Sacred Homes

Caring for Our Sacred Homes
by Ananaia O'Leary

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Home sweet home.
Home is where the heart is.

We’ve heard these aphorisms a million times. But home is also where the stress is, where we live out the full range of life’s emotions … love & delight mingling with anxiety & fatigue. Sometimes our homes can feel sweet & light; at other times they can feel dense, heavy & oppressive.

Our homes collect the energies that are expressed and released within them. In the course of everyday living we share and shed a multitude of emotions. At times of stress, we can walk through our front doors and be greeted, not with warmth and peace, but with the remnants of stale energies gathering in the corners, clustering behind furniture, infusing the very air we breathe.

You don’t need to be psychic or clairvoyant in order to know when your home needs to be energetically refreshed and renewed. Just observe, be present. Be aware of how you feel when you walk into your home, as you enter each room.

Do you feel peaceful/anxious, hopeful/despondent, lively/depleted, calm/angry?

Is it easy to accomplish tasks around the house, or do you feel drained & unmotivated?

How smoothly are relationships flowing in your house?

If things aren’t as pleasant as you would like, it might be time to enhance the energies in your home.

Although environmental energies aren’t the only factors affecting our moods and well-being, they can have a much larger impact then we might imagine. By uplifting the energies of our homes, we can support our own inner state of wellness.

All we need do is take responsibility for maintaining our homes energetically as well as physically. The good news is that energetic maintenance is usually relatively easy to perform and doesn’t require a home equity loan to finance. It does require clean, focused intention and some basic techniques for shifting the quality of environmental energies.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

Burn candles. Fire is a powerful transformer, capable of combusting and renewing dense energies. Light candles in any room where energies need to be refreshed. (Of course, be sure to practice fire safety at all times; never leave candles burning unattended.)

Smudge. Herbs are wonderful allies. For
generations, Native Americans have used sage, cedar and sweetgrass to cleanse and sweeten their homes and sacred spaces. You can use a smudge stick or burn loose herbs in a fire-safe bowl. Allow the sweet, clean fumes to waft into every corner of your home, welcome the freshness and the blessings.

Sing joyfully. Singing, indeed music in most forms, helps to dispel densities, and raises the vibration of energies in your home. So sing!

These exercises were adapted from Sacred Space by Denise Linn

"Our homes are mirrors of ourselves. Through them we can interface with the universe.
Everything in the universe is composed of constantly changing energy, including your home and its contents. This energy can profoundly influence your ability to be healthy, loving, creative and abundant. By clearing and enhancing this energy you can transform your home into a sanctuary which radiates positive energy in ever-expanding circles."

Smudging a Room
Choose which purifying herb(s) will plan to use for this smudging. (Sage is a herb which has long been attributed powerful cleansing properties.) You may also wish to use a feather to direct the smoke. Feathers are a powerful connection to the world of spirit and deeply connect us to the Element of Air. Each type of feather has its own particular energy, and you may want to consider what you are trying to achieve before selecting the type of feather you would like to use in smudging.

Begin by offering the smoke to the Four Directions, the Earth, & the Divine in whatever form you perceive. Smudge yourself and anyone assisting you with the smudging. Wash your hands and any tools that you may be using (bells, drums, etc.) in the smoke. Than hold the smoking herbs in a deep fireproof pot in your non-dominant hand.

Working clockwise starting at the easternmost corner, move the smoke around the perimeter of the room, using little flicks of your wrist with the feather. Make your movements clean and brisk. If you sense any sticky or stagnant areas in the room, feather the smoke rapidly into that area to break it up.

When you have completed smudging the circumference of the room, stand in the center of the room and ask the power of Spirit to purify and cleanse the room.

Clearing a Space with Sacred Breath

A potent tool that you can use wherever you are is your breath. You can "breathe a room" to cleanse and purify it with your breath. Your breath is holy and it is one of the most valuable tools available to you to purify your space. To "breathe a room," first stand in the middle of the room and begin to expand your personal perimeter beyond your body. With each breath allow your awareness to expand until you feel as if you fill the room.

Then begin to circle the room feeling for energy blockages with your hands and "blowing" anywhere you perceive that energy needs to be dispersed. As you walk, there may be places in the room where you can’t seem to breathe as easily as in others. Blow until you can breathe easily in that location, and continue to walk around the room. Imagine that you are "being" the room and feel the room until the entire room breathes easily. This might sound like an unusual way to clear a room, but once you have experienced it, it is absolutely exhilarating.