Living Feng Shui

If you are anything like me, you just know when the atmosphere in your home feels "heavy". I have often moved furniture, smudged my home, opened windows on freezing days, lit candles and so on and so on. I have an aunt that cautions: "Never leave dirty clothes in a pile. Bad spirits hide in them. Unclutter your closet, never keep anything broken in the house, if you drop a knife step on it to prevent quarrels."

She does not practice as I do but what she says makes sense to me. Hey, I am a Witch. Who am I to question any lore? The awful truth is the home does feel better when there is no clutter, when the laundry is done and put away and eating utensils are not all over the floor. Dishes, now that is another matter. I am someone who has a very bad temper that is controlled by my faith and acceptance most of the time; but sometimes, just SOMETIMES, something or someone gets me downright righteously angry. This is very bad Feng Shui because that anger and rage will linger and guess what? I have to clean the house of not only my own negativity but the dishes I save just for throwing onto the floor when I really have a hissy fit. Goddess bless my husband. He knows when he walks in and finds broken dishes on the floor to just turn around, walk out of the house and hang out with horses.

What does this entire rambling have to do with Feng Shui, you might ask? Feng Shui is the art of creating calm in the home, security, finances, health, love and happiness. It is very simple. Do not live by a cemetery (gee I thought that would be ideal, after all the neighbors would be quiet). Shield your home from the corners of other houses by hanging curtains on your windows, do not sleep in front of a window but a mirror facing you while you sleep will deflect negative energies. Never keep clutter under the bed. Oh well. There goes my extra storage. I have all my bases covered when it comes to rounding out corners with baskets of stones, curtains, heavy furniture in the right places, deflecting mirrors and so on. I even have my brass bowls filled with rice for prosperity!

Now my house is like anyone else's. There are times my dust bunnies are bigger than Cupcake and he is a fifteen-pound cat. Of course, it matters not that he, my four other cats, and four dogs create these imps that only appear when company arrives. Since we live on a farm we are in and out and country dust settles a lot faster than city soot. Been there, done that too.

However, my Feng Shui is not complete if I let the house take care of itself. I have found houses have as much of an aversion to cleaning as I do so, eventually I have to get around to doing it. This week I actually emptied out THAT DRAWER in the kitchen! I knew whatever I couldn't find was in there somewhere but every time I opened that drawer, the confusion would hit me like a stone. So, I cleaned out that drawer.

My spirit room was simply too cluttered and I was guided to open it up as well and focus on only two disciplines for the moment. That room was done also (Gee, I was busy this week!). But the light, airy feeling of the Feng Shui in that room feels great now.

One morning I dusted, did the floors, and decided to catch up on laundry. I decided to get around to the bedroom later because after all, Feng Shui-wise, it the most important room in the house. It must be kept clear in order to gain the benefit of sleep.

Then I cleaned the rug in the living room. I scrubbed the toilet and the bathroom and mirror. I also did the laundry. Then I made a Goddess altar on my porch, put the clothes in the dryer and left to get hay with my husband to feed our horses (who care less about our personal schedules) and then cleaned up the stalls. I pulled out the dry laundry and piled it on top of the rising pile of clean clothes that seemed to reproduce on their own! Well, "almost". The truth was, I stopped being very fussy about the pile of clean laundry that was finding a home in the bedroom on the dresser. Clean laundry would not attract bad spirits, would they? I put another load of clothes in the washer. Then I got hungry and made dinner. And another load in the dryer later, I did the dishes, took out the dogs and what do you know, another load of laundry was dried so I piled it in the bedroom on the dresser. Hmmmmm. That pile was getting taller than me. So I redid the pile. I folded it all and moved it to the other side of the dresser. I needed that mirror on the dresser to face us as we slept. You see, by necessity our bed is also in front of a window and I had to make sure the Feng Shui way was enforced.

I did more laundry, worked on my writings, dried clothes, worked on my writings and then folded more and more laundry. I had a cup of coffee, began writing my fourth book and began folding my final load. I brought the newly folded laundry into the bedroom. I placed it on top of the tower of clothes on the far side of the dresser- the mirror, remember?

After a long day in which my house was finally "Feng Shui'ed" I realized I graduated from a junk drawer to a junk room which at least had nothing under the bed! Hey, I'm a witch. Not perfect!