Finding The River by Sally Topham

Chapter 10

Space Clearing and Creating a Sacred Space

Stagnant Chi can build up in our homes in several ways. As we’ve already seen, it can be caused by the accumulation of clutter. It’s also constantly amassing from any negative vibrations spilling out of people who currently inhabit the dwelling. In addition, it’s caused by the residual emotional energies of previous occupants of the home. It’s not helped by emanations from nearby mobile phone masts, or indeed any other electromagnetic pollution from equipment such as televisions, computers and microwaves.

As you can see, there’s an endless flow of this junk that causes negative energy and psychic debris to ripple out and build up in the very fabric of buildings. It accumulates in the walls and corners of rooms, in all the hidden nooks and crannies, and any place where the walls of the home meet the ceilings. In her book, Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui, Karen Kingston calls this “psychic gunge”! It’s a very good description of what is basically stuck energy that needs to be unblocked, and allowed to flow. So if you really want to have the Chi flowing through your home in a way that enhances your environment and creates a sanctuary in which to live, you need to do some Space Clearing, which in and of itself will help to make your home into a sanctuary.

Exactly what is Space Clearing? Karen Kingston describes it as, “…the art of cleansing and consecrating spaces.” It’s about performing a ritual, that is a synthesis of some native rituals for clearing energy, and Feng Shui principles that can be used to lift the Chi to the highest levels in your home. It’s not difficult to do. And all it requires is some time, commitment and intention.

You can use Space Clearing on an occasional basis as a part of your spring cleaning, after some very vigorous clutter clearing, or more regularly to maintain a good flow of energy in your home. Bear in mind that the nature of Chi is to be forever changing, so there’ll be a number of times in your life when Space Clearing can be very helpful, such as:

• selling your home (it can help attract buyers),

• moving into a new home or office (clears the energies of previous occupants),

• after sickness in the home or after an accident,

• if you want to make a fresh start and take a new direction in your life,

• after the death in the home of a person or an animal,

• after big life changes like marriage, divorce or the birth of a child,

• if you’re feeling stuck in your life, your job or in a dead-end relationship,

• if you’ve had difficult visitors or guests in your space,

• if you’re feeling tired or drained all the time, or

• if you’ve been burgled.

It also enhances the placements recommended by Feng Shui and helps you to manifest what you want in your life. In addition, it also aids your spiritual development, increases your vitality, changes atmospheres and can even improve your sex life!

So how do we begin?

Well, if you’ve cleared out your clutter then you’ve already begun! Clearing clutter is absolutely essential to doing any Space Clearing. So don’t even think about Space Clearing until you’ve dealt with your clutter.

The whole process of Space Clearing requires some advance planning as there are various things you need to arrange, prepare or acquire before you start:

• Make sure you have the permission of anyone else in your home to perform this ritual. This doesn’t mean that they have to be present when you perform it, or that they have to help you with it

• When you do the ritual, it’s important not to have anyone else around in your home unless you’ve already agreed to be working with a friend or partner on the ritual. This means, if you have children you need to have arranged for them to be looked after by someone else all day. You also need to ensure that your partner or anyone else sharing your home will be out all day as well. Don’t worry about pets being around. Animals usually love Space Clearing and are very happy about the changes in energy that occur

• Don’t do any Space Clearing if you’re ill, run down, or tired

• Karen Kingston recommends that women shouldn’t space clear during either their monthly periods or when pregnant. This is because the female energies are directed inwards during menstruation towards cleansing and preparing for possible conception. And in pregnancy, the focus is on maintaining a pure space within to carry the child. By directing your energies outwards into an activity like Space Clearing at these times, you’re going against your natural state of being which is to direct your focus inside your body

In order to do the Space Clearing, you’ll also need to acquire several “props” (if you haven’t already got them) as follows:

Joss Sticks and Holders: These are widely available in a variety of Indian hardware shops, health food retailers and other stores. Choose Joss Sticks which have an aroma that you like. Some of them have a very sweet perfume which isn’t to everyone’s taste. Take time to find the right aroma for you, because using one you don’t like in the Space Clearing isn’t helpful either to your energies or the energies of your home. (Remember how in the previous chapter, I told you the importance of having things in your home which you like or, preferably, love.)

Incense Burners, Charcoal and Incense: Incense burners are available in most Indian shops that sell devotional objects. You’ll need to buy packs of little round pieces of charcoal used especially for burning incense. You’ll also need to buy a pack of incense granules. Again take time to choose ones with an aroma that you really like. My personal preference for these granules are the ones made by the monks of Prinknash Abbey—I like the one called Basilica—but there are plenty of others to choose from. Both the charcoal rounds and the incense can be bought from specialist shops and outlets (see Further Information and Suggested Reading at the back of the book).

Bells: Ideally, you’ll need two bells—one larger and one smaller (these are the traditional sort that you ring by waving the bell back and forth so the clapper sounds the bell). Larger bells with deeper sounds are good for breaking up stagnant energy. Smaller, tinkly bells are wonderful for using after the big bells, as they help to refine and call in the higher levels of Chi. Choosing bells is a very individual matter. It’s really important to choose bells that feel right for you. Denise Linn says that, “…a bell that you love and honour will clear your home faster than the most pristine, valuable bell in the world.” Try to find a bell made with copper in it if you can, as these are excellent for energy work. Copper is a wonderful conductor of energy and the combination of the copper and the vibrations of the bell form a purifying energy harmonic.

You don’t have to go mad and spend huge amounts of money on your bells. You might even be able to borrow one or both of them if you don’t want to go to the expense of buying them. Finding two bells with contrasting tones (one deeper and one higher) that you find pleasing is all you need to begin with. Later, if you want to get into Space Clearing more deeply, you may decide that you want to acquire more specialist bells like Balinese Temple bells or silver bells. You might at some point like to become the owner of a Singing Bowl. These are bowl-shaped bells which send out a spiral sound in ever widening circles. They enable energy to be invoked and cleared at the same time and are therefore particularly helpful in space clearing.

A Rattle: These come in many shapes and sizes and are good for soothing and smoothing the energy of a home. (Think of how small rattles are frequently given to babies to help them feel calm and safe.) If you can’t afford a rattle, then buy one of those big household boxes of matches, tip out half the contents and rattle the half empty box as a substitute. It works! You can experiment with how many matches you need to leave inside to get the sound you want.

A Drum: It is possible to do Space Clearing without a drum, but if you decide to get one for this purpose, you‘ll be very glad that you did. Drums are really good for breaking up dense and congested energy; e.g., the residue from heavy emotions like anger, sadness or grief, or if there’s been death or sickness in the house. As you drum around your home, the sounds and vibrations you make are going to clear your energies as well! Traditionally, the drum most used for Space Clearing is the round, hand-held Native American drum. You could, in fact, use any kind of drum as long as it’s made from animal skin and wood. (Animal skins provide the best sound for use in space clearing. However, if you are averse to using items made from animals, then you would have to use an alternative kind of drum and base your choice on finding something that provides the most deeply reverberant sound.) The choice of drum is entirely up to you, and it doesn’t have to be big or expensive. If you can’t find a drum to suit your taste and pocket, then don’t worry. Leave out the drumming part of the ritual I’m going to describe and just use the bells and the rattle.

All of the above items should be honoured by being kept in a special place.

Once you’ve cleared your clutter and collected all the items you’ll need for the ritual, then you should set a date for doing the Space Clearing. New and Full Moon days are recommended, but not essential. Sometimes the simple necessity of needing to do the ritual in the first place makes any day the right day!

The night before you perform the ritual, there are three things you can do: 1) spend time deciding what your intentions are for doing this ceremony, and write them down, 2) create a special altar to act as a focal point during the ritual, and 3) invoke the spirit or angel of your home to help you prepare for and perform the Space Clearing.

The following exercises look at each of these things one by one.

Exercise 28: Writing Out Your Intention

The night before the Space Clearing, spend some time thinking about what you’d like the ritual to help you manifest. Get a notebook and pen and jot down all the things you’d like to achieve from doing this. Then look at what you’ve written and choose the one, or ones, that feel most important.

Now take a clean piece of paper and write out your intention clearly and simply. Don’t write anything lengthy, just a short paragraph or sentence will do. Start by writing: “My intention is________” and then go on to describe it.

Here’s some suggestions:

• To clear all the energies from my home which prevent me from moving forward in my life.

• To remove all the obstacles to my business flourishing and to money flowing into my life.

• To let go of all the residues of my sadness/negativity/depression so I may create a home full of positive energy.

• To create a home full of light and positive healthy energy which will support and nourish all of us who live here in all of our endeavours.

• To facilitate an ever-expanding spiritual consciousness on all levels of my being.

You can of course write down more than one thing, if you wish.

After you‘ve finished writing, sign your name, and place the piece of paper in a clean envelope and seal it.

When you’re ready to do the invocation, place this envelope on the altar to declare your intention before you invoke your House Spirit or Angel. Leave it on the altar throughout the whole Space Clearing. When the Space Clearing is finished, burn it without opening it. Burning is a good way of sending things to a higher level. (Please make sure you burn the envelope safely—hold it over a sink and have a metal or ceramic bowl to drop it into when you can no longer hold it).

If you’d like to create an altar, this is what you do.

Exercise 29: Creating an Altar

The best place for your altar is in the main room of your home (usually the sitting room). A small table or chest is ideal to use as the base (make sure it’s dusted and clean). If you don’t have anything suitable, then a mantel shelf will do. Or improvise by using a strong cardboard box of the right size, but make sure it’s sturdy and has a flat surface that can bear the weight of candles, vases and holders, etc. The main thing is to ensure that the altar is raised up off the ground. Set up your altar in a place which won’t get in the way of your Space Clearing. You need to be able to leave it in place for the duration, as it forms a focal point of the ritual.

Spread a nice clean cloth or piece of fabric over the surface of your altar. Most people like to put a vase of fresh flowers there. You could also set up some candlesticks with candles or arrange some tea lights in little votive jars. Alternatively, if you have a wide shallow dish, fill it with water, and put in some floating candles. Cutting off some flower heads and placing them in amongst the floating candles makes a very attractive offering. You could also place a favourite crystal on the altar (make sure crystals are clean by washing them under running water beforehand and placing them out to dry in the sunshine), or special pebbles, shells or feathers, etc., which you love. Put out your joss sticks and holder, your incense burner plus charcoal and incense. Don’t forget to have some matches ready and a little saucer for spent matches. Finally, place your drum, bells and rattle beside the altar ready for when you need them.

Make your altar a pleasing sight and don’t crowd it with too many objects.

You might like to invoke the spirit or angel of your home (in other words, your House Guardian—yes there’s one in every home!—to be with you when you do the clearing), because it’s always good to have some help in these matters! You don’t have to know the name of your house guardian or even what it looks like. It’s enough to believe that there’s a benevolent energy watching over and guarding your space. If you don’t believe in such things, then don’t worry—you don’t have to do this bit if you don’t want to (Exercise 30).

Exercise 30: Invoking the Guardian of Your Home

When you’re ready to do the ritual, make sure you have the room to yourself. Put the phone on answer and tell anyone else in the house that you don’t want to be interrupted.

You’re going to invoke your Guardian with the lighting of a special candle or tea light which is separate from the others you may have set out on your altar. See if you can find a particularly nice votive jar in which to place it. Make sure the container is clean and that you’ve got a new tea light ready to use.

Turn off all the electric lights. Put on some music that you find gentle, uplifting and meditative. Light all the candles—except for the special one reserved for your house guardian—and light the joss sticks.

As the joss sticks start to fill the room with their aroma, spend a bit of time meditating. Sit with your envelope of intentions in your lap and start following your breath (Exercise 14: Following the Breath). Sit quietly, concentrating on your breathing and letting the thoughts pass through you like clouds moving across the sky. Carry on with this for about 10 minutes, slowly bringing your mind to focus upon the fact that you are going to invoke your House Guardian to help you tomorrow in cleansing your space and creating a sacred space for yourself.

When you’re ready, move towards your altar and place your “intention envelope” there. Reach for the matches to light your special candle. As you do this, make a silent affirmation that you’re lighting this candle for the Guardian spirit or angel of your home.

Once the candle is lit, place your hands in the prayer position and solemnly and reverently address your House Guardian. Begin with the words: “Dear Guardian of my Home, please bless me with your presence.” Ask it to infuse your whole being when you’re sleeping to help you become an energy channel for the highest levels of Chi during the Space Clearing the following day.

Thank the Guardian for protecting and watching over your home. Ask it to help you with the work you’re going to do tomorrow, and to support you in carrying out your intentions afterwards. Ask that it give its benevolent blessings to this work and please to continue to guard and watch over all who live in the home with you. You can add in anything else which you feel is appropriate.

End by thanking the Guardian in advance for its help and complete the invocation with “So Be It” or “Amen” (which means the same thing).

Afterwards, return to your meditation and continue with this until it feels time to stop. Then put out the joss sticks, extinguish the candles and go to bed.

There are many different ways of Space Clearing, but I’m going to explain a method I’ve compiled from various techniques and always found to be effective. Purists might tell you that I’ve missed out certain things, but this way is simple and easy enough to get you started and allow you to experience the wonders of changing the atmosphere in your home. The most important thing in Space Clearing is your intention. If you hold your intention (i.e., the desired outcome of the ritual) in your mind throughout the whole procedure, you will always make the changes you want to make. For other techniques and to explore this whole subject more deeply, I highly recommend that you read the Denise Linn and Karen Kingston books listed in the Further Information and Suggested Reading section at the back of this book.

Please don’t be put off by the length of the following explanations. It actually takes longer to give you written explanations than it would be to show you what to do! However, because I can’t physically be with you when you do your Space Clearing, the least I can do is to make sure that I’ve explained it all as clearly as possible.

The best way to do Space Clearing is to do one room after another, so you work through your entire living space in one go. Much of course depends on how big your home is. If you live in a large house, you may need to enlist the help of a friend, relative or partner who’s willing to work with you, so you can get the whole thing done in one day. However, this requires that you both work out exactly who is going to do what beforehand. For the average two-bedroom home, however, it’s usually pretty easy to do it all at once and on your own. The actual Space Clearing ritual can be done in under an hour for the average sized home.

The day after the invocation, you need to get up bright and early as you will be devoting the whole day to this. Do a 15- to 20-minute meditation and connect back to your House Guardian. Ask again for guidance and assistance in the work you are going to do.

Your first task is to clean everywhere in your home very thoroughly including the kitchen and bathroom and any separate room with a toilet. Uh-oh! I can hear shuddering and groaning at the very idea of this as I write! Bear with me! This is not a housekeeping manual you’re reading. There are deeper and more profound meanings to all of this which can help to change your mood, health and energy levels. If you keep this in mind when you’re giving your home a really good clean, you’ll find this whole exercise tremendously gratifying. And if you’re naturally tuned into energy, you’ll also notice how the quality of the space you’re cleaning becomes clearer and more refined as you work!

So, dust all the furniture, vacuum all the carpets and remember to clean underneath any furniture as a lot of dust, debris and stagnant Chi can collect there. Wash wooden floors with an appropriate cleaning fluid, and vacuum over all the upholstery of chairs and sofas with the upholstery attachment (if you have one). Remember to go over cushions and bedcovers as well and also to vacuum down the curtains in each room.

Put the fine nozzle on the vacuum cleaner and go round all the skirting boards and their ledges to get rid of any dust. Then turn the nozzle up towards the ceiling and sweep it around all the edges where the walls meet the ceilings. Make downward sweeps with the nozzle in all the corners of each room from the ceiling to the floor. Doing this not only removes any of the fine cobwebs that accumulate in corners but literally sucks out negative energy.

However, if you haven’t got a vacuum with this kind of attachment, then you need to use the sound your hand makes when clapping instead to clear the stagnant energy. Exercise 31 describes how to do it.

Exercise 31: Clapping Down the Walls

Start by facing the front door of your home and go to the first corner either to the left or right of where you’re standing. Start clapping with your hands above your head and clap loudly in the first corner all the way down from the ceiling to the floor. Do this several times while holding the intention that the area you’re clapping is becoming totally clear of any stagnant energy.

At first, the sound you make with your clapping may have a slightly dull tone to it, but as you clap down the area a few times, you’ll find the tone changes and that the sound becomes much crisper and clearer. When this happens, move on to the next corner.

Continue working down the corners of each and every room—always working in a clockwise direction—until you arrive back to where you first started.

About halfway through going round your home, you should find what Karen Kingston calls an “after twang” to your clapping (a sort of echo to each clap). This is when the clapping really begins to reverberate. When this happens it means you’ve started to clear that “psychic gunge” which was hanging around the corners of your home.

Make sure you wash your hands very thoroughly under running water after you’ve finished doing the clapping as this rinses away any psychic debris that may have become attracted to your aura during the process.

When you’ve finished all the cleaning and clapping, it’s time to shift gears. Have a nice leisurely bath or shower and wash your hair. You could throw a couple of handfuls of rock salt into the bath water if you like, as this is especially helpful in clearing your aura of any bits of static energy which have become attached during all the work you’ve been doing. Put on some clean clothes. By feeling fresh and clean yourself, you’ll be better able to sense when the atmosphere in your home has cleared.

For the next and final part of the Space Clearing, don’t wear a watch or any jewellery. (Metals and stones attract energy and when you’re clearing out negative stuff you don’t want it accumulating in your jewellery!) Also take off any metal-framed glasses, remove coins from any pockets and work barefoot so you can sense the energies better and be more grounded. Put the phone on answer. Don’t play any music. Have the place to yourself unless you’ve previously arranged to do this with a friend or a partner (in which case you need to have worked out beforehand who’s going to do what at any given time). Don’t drink any alcohol, but do drink plenty of pure spring water because you could get thirsty and it helps with the general cleansing process.

To prepare, begin by taking one of the little charcoal rounds and lighting it. Hold one edge of the round and put the lighted match to the other side of the round. When it ignites the charcoal, it fizzes and spits gently. Hold it between your fingers for a few seconds to make sure it’s definitely been ignited. Sometimes it fizzes a bit and then stops, in which case you have to light it again. Once you’re sure it’s fizzing and burning through the charcoal, place it in the incense burner.

These little charcoal rounds get very hot and so does the incense burner, so it’s therefore a good idea to have a small heat resistant tray or saucer on which to place the burner because you’re going to be carrying it around with you from room to room later. You don’t want to burn your fingers!

Place the incense burner on the altar you created the night before. Don’t put the incense granules on immediately once you’ve lit the charcoal. If you try to do this when the charcoal is red hot, you’ll just incinerate the incense and cause an unpleasant smell instead of simply heating it through to release its beautiful aroma. So, wait until the charcoal has become a grey, ash colour and has cooled down a bit. Then you can put some granules of incense on to release the aroma. I usually start the charcoal lighting part of this ritual just before I get into my bath after all the housework has been done. I find that by the time I’ve finished bathing, and washed and dried my hair, the charcoal has reached the right temperature for burning the incense.

Before you begin your Space Clearing, you need to practice Hara Breathing (Exercise 32), after which you’re ready to start doing the Space Clearing.

Exercise 32: Hara Breathing

Stand in what you feel is the centre of your home, or at least, as close to the centre of the space as possible. Place your feet about shoulder’s width apart and direct your attention down into your Hara, which is located the width of two finger below your navel (see Exercise 20: Sensing Your Inner Energy).

Begin watching your breath by imagining you’re breathing in and out through this place in your belly. This is your energetic centre and by focusing here you’re centring and grounding yourself very strongly. Focus on the experience of being in your body rather than in your head. Do this for several minutes and be aware of your feet taking the weight of your body and your connection to the earth. Try to keep this connection all the way through the Space Clearing.

Then bring your intention for the Space Clearing firmly into focus and hold onto it throughout the whole of the following procedure.

Space Clearing and Creating Sacred Space

First Round of Clearing

Go into your “altar room” and very reverently take up your drum (if you’ve got one). If you haven’t got one, then start your Space Clearing ritual from “Second Round of Clearing”.

Bless your drum and thank it for what it’s going to do for you. Hold it closely to you and imagine that it’s a part of you. Run your hand lovingly around its rim.

Holding the drum, stand outside the main entrance or front door of your home and face the door. You’re going to drum in a clockwise circle around the door. Imagine it’s a clock face and sound the drum once at 9 o’clock, once at 12 o’clock, once at 3 o’clock and once at 6 o’clock. Go round the door doing this three more times. Then open the door and step into your home.

If for some reason you’re unable (or unwilling!) to stand outside the main entrance and do this, then stand inside your home with your back to the front door and do the drumming as described above.

As you work with your drum, allow your wrist to be loose and relaxed and use your hand rather than your arm to do the drumming, otherwise you may get very tired. Let yourself be guided in terms of what rhythm you choose. If you’re unsure, a heartbeat rhythm is always a good one to start with—da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. Use your intuition about the beats to use. Let the drum guide you. You may feel occasionally as though the drum is drumming you! Remember your Hara breathing throughout and just relax into this. Your breathing may deepen as you go round your home.

Now move towards the nearest corner of the space you’re in. Hold your drum near the floor and drum up the corner towards the ceiling. (Yes, up and not down the corner this time.) Like the clapping, if the sound is dull, do it again until it’s crisp and vibrant, which shows the energy is clear. (You’re now refining the work you’ve done previously). When the drum sounds clear in the corner, move to the next one, sounding the drum as you move along the walls. When you get to the next corner, do the same thing. Keep going until you’re back to where you began.

Finish off by standing in the centre of the room and moving the drum in a clockwise circle, sound it in each of the four directions—to the right side, towards the floor, to the left side and towards the ceiling.

Move on to the next room and do the same thing. Keep repeating this procedure in every room including the kitchen, bathroom and any rooms with separate toilets.

If your home is on several floors, start at the lowest level and work upwards around each floor until you reach the top of the house.

When you’ve done all the rooms like this, take the drum back to the “altar room”. Thank it for the work it’s done and place it carefully down beside the altar. You may find you need to add some more incense to the charcoal burner while you’re there.

If you’ve used a drum, simply move into the Second Round of Clearing and follow the directions below. However, if you haven’t used a drum, your Space Clearing ritual will have to start with the big bell in place of the drum. In that case, start by reverently picking up the big bell and connecting with it as described for the drum. Take the bell and the incense burner to your front door. Leave the incense burner somewhere safe inside as you do the front door ritual. Stand outside the front door (if possible) and ring the bell at the 9 o’clock, 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions. Do this three more times as described for the drum in the First Round of Clearing. Then, when you step inside your home, pick up the incense burner and proceed from Ringing the Big Bell (see below):

Second Round of Clearing

If you have used the drum for the First Round of Clearing, now pick up the bigger bell. Greet it with reverence, expand your consciousness into it and run your hand around its rim. Then, pick up the incense burner and head for the front door carrying both the bell and the incense burner.

Ringing the Big Bell

You’re going to be carrying the incense in your left hand and ringing the bell with your right hand. You’re going to waft the incense up towards the corners as you ring your bell, moving both from floor to ceiling. It sounds complicated, but you’ll get the hang of it quite easily. Waft and ring up the first corner. If the bell sounds dull anywhere, keep ringing it until it becomes clear. Ring the bell and waft the incense as you walk along the wall to the next corner and do the same thing. Don’t forget to include any small rooms with separate toilets. Go clockwise round each room, ringing the bell and wafting the incense into the corners from floor to ceiling until you get back to where you began. Finish your work in each room by putting down the incense burner and sounding the bell in each of the four directions—to the right side, towards the floor, to the left side and towards the ceiling. When you’ve finished, replace the incense burner on the altar, thank your bell, and put it down beside the altar. You may find you have to replenish the incense on the burner between rooms if it’s burning quickly.

When you use the drum, or the drum followed by the big bell and incense, or just the big bell with the incense, you are clearing the energies. When you use the little bell—as per the next section—you’re invoking the highest energies to fill your space.

Third Round of Clearing

Now pick up the smaller bell, greet it, and run your fingers around its rim. All you’re going to do this time is to move around your home in a clockwise direction, ringing the bell in all the corners (but not up the corners) and along all the walls. By this time, the energies should really be very clear, but listen carefully and if the bell sounds a bit flat in certain places, keep ringing it until the sound is clear. Remember your aim now is to invoke high, pure energy. Finish off each room by ringing it in the four directions. Then, thank your bell and put it with the other instruments beside the altar. You could add one last sprinkling of incense to the charcoal now.

Smoothing the Energy and Sealing It In

Finally, pick up the rattle. You’re going to use this to soothe and smooth all the energy in every room. Follow through the same process of greeting it—yes, even if it’s just a humble household matchbox! Go straight to the nearest corner of the room, and shake the rattle in woodpecker-type movements. Again, as with the little bell, you don’t need to work up the corners. All you need to do is to rattle it towards all the corners a few times. Move along the walls rattling fast and, moving in a clockwise direction, go to the next corner and so on till the room is complete.

Now you’re going to seal the refined energies into the room. You don’t have to rattle in the four directions. Just go to the door of the room and rattle in a straight line down the centre of the door from ceiling to floor. Imagine you’re zipping it closed and sealing the entrance. Do this in all the rooms after you’ve rattled the corners and walls, moving clockwise around the home until you’ve completed the process. End by thanking your rattle and placing it beside the altar.

Complete the ritual by meditating for about 20 minutes in the “altar room”. A few more pointers:

• The best time to do this is at the new or full moon, or at the beginning of spring. Alternatively, do it when prompted by any of the events or situations listed at the beginning of the chapter, or through other appropriate circumstances.

• If you live in a house, then it’s good if you can do the Space Clearing with someone else as you can complete the whole process much quicker. You could each work simultaneously on separate floors to complete the general cleaning.

• If you’re doing a house on your own, then, depending on its size, you may need to do the general cleaning on one day and the Space Clearing the day after. But if it’s possible, try to do the house cleaning and the Space Clearing all on the same day.

• Don’t try to clear anyone else’s home. Leave this to the professionals (see the Further Information and Suggested Reading section at back of book).

Space Clearing Maintenance

Having gone to all the trouble of raising the vibration of Chi in your home, you’ll almost certainly want to do everything you can to maintain it! The main thing is to make a commitment to not let clutter build up and get out of hand, and to keep on top of the housework! You’ll have to re-do the Space Clearing from time to time, and your increasing sensitivity to energy will help you to know when this needs to be done.

For simple maintenance between Space Clearings, try some of the ready-made bottles of Space Clearing Mists which contain a mixture of water laced with Flower Essences. You can buy them from most good health food shops. Squirt some around a room after any emotional disturbance or other energetic disruption.

Alternatively, you could make up your own. Buy a mister bottle (there are plenty of cheap ones around in garden centres for misting plants). Put a small amount of spring water in the bottom and add a few drops of flower essence to make the mixture. Here are some suggestions:

• For any release of negative energy, add two drops Crab Apple.

• For creating tranquillity after an argument, add two drops Lavender.

• After an accident, add two drops Rescue Remedy.

Instead of misting Flower Essences, you can also throw pinches of rock salt into all the corners of the room where the disturbance happened.

Every morning when you get up, make a ritual of lighting a votive candle to your House Guardian to honour it and ask for its daily protection and blessings. Make sure the votive candle is in a fireproof container and set upon a small mat to protect the base from getting too hot and damaging the surface where it’s situated. Make sure it’s in a safe place where it’s not going to be knocked over by children or animals. If you are absolutely satisfied that it’s safe to do so, then leave the flame burning all day. Extinguish it if you’re going out and re-light it on your return.

Some good old fashioned house cleaning will always do an amazing job at perking up the energies in your home!

You can use music to lift the vibrations of Chi. For a quick fix remedy for congested energy, play some African drum music. Flute music will have a wonderful cleansing effect on the Chi, as will the sound of singing bowls (see the Further Information and Suggested Reading section at back of book).

Keep your home cleansed and perfumed by using joss sticks or an aroma burner on a regular basis.

If you’ve learnt the second degree of Reiki, drawing the first symbol up in the corners of each room is very cleansing and also brings the wonderful healing energy of Reiki into your home.

Therapists of any sort should clear the energies of their therapy rooms regularly. If you work from home, it’s not a good idea to sleep in the same room where you regularly see clients.

Devoting time to purifying and raising the levels of Chi in your home can be an empowering and uplifting experience for you. You’ll notice a lightness and clarity in your environment afterwards, which instantly makes you feel better. Enjoy knowing that you can make such a difference on both an inner and outer level by doing this, and take pleasure in seeing your life becoming more meaningful and expansive.