Space Clearing & House Blessings

“Space Clearings” and “House Blessings” are generic terms for a wide range of traditional and modern techniques and ceremonies that can be used to remove any unwanted or disharmonious energies in your environment, so that you feel comfortable, nurtured and supported living in your home. Even though they are referred to as “house blessings,” these procedures are equally useful for retail stores, restaurants, offices, schools and other institutions. They are regarded by Chinese and Chinese-American entrepreneurs as so essential to the success of a new business location that they don’t dare open new banks, restaurants and other businesses without performing the ceremonies.

Here’s a brief overview. The most common processes are a form of energetic house cleaning. “Claiming the Space” rituals are often conducted in association with house blessings to formally declare that you are the new caretakers of the space. More involved procedures are used to release disembodied spirits. Areas of geopathic stress can be mitigated with Earth Acupuncture techniques.

The most important times to conduct these procedures are whenever you:

  • Move into a new home

  • Start construction of a new building or addition (as part of the ground-breaking ceremony)

  • Begin or finish a remodeling project

  • Find that you are not getting deep, restorative sleep

  • Have a creepy, uneasy feeling anywhere in your home or surroundings.

  • If you feel that someone else is in the house with you, when no one else is home, then a disincarnate release ceremony may be called for.

  • If your disposition or energy level changes dramatically after moving into a new space, it might be caused by detrimental Earth energies flowing underground.

The Bad Vibes You Feel Could Have Many Sources

Residual “Place Memory”

For example, previous inhabitants who struggled with substance abuse, domestic violence or mental health problems usually leave a residue of their erratic behavior and crazy energy that can be felt by sensitive people. Places have the ability to hold onto a memory of what has occurred there in the past, almost like a storage battery. This “place memory” is what makes it easier to meditate in an ancient temple, where the resonance of repeated chanting and meditating has built up over time. But when anger, fear, and violence from the past are still resonating in the place, a space clearing can clear the air and wipe clean the old slate, so that you can infuse the space with your own energy.

Lingering Disembodied Spirits

The spirits of people who died on the premises sometimes linger as disembodied spirits or ghosts. If they died in loving circumstances they may become guardian spirits for the remaining loved ones. But spirits of some people, like murderers and their victims, and those who died in accidents, are often in a state of confusion, not aware that they are no longer embodied. Because of the abrupt and unresolved ending of their lives, they are still attached to the corporal plane. They can cause mischief or disruption in your life. Small children may see their wispy energy traces in the middle of the night. Adults may feel uneasy, have trouble finding car keys, or experience the hair standing up on the back of their necks when they walk into the basement or attic.

Geopathic Stress or Earth Energies Detrimental to Human Health

Various kinds of Earth Energies, veins of underground water, and areas of geopathic stress can trigger discomfort in humans, including restless sleep, nightmares, unexplained exhaustion, headaches, or nausea. The most common example of geopathic stress is “underground water flowing in a constricted vein.” It is usually perceived by sensitive people as a feeling of constriction or stress in their bodies, like ringing in the ears, pressure on the forehead or temples, headache, nausea, dizziness, irritability, restless sleep, etc. The constricted nature of the vein apparently creates a turbulent bio-magnetic field that compromises the human immune system.

In West Germany considerable research by dowsers, medical doctors and public health officials has statistically shown high incidences of cancer, arthritis, rheumatism, multiple sclerosis, and other degenerative diseases among people who live, sleep, or otherwise spend long periods of time at specific spots where there are detrimental underground water veins and/or other types of geopathic stress.

But the energies of these “constricted underground water veins” are apparently beneficial to other animals, who choose to live near or travel along them. Ants, deer, and sheep make trails along the veins. At crossings of veins, coyotes and burrowing animals dig the entrances to their dens, bees swarm, and large stands of vibrant poison oak bushes grow.

West German researchers were among the first to experiment with ways to mitigate the detrimental effects of “constricted underground water veins.” They discovered that ancient city walls built in Europe during the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages contain polarized building materials, laid up to create a boundary of continuous alternating bands of polarity around the city. Dowsers demonstrated that constricted water veins were deflected off these walls, leaving the city free of these energies. Dowsers worldwide have continued to develop numerous devices and procedures, like earth acupuncture, to mitigate the detrimental effects of these earth energies.

“Claiming the Space” Ceremony

Another aspect of house blessing, from Chinese geomantic tradition or feng shui, is commonly called the “Claiming the Space” ceremony. It’s similar to the western housewarming party, in that it provides a simple effective way to make the place your own and infuse it with your energy, right from the very beginning. The advantage of conducting such a ceremony is that it lets your whole being — your body, mind, and heart — know that you have now taken charge of the place.

On a higher spiritual level this ceremony can be used as an opportunity to accept responsibility to take care of the house and land where you’re living. Instead of claiming the space as property “owner,” you can claim responsibility as a beneficent “steward,” who vows to maintain and nurture the environment, so that all the plants, humans, and other animals that live or pass through the land are supported and can thrive. In other words, you can reframe it as a commitment ceremony to live in cooperation with the spirit of place.

The best time to conduct this ceremony is before you even move in the furniture, as soon as you get the key. Claiming and filling the space with your energy can prevent unwanted energy from infiltrating. Nature abhors a vacuum. You can understand this reasoning by recalling how vacant lots attract weeds and litter, or abandoned buildings attract vandalism. The ceremony is a metaphysical counterpart to the practice of making a place look occupied to deter burglars, by hanging curtains and leaving a light on at night.

The Procedure

Feel free to customize this ritual to fit your own worldview and beliefs. The basic idea is to walk through the entire building, one room at a time, carrying an object that symbolizes the female and male powers of creation. One of the traditional Chinese feng shui practices uses a vase and a flute, each with a red ribbon tied around it. The wife carries the vase, representing the creative vessel of her own womb, and the husband carries the flute (and plays it if he knows how), which is somewhat phallic in form. Singles and non-heterosexual couples should of course feel free to customize the symbolic gestures to fit their own circumstances. Consider taking turns carrying both symbolic objects, to acknowledge that all humans contain both masculine and feminine archetypal energies.

Start at the front door, walk through the entire house, and end by placing the flute and vase at a spot that feels like the heart of the home. This might be on a fireplace mantel or hearth, a wall niche, or in the kitchen. Pick a spot where they can be left undisturbed. Hold the intention during the entire ritual that you are taking possession of, or becoming the caretaker, of this place, and filling the place with your unique energies, hopes and dreams for the duration of your occupancy.

Again, feel free to customize and add to this ritual to make it your own. For example, I have used an hexagonal flower vase with dragons and firebirds painted on it, which is a phallic shaped vessel, together with a conch shell, which is a womb shape that can be played like a flute. My two objects each combine male and female creative energies, for a more complex holistic, androgynous symbolism.

In some forms of this ritual, the final gesture is to place the flute inside the vase. You may have seen a rather large painted vase with a long flute jutting out of it at the entrance to a Chinese restaurant that has just opened. This carries an even deeper, cross-cultural symbolism. By placing the flute within the vase you are enacting the sacred marriage of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine. This is the relationship that ultimately creates all abundance and prosperity. If you incorporate this final act into the ritual, let it signify a contract or covenant with the spirit of place to treat your home like a sacred space, a temple for your connection with Mother Earth. Let it help you re-conceive of the physical container of your home as a receptive sacred womb within which you can manifest your creativity. In this way you can transform your relationship with your home, so that all the occupants take on the role of the Sacred Masculine as the creative actors in the receptive vessel of your home.

Testimonials

“The help you provided in doing the long-distance clearing of my home and land was a truly amazing experience. You provided such support and guidance, with grace and ease, that I felt as if you were standing right beside me. I learned so much from the experience that I know I will find useful going forward. I truly believe we accomplished the task at hand - which I believe was NO SMALL TASK. The most amazing part of that evening was your uncanny ability to focus and read such great amounts of information from different “levels" - so QUICKLY.” — Connie Russell, VA