I realized, today, that I have a house clearing ritual. I have done this ritual for years, since having my own home. This ritual, easily enough, is cleaning.
After guests have come and gone, whether they've been here for just the evening or for several weeks, I simply cannot get comfortable until I have cleaned and reset the house. I have tried to rest afterward. I have tried ignoring the lingering scent of whoever was just in the house. I have tried to just pile up the linens and wait for a more efficient load of laundry to accumulate. But I can’t. It always ends up with me flying through the house, tidying and vacuuming and whatever else needs to be done to make my home fully mine again.
I have always described myself as territorial, and it has often been met with disapproval. With my previously immature and malleable mindset, I had tried to understand why being territorial was “bad” and tried to be more willing to give up my spaces to those who demanded it. But it never felt good, it always felt like I was being asked to conform to the shallow preferences of society. Even so, I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was “the deal” with my need to claim and preserve the things that were mine.
Until now.
I realized, while thoroughly vacuuming my house and replacing my various displaced items after the departure of some family members today, that this need does not come out of some obsessive tendency, it comes out of a self-preservation instinct. I am quite sensitive to the energy of those within my bubble (which is also why I have become very selective about who gets to enter my bubble). This means I need to reset my physical home because my home is actually out of balance (or diluted or weakened or something!) on an energetic level. And I think this is what many of us do without realizing it.
Often, because of the circles I have occupied, I hear of people who smudge or anoint or pray over their home. These practices openly address spiritual activity or energetic flow. They are fundamentally the same, with small differences here and there, as far as I can tell. Ultimately, the goal is to cleanse or push contaminates/invaders out and away. The space or home has successfully been “cleared”.
So how is cleaning house any different? I clean, not because the house is totally filthy (though sometimes that is the case when guests refuse to remove their shoes at the door and it has been raining all week *ahem*…), but because I need my territory to be cleared of all lingering vibes. This is especially so when the visitation was less than pleasant at any point. I want it all to be pushed out the door. This is my home. My safe haven, where I can heal in any way necessary. And the first step in healing: clean the wound.
That’s my latest epiphany. Another one of those concepts that spans across several belief systems (even those that claim they are polar opposites of each other).
So. What’s your ritual?