How to Do A Home Blessing

By Rosemary Ellen Guiley

c. Visionary Living, Inc.

Places absorb energy and reflect that energy back to occupants and visitors. A home should reflect rest, regeneration, peacefulness and harmony – your refuge from the world and sanctuary for your well-being.

The popularity of feng shui indicates the increasing attention we are willing to pay to our homes to create the desired atmosphere. Feng shui is the Oriental art of placement, and deals with rooms arrangements, colors, furniture, shapes and so on. Whether or not you “feng shui” your home, you can affect its energy in significant ways with home blessings.

Home blessings are simple ceremonies that can be done periodically. You clean your home physically by vacuuming, dusting and straightening things. A home blessing is rather like an energy cleaning. It makes your place sparkle with an inviting warmth.

Home blessings should be done in new homes after you’ve moved in and settled your belongings. Home blessings should be done in existing homes every few months to keep the energy fresh. I recommend home blessings that coincide with the changing of the seasons: the equinoxes, or March 21-22 and September 21-22, and the solstices, or June 21-22 and December 21-22. Home blessings also can be done anytime there is a major change, such as a renovation, a birth or a death, or to mark some personal turning point.

Home blessings also should be done if you feel negative energy or presences have lodged.  A home blessing can be done at any place, regardless of whether or not it is a “home.”

Here’s how you can do your own home blessings. You can adapt this formula to suit your own needs. To be effective, a ceremony or ritual should come alive with your own creativity.

Start by collecting items for your ceremony. You may want to consult my article, “The Portable Altar,” in this same section. http://www.visionaryliving.com.Collect things to represent the four elements: a small dish of water; a stone, crystal or dish of salt for earth; a feather or incense for air; and a candle for fire. You will place all of these on a tabletop that will serve as your altar. You can add anything else that feels appropriate, such as a small plant or personal items. Set up your altar in the living room of the house. The living room is the main room that is fed by all other rooms.

Light your candle (and incense if you’ve chosen that) and open your ceremony with a prayer that gives thanks for the home itself. Mention all the things you like and appreciate about it. The prayer can be spontaneous, or something you’ve composed in advance for reading. Mention any special purposes: new home; change of season; transitions; and so on. Ask for the blessings of love to continue to be bestowed upon your home.

Take the candle and walk from room to room. In every room, say a short prayer, for example: “I ask for the blessings of love and protection in this room for family, friends and guests.” Or name a person if the room is theirs.

When you are done making a circuit of the house, return to the living room. Place your candle back on the altar. End with a closing prayer, for example: “I/We give thanks for the sanctuary of this beautiful home. May the love here continue to grow, nourish us and bless us.”

If you love your home, your home will love you back. Like a mirror, it will reflect the emotions you offer it.

For a selection of home blessings, see my book Blessings: Prayers for the Home and Family. which is available in the Book Gallery. Blessings also has prayers for family life, activities and special occasions. From the book, here is an Omaha Indian prayer for the home:

May the house wherein I dwell be blessed;

May good thoughts here possess me;

May my path of life be straight and true;

My dreams as here I lie be joyous;

All above, below, about me

May the house I love be hallowed.

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