Change your energy, change your home!
If you’re feeling stuck in your homemaking, or feel like your home is out of control, the last thing you need is another “system” telling you to get off your butt and just do it. You’re not lazy; in fact, I’d argue you probably work very hard in all the demanding areas of your life, even if it seems like no progress is being made. A lot of times our home gets bumped to the bottom of that never-ending list of responsibilities. The dishes stack up and the laundry bin gains enough altitude to become a topographical feature. The problem, I’m guessing, is not actually the dishes or the laundry (although those do need to be addressed later), the problem is that your home doesn’t feel very much like the cozy home you were envisioning. I’m going to throw out another guess and assume that you were never taught how to care for the “energy” of your home. Because it’s intangible and invisible (and now that I mention it, is totally woo-woo), it can’t be measured the way a pile of clutter or the dishes in the sink can, but it might just be the thing keeping your home from feeling like a sacred haven.
Some traditional homemaking circles might call this method of energetic cleansing unconventional or even “sinful” (honestly, how do they come up with this stuff?), but I’m guessing most of the more common, religious-based methods of homemaking actually suggest a similar thing without realizing it. I’ve seen countless religious homemaking blogs that say that the most important part of caring for your home is your “prayer life.” The act of praying, whether to a deity or not, is an act of energetic alchemy. “Prayer” is literally just setting an intention to transform low-vibe energy into high-vibe energy! You could also refer to this as casting a spell if that tips your teacups. Whatever you call it, your intention itself is a powerful, transformative energy. Being in the states of gratitude, laughter, peace, joy, and love are some seriously powerful healing magic. Once you begin to transform and mend your own energy, then it’s time to move on to your home.
There are a lot of ways to take care of your energy and raise your vibration, but here’s how I do it:
I start by focusing on my breathing and calming any fears I might be experiencing. I do this not by squashing my fears or running from them, but by allowing them to exist and wishing them well. I tell my fear, “May you be well, may you be safe, may you be happy, may you be at peace.” (This is a variation of the Loving-Kindness Meditation that I learned from Martha Beck in her book Diana, Herself)
After my fears are settled, I ask myself what I’m feeling. More often than not, I’m feeling overwhelmed and irritable because I haven’t been paying attention to my needs. I’ve had to learn that self-care isn’t just an activity to do weekly and check off of a list, it’s a constant stream of self-nurturing. “What do I need in this moment?” Is a powerful question to ask yourself throughout the day. For me, it’s often different from day to day, hour to hour. If I need food, I eat. If I need rest, I make time to rest.
Then I take a look at the thoughts that are causing me to suffer. “I have to clean my house!” “My kitchen is out of control, what is wrong with me?” “Why can’t I just get up and take care of this mess like everyone else?” Those kinds of thoughts are both the kindling & the fuel for emotional suffering. They’re also lies, by the way. Whenever I believe a thought like this, it makes me feel suffocated and trapped. Any thought that causes suffering like that is an alert that I’m caught in a false belief.
Side note: You may lament that you have “no time to rest!!!!”, and I believe you. Your current schedule is clearly no pleasure cruise, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog post. Things will need to be cut and rearranged, there’s really no way around it.
Now here’s where the magic really comes in: once you wish your anxieties well and disbelieve your suffering thoughts, your energy will begin to shift. The amazing thing is- all it takes to change the energy of your home is to change your energy. Have you ever been in a room with a super negative person? The room feels terrible, right? Now imagine the same room with a gentle & warm person. It probably feels great, right? Once you’ve gotten yourself to a place of peace, you really don’t have to do all that much to change the energy of your home. Sure, tidying and cleaning and decluttering certainly help, but they’re truly secondary.
One word: magic.
If you’re interested in reading more, here are some of my favorite magical homemaking books:
House Magic by Ariana
The Green Witch & The House Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
Magical Home by Cerridwen Greenleaf
The Book of Kitchen Witchery by Cerridwen Greenleaf
Are you going to start changing the energy of your home? Let me know what you think in the comments below!