Of Hearth and Home III

Magic of purification and cleansing is a foundational skill for may magical workers. Ceremonials may use the LBRP to purify their selves and physical area. Others may use a simple incense or sprinkle blessed salt water into an area to clear it out.

Hoodoo has very simple and straight forward way to cleanse. A rootworker may use a bath with herbs as a form of cleansing work, as well as an herbal infusion in the mop water to cleanse the home. In fact, I've heard at least one rootwork said that clear blockages or to start fresh, just cleaning and freshening your house is a good start. As I've said, I'm a generalist and enjoy learning different techniques. I've used singing bowls, the LBRP, smudge with sage and the sprinkled salt water. They all work, even if each technique behaves a little differently.

Having said all that, the rootworker was right, hands down. Based on my own senses and experiences, I can get a physically clean space more energetically or spiritually clean than a place that is messy. A physically clean home with a hint of herbal scents is more pleasant physically and energetically than a trashed home with a bad smell coming from the unwashed dishes or the cat boxes, no matter how much I banish. Frankly, I willing to say this is true no matter how powerfully the archangels manifest for you.

Dirt and clutter in the home affects its spirit and energy. Certainly magical practitioners can shift those energies and affect the spiritual aspects of their home. But it doesn't last in the way it does for a clean home. And for gods' sake, open a window and let some fresh air and sunlight in!

Cleaning can be ritualized in the same way the Jen spoke about in her soup making I posted about previously. While this is likely more like cubicle magic than hearth magic, I took some time and got though a back log of shredding at work. As I shredded old forms, notes and paper work that accrued during a difficult period in my working life, I felt lighter to have physically cleared out the items that were physically and symbolically connected to that period. It was a potent way of banishing and clearing past obstacles and let me move forward in my life. The act of cleaning, with intention, was an act of magic.

In addition, I've talked a bit about the sympathy that exists between the hearth witch and his or her home. If you are attuned to the place, then straightening out your living room can help your straighten out, well, if not your life, that it might help you straighten out you thoughts on a particular issue. At the very least can use the cleaning as spell work to banish disorder and confusion and invite order and comfort into you life.

Of Hearth and Home II

This is brief, but I wanted to follow yesterday's post on spirituality, spell work and food. A spiritual gathering I regularly attend, Winter Witch Camp, has a strong component of hearth magic. A few years ago, hearth magic was offered as a specific Path (a morning class on magic and spirituality). Out of that work, a blog on magical eating was born. While that blog is mostly fallow at this time, I want to point you, dear reader, at two posts that make my points better than I probably can myself.

First, is a post by my friend Jen who uses intention and magic to unlock the power of making soup and tap into the magic of integration. It's a little different than placing a specific spell in a food item. Instead, it was an act of aligning oneself with the season and the land and treating preparation of the soup as a ritual. I have no doubt that her soup had the power to console and heal. At the same time, this post suggests to me that any magic that resided in the soup was almost incidental to transformative power of the preparation.

Second, is a post by my partner Matt who writes about the magic of pie. A couple of things strike me about this post. He speaks about hearth magic as ancestor work. Our family traditions can help us remain connected with those who have passed on in our lives. In addition, I like his use of runes to bless the pie. It's a great way to use the canvass of the pie crust and a way of adding a little magic to your cooking. Stir runes or other magical symbols into your soups or simply draw them over your food as a blessing to infuse it with the magic you're looking to make. I think the blessing he used is wonderful to use for a pie shared with friends. And indeed, his pie is delicious.

Simple, effective hearth magic to feed the body and as well as the spirit.

Of Hearth and Home I

I recently read a post on hearth witchcraft, over at Charmed, I'm Sure. While I'm more of a generalist than specializing in any one area of magic, one way to describe my magical style is hearth, kitchen or cottage witch.

I would tend to separate hearth magic into two general types of practices. One is the idea of working specific magic via the herbs in your garden or spice cabinet into mojo bags or cooking with specific herbs in order to cast a spell. The other type is the magicospiritual effects of living well. While both of these are often intertwined, it's the latter aspect of hearth craft that I'd like to spend some time with.

Every budding magic practitioner is (hopefully) taught the basics of protection and psychic hygiene. Those skills are critical and can be seen as the basic survival tool kit. I, however, do not want to merely survive. I want to thrive. I want a life full of beauty and comfort.

More than any other kind of magic out there, hearth craft makes this the specific focus of the work: crafting the good life. Hearth witches work hard to build and maintain a space that is clean, restful and full of joy. Hearth witches live well and connect their whole lives to their magic and spirituality.

I'll give you an example. Eating locally is a surprising potent act of hearth magic and one that works on several levels. On a purely physical level, local food tends to be fresher and taste better. My partner was at a private wine tasting in France for students who were studying there from the same university. The vintner suggest that you go home and sample your local wines. He said that things taste better where they are made. The humidity, the pollen and the acidity of the soil - all subtle factors, but ones that add up and enhance the flavors of local food. While I still enjoy a good bottle of wine imported from afar, exploring the local wines and foods of my area has been pure pleasure. I also enjoy purchasing closer to home to reduce my carbon foot print.

Beyond the simply physical effects of eating higher quality food (freshness and taste), from a magical perspective - eating locally better connects me with the land that I live on. By eating of the land itself, I believe that I'm more energetically attuned to it. Just like I can put a lock of hair into a poppet to create sympathy with the owner of the hair, so too can I take in the fruits of the earth, placing myself in sympathy with the land itself. This connection helps me work with the spirits of the land, the local fey and various spirits of place and even the ancestors. Along with spending time outside generally and gardening, I firmly believe that eating local is a foundational step for witches and shamans who work with the powers and spirits of the living Earth.

More tomorrow.