Creating positive energy in your home

Space clearing

Space clearing, a specialized branch of Feng Shui (an ancient Chinese art that enhances energy flow by the auspicious use of furniture placement, colors, and special "cures" such as mirrors and chimes) is thought to work at profoundly deep levels to cleanse, purify and sanctify our homes.

According to Karen Kingston, author of Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui (see Resources section below), space-clearing techniques can be used for specific purposes, including:

• Giving you a fresh start when you feel stuck in a rut.
• Changing recurring problems or negative patterns in your life.
• Eliminating bad feelings after an argument, divorce or upsetting incident.
• Clearing out the energy of the previous occupants (predecessor energy) when you move into a new home.
• Promoting healing on a physical, emotional and spiritual level.
• Increasing your vitality and enhancing your sex life.
• Making your home feel special.

Queen Afua, chief Priestess of Purification in the temple of Neb-Het, an ancient Afrakan order and founder and spiritual guide of Global Sacred Woman Village, points out that a pure sacred home can heal and create oneness within the family, create peaceful and relaxed children, balance emotions, stimulate inspiration, motivation and creativity, and provide spiritual uplift and peace.

Four steps to clearing your house

Linn believes that "for your home to become an island of peace in time and space that will attract the love and clarity of the universe, it is necessary to master the four basic steps of house clearing." These include:

Preparation (both physical and spiritual). This includes declaring your intention (Do you want to enhance your creativity? Improve family harmony? Pep up your love life—) and straightening up and cleaning your home physically before attempting to change the energies in it.

Purification. This step involves using prayers, breathwork, visualization techniques, and stretching exercises to open the energy channels within your body, and using "circling the room" rituals to clear the energy.

Invocation. After the stagnant energies are cleared, invocations, dedication rituals, physical techniques (i.e., shaking your body) and vibrating sounds are used to fill the home with radiant light and crystal-clear energy.

Preservation. This involves using home protectors (quartz crystals, angel or power animal figurines, totems) or home energizers (happy photos, sacred objects, pyramids, mirrors) to preserve the newly invoked positive energy.

Ways to clear the energy in your home

Queen Afua suggests washing your house down first with ammonia (to clean) and then with Florida water (to sweeten), then burning frankincense and myrrh incense for purification and spiritual house cleansing. A pendulum can be used for dowsing or reading vibrations, allowing you to detect specific spots of imbalance in the environment. These negative areas can then be treated to remove impurities.

Other suggestions include using a cinnamon broom (created by steeping a broom in a mixture of powdered cinnamon and water for four to eight hours) to sweep bad vibrations and negative influences out of the home, and hanging a braid of fresh garlic above or by the front door to keep them from returning. Greenery such as aloe or cactus plants can be placed around the home to absorb negativity and heal the environment; placing white carnations in every room for seven days has the same effect.

Natural salts, (either sea salt or non-iodized rock salt), traditionally used in cleansing rituals in many cultures, can be placed in the corners of your home, sprinkled in rooms where the energy feels "stuck," or used to create a "salt circle" around your bed that will eradicate negative energy accumulated during the day, allowing you to sleep soundly and wake up rested and rejuvenated.

Water

Water is also said to be a powerful tool for cleansing the energy of a space. "Charged water" (water that is allowed to sit for hours in a ceremonial bowl to absorb sunlight, moonlight or the energy from a crystal) can be used to wash yourself with before a purification ritual, to wipe down furniture or decorative objects, or to mist the air as a way of changing the aura in a room. Sprigs of pine or lemon verbena can be dipped into this water and flicked seven times into the air for the same purpose.

Sound

Room clearing can also be accomplished by using sound. Silver, brass or Balinese temple bells can be rung; strike gongs or tuning forks can be struck; and drums, rattles, hand-clapping, chanting or Tibetan singing bowls can be used to dislodge stagnant energy.

Smoke and scent

The smoke created by smudging ceremonies—a ritual burning of herbs such as white desert sage or sweetgrass—has long been used by Egyptian, Hispanic and Native American cultures as a way of purifying a space. Commercially prepared smudge sticks can be purchased in many new age bookstores.

Incense and special aromatherapy candles permeated with the scent of sandalwood, bergamot or eucalyptus can be used for the same purpose. Combining the power of fire with the energy of color can augment the effects of both. Blue candles are thought to help you achieve a sense of peacefulness and balance, whereas red or yellow are thought to increase the vitality and lively energy of a space.

Prayer

According to Linn, "Of all things you can do to protect and preserve the energy of your home, I find that prayer is the most effective and the most powerful. A simple prayer 'Great Spirit, I ask for your blessings and protection for this home' can bring immediate and powerful results." Sometimes, she adds, you will even feel the rustle of angel wings and a gentle surge of spirituality filling your home.