Your Home is your Sanctuary

I'm enjoying my Spring cleaning week and time away from worklife. This week, I offer a house blessing, one I created for my friend "S" that you can adapt to your own needs. Use it any time you wish to enhance the joy in your own sanctuary!

And yes, you can adapt it to your workspace - I'd love to hear how you've used this in your own life!

S’s House Blessing

The house is “cleaned” by whisking stagnant and negative energy out the door with herbs and a fresh broom, working clockwise throughout the house.  Negative energies are asked to be released and those that are harmonious are asked to remain and be blessed.  

S is invited to call upon, greet, and invite any ancestors, deities or spirit guides to dwell in the house if they please. Prayers of goodwill are said in each room of the house. Candlelight is brought into each corner to illuminate any hidden areas.  Salt is placed on the threshold and the guardians of the home are asked to allow free entry to those who are invited by S, and to keep those who would do harm by word, thought or deed turned away.

Bread, wine and oranges are brought forth.
 
“A house is sentient, it has a heart and soul and eyes with which to see.  It has approvals, solicitudes and deep sympathies.  It is of you, and you live in its confidence and grace and within the peace of its benedictions.  Let this house welcome you and provide both joy when you wake within and comfort when you return from without.”
 
The bread is broken with a bit for each person in the room and a separate portion for the house.  “Let this bread be eaten that there may never be hunger within your walls.”
 
Wine is poured into cups for each person and the house.  “Let this wine be sipped that the richness of life is savored as it enters your windows.”
 
An orange section is offered to each person and the house.  “Let these oranges be enjoyed that the sweet gifts of friendship and happiness always lighten your threshold.”
 
“You who are the Master Builder, Mother of the Hearth and Father of Homecoming, Generous Provider of Sacred Space, bless S and the home in which she lives.  Thank you for the haven of hospitality she has discovered here.  Thank you for the shelter that protects her soul each night.  Thank you for the solace of this home which embraces, nurtures, sustains, and comforts her.  Bless the foundation upon which she walks, the walls that surround, the roof that covers, the windows that enlighten, and the threshold that welcomes her.  May the peace and plenty she so richly shares with others be her daily portion.  May those she invites into her life and within these walls feel the light and happiness of this home. Thank you for this sanctuary, this House of Belonging.”
 
Finish the offerings and leave the home’s portion out, then offer it to the yard birds and trees sheltering your home the next day.

Well come!

Majeeda Rosa

Hooray for Spring Cleaning!

Next week is Spring cleaning for me. Each March I schedule time off from work to play "catchup" with my household chores. I treasure this week. I think everyone should make time for Spring cleaning!

Ahem. Do I detect raised eyebrows? I'll explain.

This week is cathartic for me, a time to shake the dusty hand of Winter off my shoulder and grab the young hand of Spring for a game of crack the whip. It's a time of activity that reaches into all aspects of my life. Spring cleaning makes room for fresh ideas and welcomes good chi.

I make THE LIST. Oh no! Expectations! I have to check everything off to succeed! I'll never accomplish this.

Back the truck up, Jack!

My list is about focus. I treat it like a treasure map so that I don't lose my way during this precious time I've set aside. Each item on the list is a jewel I can choose to select or not, at my whim. The list has tasks for every aspect of my life: physical, spiritual, mental and emotional. Many of the tasks address more than one facet. Sweeping the floor can be just as spiritual as refreshing my alter. Dancing with a friend can serve both emotional and physical selves.

At the end of this special week, I'll conclude with a house blessing ritual. I'd like to share that with you next time, just in case you'd like to join me. For now...

Giver of life and joy, thank you for this sacred time. As I renew myself, so do I renew my faith in you. Guide my hand as I make my house a home and rediscover my passion for being on this earth, in this place and time. Thank you for all my senses, so that I may appreciate this life fully.

Majeeda Rosa