New Year House Blessing

House Cleansing
This is the routine that I have been using for a while and it seems to be quite effective. When I moved in with my husband we needed to get rid of a lot of old energy. It was pretty intense. We generally repeat this every year during the Full Moon closest to Halloween. Halloween is the time when the veils between the worlds are considered to be thinnest. It is a time of retrospection before entering the "dark" of the year. In pre-Christian cultures it was considered "New Year's Eve". The crops were all gathered in and whatever food you had was going to have to last until the next harvest. It was also a time to honor and remember ancestors and to thank them for their contributions to your life. New Year's Day was the Winter Solstice, when the days start getting longer again and we finally have hope of Spring. So, Halloween or Samhain as we call it was a very important and major festival, and the Full Moon associated with it is just as important.

What you need: A candle in your choice of color. You are going to let it burn out. I usually use a 7 day candle and let it burn out. There is always someone here since we have the store, but pick whatever size would be appropriate for your life-style.
Rosemary oil, a sage wand or sage incense, a lavender wand or lavender incense, a white candle ( a tea light is fine)
First. Go into the kitchen. The kitchen is the heart of the home, it is where meals are prepared and the family is nourished. This is always your starting place and try to move in a clockwise direction through the house.. Light a candle in any color you are drawn to. I use red, to honor the Goddesses Brigid, Vesta and Hestia. These are Goddesses of Hearth and Home in pre-Christian cultures. Place the candle on the stove (our modern-day hearth) When you light the candle, invite your Ancestors to help you to cleanse your home and to help you remove all negative energy from your family and from your home. If you are so inclined, you can also ask the 3 Goddesses to help you as well.
Next. Open the front and back doors (negative energy needs a way to get out) Sweep, vacuum, dust, wipe down everything. Use a cleansing solution of your choice, but add a couple of drops of Rosemary essential oil. Rosemary is used as an energy booster and a spiritual cleansing will always benefit from the addition of Rosemary Oil. Make sure to vacuum the tops of the closets and all of the corners, even if your house is spotless. You're not really looking for dust, you're trying to stir up any dead energy areas and any places that bad energy can hide. Don't forget attics and basements!
Next. Light a white candle (a tea light is perfect). Take the candle and go to every room. Hold the candle so that it lights every corner. Go into the closets and light every corner there too. The top of the shelves and the bottom on the floor and every where in between. Every inch of every room. Repeat something to the effect "I use this candle to light every corner of every place where negative energy can hide. Negative energy is exposed by this light and can no longer remain hidden"
After you have lit every corner, go back into the kitchen, leave the candle on the stove and let it burn out by itself. It will continue to expose the negative energy for as long as it burns.
Now light the sage. A sage wand feels more effective to me but many people just use incense. Starting in the kitchen again. Use a sweeping motion as you go back through the entire house, closets and all just like you did with the candle. Repeat something to the effect "Sage is cleansing. With this sage I cleanse this home and this family of all negative energy. Negative energy doses not survive in the presence of sage"
When you are finished, take the sage back to the kitchen and leave it in a heat proof dish. It will go out on it's on. It may be helpful, if you're using a sage wand to carry it with you to catch ashes as you go. You could just pick up a new ashtray at the dollar store to use for this. I usually carry a lighter with me in case the sage goes out, I can relight it quickly.
The Lavender is next. Lavender is used to draw in positive energy. Whenever you remove anything you create a void. Nature abhors a vacuum so we need to fill the vacuum with positive energy in order to prevent the negative energy from sneaking back in. Do the same with the lavender as you have done with the candle and the sage. Use a sweeping motion just like you did with the sage. Repeat something to the effect "Lavender is an herb of peace. I invite positive energy into this home and into the lives of this family."
Go back into the kitchen after you have finished. Thank the Ancestors and the Goddesses, if you called them. Ask them to continue to protect you, your home and your family. Let the candle burn out by itself. If you goes out before it runs out of wax, that's fine. Just don't put it out yourself. We like to think that the Goddesses and Ancestors have finished their work. Of course, it wouldn't be a good time to make a turkey dinner. haha!
After the Ancestor candle burns out, your home should be free of negative energy, but sometimes these energies are so very embedded into the fabric of our homes that it could be possible that it may need to be done more than once. In which case, there is no harm in doing another cleansing if you feel it necessary.

Last of all. We buy a new welcome mat each year, since they start looking bad any way by then. And since the house is cleansed it is now ready to accept guests, so we end this Cleansing by opening the door and putting out the welcome mat.