For many pagans (and nonpagans!) our homes are our sanctuaries. They are where we spend of much our mundane life, as well as where we nurture our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. Often they serve as our covenstead, either on a temporary or permanent basis. In our case, they frequently serve as the space for rehearsals of divine music. Yet our physical houses don’t always match our dreams for home or nourish our spiritual needs.
Several years ago, my husband Charlie and I took a wonderful course from Azrael Arynn K through Ardantane, a Pagan learning center in New Mexico. “Creating Your Sacred Home” led us through an assessment of our home and how it is supporting us physically, emotionally, energetically, intellectually and spiritually. Though in some ways, our sweet little home is just right for us, there was definitely room for improvement. We’ve worked little by little to create our sacred home, but now we’ve gotten to the point really invest in creating sacredness.
Now Charlie and I are embarking upon a pretty major (for us) home improvement project. We’ve done massive amounts of homework, talked to friends who are in the building industry, set up project management systems and talked to each other frequently. Then at the brink of the start of the project, a major decision had to be made about the scope. The perfect time for a little magick!
As usual, I set up a simple makeshift altar—altar cloth over a TV tray topped by a cardboard box also covered in altar cloth to make a couple of tiers. On the top, I placed a cardboard model of our home that my husband had made. At each corner of the altar, I placed a token of Hekate, the matron goddess of our home.
We lit the incense and did our usual cleansing, purifying and circle casting and then spent a bit of time with the deities and spirit guides I had chosen to help guide and support us not only in this ritual, but in our entire project. These were represented by cards from Oracle decks and placed appropriately around the “home.”
East—Ostara was invited to be part of the new beginnings of this project, offer new and inspired ideas. We particularly invited Ostara since we were doing the ritual mid-March, and she spends time with bunnies like we do!
South—Hestia/Vesta came to represent the hearth and home, the warm atmosphere we hope to create, and the completion of the domestic tasks we will need to undertake. Her fire will also give us the energy to take the project to completion.
West—Turtle takes things slow and steady, as we do, but when he gets into his element of water, he moves with grace and ease. So do we hope to find our “sweet spot” of ease on this venture. Of course, Turtle is also known for his close attachment to his home.
North—Beaver came to assist with the practical matters of home remodeling. After all, Beaver was organizing building projects when our ancestors were still squatting in caves. Beaver was invited to lend his expertise in engineering, drainage, and construction to give a strong foundation to our work.
Beneath—Ant was hidden under the house, waiting to show us the power of working together. Part of our success hinges on the relationships my husband has with sub-contractors in our area, and we will need strong partnerships to help us see this through. Ant has strength far beyond her size.
Above—Hekate was invited to be the spiritual guide for the project. Her vision as Queen of Heaven will help us see far beyond our immediate decisions; she will be with us as we reach crossroads and her torch will illuminate our way in the dark. Some of our work includes liminal spaces (like doors and windows) where Hekate is right at home.
Within—Rabbit was taped to the underside of the house model to reflect the energy that pervades our home. We had an easy time talking about all the wonderful things lucky Rabbit brings to us on a daily basis. Mostly, Rabbit makes us feel happy and we want our home to continue to be happy!
As we talked with each of our spirit guides, we asked them to help us reach our three goals for this project, which are that it should be Successful, Appropriate and Achievable.
After communing with our guides, we poured ourselves cups of tea and talked about the important elements of our home remodel, including increased energy-efficiency, beauty, durability, affordability, ease of installation and maintenance, etc. We tried to be as specific as possible (the universe has its sense of humor), but also asking Hekate to use her vision to guide us in the aspects of the project that we cannot see.
We toasted our tea and shared cakes (i.e. Girl Scout Cookies) to seal the deal.
But finding songs for such a ritual is harder than I thought! Pagan songwriters love deities and sabbats and magickal rites, but we haven’t always honored the sacred of the mundane. I could turn to our worldly songwriters like Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight” or “Our House” by the Madness or even in a moment of levity, the B-52’s “Love Shack.” Those don’t entirely do the trick. Thank the goddess for Lisa Thiel and her beautiful “Hearth Blessing” from her essential album, “Invocation of the Graces.” If you don’t have that CD, get it. Now. I’ll wait for you to come back.
Do you have a favorite song (pagan or otherwise) for making mundane tasks like home repair more sacred? I remember turning on Aretha Franklin every time I’d clean my dorm room in college and suddenly a dreaded task became joyful. Music and ritual share a special place in our psyches. How many of our life’s rituals occur outside the formal circle? And how can music support those as they do our coven or solitary rites?
Please add your comments below with suggestions of songs, pagan or otherwise, that support the sacred in your everyday life. Perhaps there’s a place for pagan songwriters to fill some gaps. Ooooo, perhaps that pagan songwriter is YOU!!
P.S. Thanks to the ritual, our project meeting afterwards made our decision about the scope of the project remarkably clear. Go Team Home Remodel!!