Ever felt your home had a personality? Or just some kind of benevolent presence? This could be the spirit of your home. This is not as unusual as it sounds, nor is it a case for Most Haunted to come along and investigate. Many cultures believe in house spirits. In Malaysia every house, in fact every living space has its own house spirit; early American settlers placed bowls of milk outside their home to attract good spirits to come and live with them and protect the home, pixies, fairies, brownies, puks and banniks are just a few of the names given to esoteric creatures that attach themselves to homes across the world. In ancient Greece and Rome , some of the Gods and Goddesses were attributed with specific aspects of the home. Hestia (to the Greeks) or Vesta (to the Romans) is the classical goddess of the hearth and home. It was Hestia who gives every home its warmth, she was at the centre, or hearth, of every home and gave it its very soul. She connected the home to the Earth and gave security, safety and serenity, bringing together the people in the home in an atmosphere of warmth and shelter. The Greeks also honoured Aphrodite in the home by introducing beauty and sensuality, she in turn would provide laugher, games, joy and peace. Demeter was the goddess of food and provisions, cooking on the hearth that Hestia kept warm. In Roman households Janus would protect the threshold to the home and in ancient China , and still today, the family ancestors were said to protect the home after death. Whether you believe in an actual creature, God or Goddess, or protective spirit or not, you may at least have experienced the “feel” of the home. Most of us do. I used to live in a flat that had a specific “feel” to it – and not a good one! I know it wasn't haunted, but it just felt low on energy and lethargic, especially upstairs. There are homes that just don't feel loved, or feel as though there is an oppressive energy lingering, and then there are those homes that as soon as you walk in you feel loved, comfortable and safe, their energy is warm and comforting. Which would you rather have? I think the spirit of the home is the spirit you engage the home with, and this may well be through engaging with a specific God or Goddess, fairie or pixie, or simply by acknowledging the home's own energy. Listen to your home in quietude and ask it whether it has a spirit, god, goddess, creature or ancestor within it. Ask it about its soul and where it needs attention. Remember our homes have as much energy within and around them as any other object or being in this universe, so respect that energy and see if you can find out what it needs. Simple meditative conversation with the energy of the home may be all it needs and once you feel you have communicated with your home and understood its needs, then you are armed with ability to make some changes. Perhaps you will meet its spirit and it turns out to be a six feet tall goddess, or one of your own guardian angels, perhaps it turns out to be a faithful old Golden Retriever or Tabby Cat! However your home presents its energy to you, this is your connection and once made you will find yourself able to create the warmth you desire in recognising and asking what it wants. More complex homes and energies may need more work than a simple conversation and a bit of de-cluttering, and there are a variety of things you can do to re-ignite the warmth of your hearth:
|