A Spring Ritual To Revive The Front Door

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the Pacific Northwest Spring arrives with undeniably glory. Cherry blossoms kiss the sky with their clouds of pink. Sunny daffodils dance among the tulips while hyacinth perfume the air. Earth’s life force is abundant everywhere. Spring seems to be saying: start fresh, life is limitless,  welcome possibilities.

How do we step into the rhythm of this abundance? Nearly every culture with deep roots has a Spring ritual for the home. The door is the threshold between one’s inner sanctum and the outer environment which gives it the distinction of  symbolizing new beginnings. The Spring ritual (Door Washing Charm with the description below) harmonizes and protects the loving energy of the hearth and home. When performing the Spring ritual, a spiritual space unfolds that encourages focus whereby one’s intentions can sflow. The use of the fragrance of orange is part of my Feng Shui tradition so this Spring ritual from the Goddess and the Green Man perfectly dovetails with the teachings I share.

This simple charm helps to safeguard the home and boost harmonious energies within. And who knows it might be a magical gift for your visitors too.

Materials

3 drops of orange essential oil. It invites good fortune, happiness and contentment.
2 drops of clove essential oil. Clove oil encourages courage and protection.
2 drops of lime essential oil for purification and love
Hot water
A white cloth
A bowl or bucket

Procedure

Place all the essential oils into your bowl and pour hot water over them. When the water has cooled stir well in a clockwise fashion. Next take your cloth and gently wipe your door starting in the center, work outwards in a clockwise movement. While you are doing this, say three times (either out loud or silently): “I protect this home and shield all within. Love, peace and harmony, I call you in…”

When you have completed the ritual, wring your cloth out under running water, dry it thoroughly and keep it for future cleansing. Where it is safe, pour your water outside. Feel the love and joy of spring.

Happy Spring

Allow me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation service or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.
What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Photo credit: Pexels

Spring Equinox Ritual To Wash Winter Away

“Spring is proof that there is beauty in new beginnings.”
– Matshona Dhliwayo

The spring (vernal) equinox, when polarities find balance: night equals day; yinyang distributes the eternal Tao; the sun and moon reflect heaven’s benevolence and the earth receives the hidden treasures from winter’s slumber. If we take time for reflection to reboot, to reset, and renew our life force, then our endeavors will be more powerful, our inspirations greater and our burdens lighter. Connecting our hearts to the galactic rhythm available on this day, resonance will be available when we need it most. Wash Winter from your front door with the Door Washing Charm. Enjoy!

The Door Washing Charm
A spring equinox ritual to harmonize and protect the loving energy of the hearth and home from the Goddess and the Green ManThis simple charm helps to safeguard the home and boost harmonious energies within. And who knows a little magical gift for your visitors too.
Materials
3 drops of orange essential oil. It invites good fortune, happiness and contentment.
2 drops of clove essential oil. Clove oil encourages courage and protection.
2 drops of lime essential oil for purification and love
Hot water
A white cloth
A bowl or bucket
Procedure
Place all the essential oils into your bowl and pour hot water over them. When the water has cooled stir well in a clockwise fashion. Next take your cloth and gently wipe your door starting in the center, work outwards in a clockwise movement. While you are doing this, say three times (either out loud or silently): “I protect this home and shield all within. Love, peace and harmony, I call you in…”

When you have completed the ritual, wring your cloth out under running water, dry it thoroughly and keep it for future cleansing. Where it is safe, pour your water outside. Feel the love and joy of spring.

Beginnings are potent. Whatever you do may it reflect what is important to you. A Black Sect Feng Shui adjustment when leaving the house for an important meeting or event like getting married or closing on a home, leave the threshold on your left foot. It will bring you luck.

Happy Ostara, Happy Spring Equinox

Allow me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation service or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

De-stress The Holidays With Full Moon Rituals

“The moon does not worry….It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”
– Taoist Master, Deng Ming-Dao

Not only is the year ending in a few weeks, but this month closes the decade. Questions are likely distracting you. Will I get it all done? Can I afford the expense of the holidays? Will my family make demands? Will my in-laws get along? There is a light on December 12, a full moon light that has the potential to shift you out of any anxiety and transform that anxious state into bliss; to bring heaven to earth allowing you to enjoy the season with family and friends.

The numerology of the December 12 Full Moon (1212) signifies something has changed for the better and you have gone through some type of portal or gateway. It means “Have faith in your dreams. You are on the right track.” If you read my blogs you are familiar with my message: Feng Shui is a portal through which you can advance your development by consciously designing your space. To access the auspicious full moon energy, I have included four methods to add to your Feng Shui toolkit. These rituals will help you enhance your savvy, establish a mindfulness routine and unleash the power within you because in your being you’ve got this.

Cool down
Full moon light clears your thinking. We are all innately wise but how do we access it at will? The wise men of times past would consult the Heavenly bodies to heal their hearts and minds. If they needed a remedy, a healing, a purification, they consulted the moon or the sun. The December 12 full moon light can bathe you with its restorative power. If you feel fuzzy, distracted, angry or overwhelmed, walk out into a clear space like a park or a field, free from electrical wires. Stand facing the moon. Open your arms to receive. Feel the cool, yin energy. See your body, your mind, your spirit relax and the moon’s essence washing over you. Neither Motrin nor Benadryl have the power like you to put the pieces back together when life is out of balance.

De-clutter
Full moon energy increases your attention to detail. Marie Kondo’s simple and gentle advice for releasing the physical things that no longer serve you is a wonderful full moon ritual. Begin days before the full moon. Take fifteen minutes. Hold the object in question. Ask yourself does it bring me joy? Do I feel love? If not, thank it with sincerity for the time it served you and find it a new home.

Release
Full moons highlight endings. This is an opportune time to purge emotions, trauma, grief (if you are ready), suffering and what has been blocking you. Purchase a new white candle(s), find an area where you will not be disturbed. Best times are 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. If this is not doable, December 12 is an auspicious date so you can perform this ritual at any time that is suits your schedule but ideally you want to see the moon when you look out the window. Orange or lemon essential oil is perfect for purifying your space. Pour a few drops onto the burning candle or use a diffuser. Or cut circles out of the zest of an orange or lemon and sprinkle around your room. Visualize the light of the full moon encircling you. Write down what you want to release on several slips of paper or just one page. Say out loud what you want to let go. Throw the paper into a small fire-proof cauldron or cooking pot or let the candle burn them. Feel the burden lift off of you. Feel your breath deepen in your tan’tien (belly). Feel the transformation in your heart. You have exited one portal and entered a new phase of your life.

Amplify
Full moon power can increase your intuition. Performing rituals illuminate your senses, not just your mind. They have the capacity to activate a full body awareness. This advanced awareness accesses your subconscious which can annex universal information/super knowledge, the source of all creativity (Edison accessed infinite intelligence to create his inventions. Mozart wrote his music note perfect the first time. He said when he sat down to write the entire opus, it would come into his mind and he would simply transcribe it onto paper). If you need an answer to a difficult problem, give it to your subconscious at bedtime and it will download a creative solution. But you are not limited to sleep to source your creativity, you can do this at any time of the day. Maintaining a daily meditation practice is key. It helps you focus on your goals and inspiration will come to you more easily. If you do not have a mediation practice contact me and I would be happy to discuss what BSTB meditations might work for you.

Full moons expand human consciousness. We are in need of big compassion this time of year. His Holiness, Grandmaster Lin Yun gave us a secret to a successful life: perform a good deed every day. By helping another person, you shift, not only their reality, but yours as well. A kind deed will improve your luck, circumstances and income. Kindness is the antidote to the economic down turn. For emphasis do nine good deeds a day and if you need to really shift energy, twenty seven good deeds in one day. But remember that your sincerity is the most important part.

A well designed space allows you to access positive energy at all times. Call upon me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation Service or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

photo credit: Old World Witchcraft

Simple Rituals To Welcome Winter

“Although the night is long, there is a light that never goes out.”
Sage Goddess

For centuries humankind has celebrated winter solstice with rituals. Stories of herbs and trees transforming into fairies and mythical kings recount the return of the light. Gathered around the yuletide are traditions that honor the spirits of the home and land. “In Italy the ancestral spirits who protect the crossroads also guard the family and live in the hearths where children hang brightly colored stockings to be filled by La Befana. Her name literally means ‘epiphany’, the original meaning of which is ‘manifestation or sudden appearance of a divine or supernatural being’ or ‘sudden understanding as to the nature of something.’ (Circle of the Sacred Muse).” The same ‘sudden understanding’ is observed as a ‘sudden awakening’ in Tantric Buddhist Feng Shui. So perhaps there is a universal truth, a knowing, that transcends time and location where honoring the seasons and performing rituals invoke the blessings of Heaven and Earth.

Simple rituals to welcome winter
Adorning your home summons the blessings that accompany the solstice. Red and green or silver and gold candles along the window ledge lure the returning sun. Boughs of evergreen draped inside represent rebirth with pine symbolizing healing and joy. Holly offers protection from evil influences that roam during winter. Mistletoe above the headboard promotes fertility and abundance. Frankincense when lit purifies and accelerates spiritual growth.

Release and let yourself rise
A new year is approaching. Relinquishing habits and beliefs will help you tap your unlimited potential. Write out what you wish to give up with a new black pen. On the night of the winter solstice light a candle. Add some orange essential oil or burn orange peel on a plate. Silently read the list and thank each entry, then light the paper, watch it flicker and feel the epiphany lift your heart.

Ritual cleaning
Cleaning can be an invocation to create a fresh start. Wash your floors and countertops with rosemary and sage essential oil diluted in water. Move 27 items to generate new luck. Replace the sheets on your bed and add a lavender sachet under the pillow.

Reflect on what brightens your light
Kindness, compassion, mindfulness, charity and camaraderie come to mind. What words and what daily rituals brighten your heart? The year ahead will wax and wane. Begin a regular practice at this peak time will aid you in any shift that eclipses your light.

Replenish your body
Winter can be harsh on the liver and kidneys. Preparing root vegetables like beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes, celeriac, carrots and turnips in warming soups remind us that when circumstances uproot our stability we can look to Mother Earth to ground us. Evergreens like kale and spinach represent longevity and initiate something new.

Repair a heart, pay it forward
The season is a reminder of the good fortune that surrounds us but for some it is filled with suffering and scarcity. If you want to make a positive difference donate food, volunteer your time or perform good deeds. Your efforts may remove the humiliation of those who experience less fortunate circumstances and help them see compassion exists in the world.

“May you find peace in the promise of the solstice night and may your days be abundantly blessed.”

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”… start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.