If you feel that there is some unsettled, oppressive or uncomfortable energy in the home and despite de-cluttering and listening to the spirit of the home, it still won't budge, then some space-clearing might do the job.

Space clearing is a method of cleansing the energies in the home, and although there are many knowledgeable professionals out there who can help, its always worth giving it a go yourself as a first step.

To find out if your home needs clearing, you need to listen to it and feel it. You may have already tried listening to it when looking for the spirit in your home, and you may already have a good feel for it, hence the decision to undertake some space clearing! But its always worth getting closer to the home's energies, identifying the exact places in the home that need clearing and re-vitalising.

You may feel that space clearing is a waste of time, but think about it, if your home had not been physically cleaned in ten years – no dusting, hovering, polishing, nothing – how would it look now? Dirt everywhere, built up and causing not only ill-health through germs and air born dust, but mental anguish too. Now think about the same concept but in connection to the energy of the home. How many arguments could have happened in your home, how many tears shed, stress experienced and even depression (not just the ones you've had but previous owners too) – and think about all this negative energy seeping out into the atmosphere in the home. This build of negative energy is what can cause oppression, blocks and that “heavy” unfriendly feeling.

Of course there will have been lots of positive energy as well, but this does not negate the negative energy, it just moves around vying for a place in the home. So it makes sense that some parts of a home will feel positive and others negative!

How can you tell which is which? If you walk around your home, focussing on how it “feels” you may already know where the blockages are, a certain hallway, or corner of the living room for instance. You can use a dowser to help you, crystal dowsers can be programmed by you to seek out negative energy, standing in each corner of the room hold out the dowser and ask whether there is negative energy present, if it moves in the direction indicated by you (see crystal pendulums in moo divination) then you know that part of the room needs cleansing.

How to cleanse your home's energies

There are several simple methods that work on the premise that sound, thought and the elements can all cleanse a space.

Sound – sound moves the chi in a room, carrying positive chi and removing negative chi, think about the impact of loud noises on dust particles and apply that to energy. Bells, symbols, singing bowls or simple clapping all work to clear a room of negative chi.

Thought – sit in meditation in the centre of each affected room, you can direct your thoughts and emotions to radiate from you and mix with the energies of that room, focus intently on the kind of energy you want in a room and as you breathe out see that energy leave your body and replace the negative energy.

Elements – fire, air, water and earth (as well as wood and metal with feng-shui) can all be used to remove negative energies in a room, smudging with sage or incense (waving the smoke in the affected areas) is a very good way of cleansing energies, you can even go the whole way and ritually cleanse the room with a cleansing circle:

Note where north, east, south and west are and then place a representation of the respective element in its area (north = earth, east = air (incense), south = fire (candle), west = water. Then sprinkle each element in each corner of the room.

Its also worthwhile cleansing a room once a week, or as often as you would physically clean your house by simply lighting some incense at the same time.

The best cleansing will use all of the above methods as one big ritual.