Natural home clearing
THIS SYMBOL REPRESENTS DECLUTTERING AND ENERGETIC HOME-CLEARING AND DUSTING
In the late 1990ies, I had a very interesting home visit. My then downstairs neighbor told me about this ‘wonderful interior designer’ who he met at a recent party. My husband and I were just about to gear up for a serious redecoration process. So I decided to have her round to get some input and ideas.
A few days later a bubbly young Italian woman showed up and I guided her around the house. I had been a makeup artist for a little while but was then experiencing a career-lull and felt a bit lackluster. What I needed was extra energy and a fresh start.
As we walked around the place she noted down a few comments and finally, we reached the top floor. There were 2 rooms. One facing towards the garden was used as a work/spare room and the room facing the street was our bedroom.
She was puzzled by this arrangement and thought the bedroom would be much better facing the back. But we had tried this before and both found that we could not sleep well in this room. And neither did any of our guests.
She turned to me and asked if she could ‘energetically clear this room’ and took out a sage smudge stick. At that time I had never seen one before and was by now getting quite curious. She lit it and then walked around with it, making sure the smoke went into all the corners, behind piled-up papers, in the cupboard, and any other hidden place. She then carried on throughout the whole place.
Once finished, she gave me precise instructions on how to declutter and thoroughly air and clean the place. Then she urged me to hang up colorful, happy pictures of friends and family and snapshots of ‘happy moments. When all that was completed and only then, I was to move the bed back into the garden-facing room, which of course I did.
That night and many after that I slept so well. No more twisting and turning. I could not believe the difference the whole procedure had made. Additionally, a friend called me the next day and told me about an interview for a new TV show. I went to it and got the job. In hindsight, that day really transformed my then-stagnant career and home life.
Of course, this all could have been completely coincidental, but whatever she had done – it just worked! She had explained to me the ‘concept of stagnant energy’.
According to her, dead energy gathers in crevices and around clutter and needs to be cleared away. It is like dust or debris which you would clear away, too.
My grandmother had always mentioned that energy does not get lost but just transforms. So it all somehow made sense. In any case, it had work for me whatever had caused it.
Since then I have kept to this principle. If I ever need a bit of ‘energy’, ‘oomph’, ‘mojo’ – or whatever else you call this elusive “get-up-and-go” quality, I cleanse my home – dirt, clutter, and energy! I call it now my 3 step clean and cleanse.
How to cleanse your home the biodynamic way?
Below I describe the 3 steps in detail. You can either do a big session where you do these in sequence and the whole house/workspace is done. This could be a spring/autumn clean. Or if you have a lot to declutter and clean you can separate this task into small chunks. But always try to keep to the 3 steps if you can, even if you just declutter a corner of a room.
Step 1 – declutter, sort, and dust/take off ornaments
Step 2 – deep clean and put ornaments back.
Step 3 – Energetic home cleanse (in my view the quick and fun part).
1) Declutter, sort, and dust: Choose the time of the Waning Moon, ideally an Air Day. Take 3 bags and declutter either a room, a storage area, or whatever else needs doing. If you are a hoarder (like me), make sure you stick to a small area or room, otherwise, it is just too overwhelming. There is always another moon cycle to do the next bit. If you look at the LWTM calendar – you will find these 3 step symbols occur very frequently, so there is always a good time to either declutter, clean, or add energy to your home or workspace.
Bag One is for rubbish, Bag Two is for charity (or giving to neighbors, friends, selling on e-bay, etc) and Bag Three is your treasure chest – this is the precious stuff to keep, ideally not too much. This gets wrapped up and stored away in a nice box with labels attached so it can be easily found and reused.
Once madness turned into tidiness, take a duster and get rid of all the dust and spiderwebs. I like big fuzzy dusters – they are very quick to use – and don’t forget to shake them out of the window, so you don’t move your dust from one area to the next. If you still have some energy, clean mirrors, and possibly hoover. But what is really important – give your home a good blast of fresh air once you have finished dusting. Even in winter, just make it shorter.
2) Deep clean: Declutter/Dusting is reserved for Air Days. These are always followed by Water Days – the ideal time to deep clean. If you have not managed to hover last time, do it today, followed by a wash/wet sponging. Wet and dry vacuum cleaners are ideal for sofas and carpets (you can hire professional ones for the yearly cleaning). Remove curtains, give them a shake outside, or have them professionally dry cleaned. Move furniture to really get as much dust/dirt away as you can. This is not a routine clean, this is a deep clean.
Routine cleaning needs to be done as and when – but for a deep clean try to harness the time of the Waning or New Moon.
Here are 2 articles about natural cleansers that you most likely all have in your larder.
Natural Cleaning Products
Cleaning with Vinegar
3) Energetic Cleanse: Now your home is dusted and cleaned. If you deep clean curtains and carpets please give them a few days until they have thoroughly dried. Then you are ready for step 3 – the energetic cleanse. The element fire is perfect for this task and comes up straight after Water Days – so just follow nature’s rhythm.
Get a sage smudge stick or similar and light it. Then walk around circling the smudge stick, making sure the smoke is going in all the hidden corners and crevices. Put some uplifting music on – this procedure is really fun. It cleanses out the stagnant air and lets new, vibrant energy in.
Have you ever heard the phrase – you can cut the air with a knife? This is exactly what stagnant energy feels like. If you pay attention, there will be some hidden corners where the smudge stick literally gets stuck, spend a little bit more time clearing those ‘energetic cobwebs’. Places where there is a lot of traffic, such as hallways, normally show up a little build-up of ‘stagnant energy. It is those ‘forgotten corners behind the pile of papers where the energetic cleanse has the biggest impact.
Finally, open all the windows and let the smoke ‘ breathe out. Once all the smoke has gone, light a scented candle or use a natural air freshener. I guarantee you – you will notice a big difference and your sleep and general mood should improve a lot.
