna-kami. The deity near you is more important than that of far away.
Do you want to find out which shrine is a good local shrine? Any shrine is OK as long as it is near your house, clean and you feel it to be good without reason. By visiting the shrine regularly, you can be connected to it spiritually. However, when you decide, do not depend on any spiritual teacher or healer. You need to be connected to the deity one to one by paying a visit to the shrine by yourself so that you can make the shrine your own Uji-kami.
You are influenced by the spiritual magnetic field of the land where you live. It affects your health, fortune and life span. If you take for granted to live in the current place without gratitude and don’t take part in any festival held there, you can be said to be in the state of being disadvantageous.
As long as you offer your gratitude to Uji-kami, the holy energy of the deity cleans up the spiritual dirt of your house regularly. I feel that it makes a tour of your house every one and a half day. As a result, the Sakaki put on the right side of your household shinto altar dies easily, for it absorbs the spiritual dirt you bring in your house. This phenomenon is easy to see.
A bunch of sakaki plants put on the left side of my altar now is twice as tall as one put on the right side because the energy of the latter is consumed by absorbing the spiritual dirt. When a lot of guests come to my house, it withers very quickly.
Problem is, when the Sakaki put on the left side of your altar dies quickly, it means that Uji-kami may have stopped functioning. The Shinsatu enshrined in the left side of an shinto altar is from a favorite shrine far away. In this case, it is possible that the spiritual line between your house and the local shirine has been cut off.
If so, you need to start visiting the local shrine regularly again. If it doesn’t work well, you can put another shinsatsu you received from another shrine onto the old one. However, more often than not, you can make it function again by making a repeat visit to the local shrine.
If you can’t find any favorite Uji-kami shrine near your house, you can enshrine a shinsatsu you get from the most prestigious shrine in the region you live and by visiting there regularly, you can make it your Uji-kami.
[Additional Information] With terrestrial magnetism disturbances, the way sakaki plants wither is changing so fast now that you don’t need to be so worried about which of the sakaki plants wither quickly.
As a matter of course, it’s important to take care of your Inner God, but on top of that, by showing your respect to your local deity, you can live in a better living environment, where you can pursue your Inner God more easily. It’s important for you to show your gratitude to the deity and take care of the sakaki and water offered to it every day.
Elementary school children are apt to be satisfied just by buying expensive study-aid books, hoping that they can do well in school. But if they don’t study every day, the books are nothing. In the same way, without expressing your gratitude and changing the water as a daily routine, your altar is just a thing. Take care of it.
生かして頂いて ありがとう御座位ます
I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su
I am grateful for being kept alive.