A Space Clearing Ritual

Has your home life been a little stressful lately? This simple space-clearing ritual can be just the thing to remove unwanted energies and restore peace and calm to all of your spaces.

Before You Begin Your Ritual

When cleaning your home or environment spiritually, it helps to clear clutter and garbage away first. It may be wise to include house cleaning as a precursor to your ritual, especially when performing a space-clearing ritual, say, the day before.

You may also want to bathe to wash away any negative vibes. Some choose to do this afterward rather than before, or both. Afterward, put on some comfortable, relaxed-fitting clothes.

Put out a "Do Not Disturb" sign, and don't answer the door. Turn off all radios, televisions, washers, dryers, telephones, and anything else that makes noise. Put the family pet outside or in a separate room.

The rooms you inhabit have their own energy, which responds to everything you do. Make a little announcement of your intentions. If you intend to bring more love into your home, tell your home this is the purpose of your ritual. Your home will work with you in achieving your desired results. Yes. Just mumble something out loud, and your home will understand you. Put on some soft, lyric-free background music, and you are almost ready.

Blessing the Ritual

There is no way anyone can presume to tell you what to ask for and how to ask for a blessing from your creator (this is between you and your God). You will want to be in a state of love and grace during your ritual and protected from any opposing forces. Therefore, a moment of spoken prayer, whether silently or verbally expressed, is necessary for peace of mind and for focusing on one's intentions. It is also an excellent way to signify your ritual's beginning. Remember, a ritual is a prayer in action.

A Little 'Blessing' Trivia

Always begin your ritual by asking God (creator, spirit, love, spirit guides, angels, ancestors) for protection. You can also tap on a singing bowl, at the same time, to signal the beginning of your ritual. 

• The Wiccan saying, "So mote it be." means, '" It must be."
• The Hebrew word amen means, "So be it."
• Abracadabra comes from “Ha bra chah da brah” (Hebrew). Meaning, "Speak the blessing."

How to Perform a Space-Clearing Ritual

As stated before, if you prefer not to use tools or don't have anything on hand, you may perform a ritual without ever making a sound or using anything other than your hands. Your own body, internal voice, and thoughts are enough.

You can use your hands to perceive negative energy. How? Rub your hands together until you feel them warming up. Then, cup your hands as though you were holding an invisible ball. Your fingers should be about an inch away from each other at the tips. As you pull your hands apart, you'll feel less energy between them. When you close them over the "ball", you will feel more energy. The feeling is subtle, but it is there. Your hands can work the same way to feel the energies in your home by reaching high and low as you flow through your rooms, like a psychic barometer. Many times, what your hands don't tell you, your spirit will. Something just won't feel right.

When you run across an area in your home that feels heavy or negative, during a space clearing, you can clap your hands to break up the congestion, rather than use a drum or bell, and then soothe that area with your hands just the same way you would pet a cat, with soothing downward waves of your hands.

When using tools, choose your tools based on your intention and the kind of "vibe" you want to create. For example, when you intend to create an atmosphere of love and invite more tenderness into your home, you might use different shades of pink in your cloth, candles, and flowers. You might place rose flower essence in lunar (moon) water, use a feather to represent air, a chalice to represent water, a rose quartz crystal to represent earth, a piece of gold jewelry, or ylang ylang incense to represent fire. You might even perform your ritual on Saturday to represent calm, spiritual intentions, or ideas.

To use sage for smudging during a ritual, see Smudging Away Negativity. 

After Your Ritual

Give a prayer of thanks to God (whatever that means to you). Again, whatever you say in your closing is very personal. Remember, a happy heart is open, and gratefulness is a cure for many ailments. Since a ritual is a prayer in action, you'll want to at least, say an "Amen". Or you can use a singing bowl to announce the ending of your ritual.

It is time to wash your hands up to your elbows, shake them dry, and breathe happily. What you are doing is getting grounded again after your spiritual experience. It is now that some choose to bathe.

It's alright to leave created holy water in glass containers around the house but don't let the water stagnate.

Never leave candles unattended. You can let them burn down, and you should, but make sure you are in attendance. I use votive candles because they burn down in a reasonable length of time and come in many colors and fragrances.

Ensure any salts used during the ritual are thrown out within 24 hours.

Flowers can be left out as a symbol of beauty for as long as they are fresh.