Working With Your House Spirit

Moving into a new house at the beginning of lockdown without any furniture has been a unique experience.  With all non essential shops closed and a 5-mile limit on travel in Wales, it has only been in the past month, with the easing of restrictions, that it’s been possible to begin furnishing our home.

Spending four-months sitting on the floor (we had floor picnics for every meal) and having most of your stuff still in bags or boxes was an opportunity to bond with the house spirit. There wasn’t our clutter to get in the way between us and the house.  Our presence has had time to assimilate with the brick walls and wooden floors and likewise, the house has got to know us.

Most of this ‘getting to know you’ stage has been unconscious.  I’m quite sensitive to the atmosphere and energetic imprints of buildings but our house spirit has been nothing but welcoming.  It’s felt calm and peaceful long before we moved in.  It was the first house I bookmarked on a property website back last year when the idea of moving was beginning to take shape.

I sort of internet stalked this late Victorian cottage.  I’d check back regularly (okay, every day) to see if it was still on the market.  I looked at it so often I could see the property photos when I closed my eyes.  The previous owner, from what I could tell, was not unlike me.  There was a broom by the fireplace, statues of Buddha on tables, candles, crystals and even her bed was the same style as mine.

In January, when I finally got to view the property in real life, I felt like I already knew the house.  Due to similarities between the lady who owned the house and myself, the house had a good idea who I was too.  This led me to wonder: do we pick our homes or do they pick us?  Is there a blueprint for the type of occupier a house spirit prefers?  Are real estate websites nothing more than a property version of Tinder – matching humans with their compatible house spirits?

During lockdown, it was still possible to get furniture delivered.  It was a deliberate choice not to fill the house with flatpacks and to exercise conscious consumerism.  My daughter’s room is the exception – she wanted a modern look to her room so we painted it white and filled it with flat-packed furniture.  She loves it but I have the impression that the house spirit finds it all bland and neutral (to be honest, I do too).

Apart from my bedroom, the rest of the house is now fully furnished.  Secondhand furniture shops, Facebook marketplace and car boot sales have been a treasure trove.   I feel as if the house has led me to all the right pieces of furniture.  We’re co-creating the living environment to suit the house’s quirky measurements, wonky doors and birth period as well as my own taste. I’m the one travelling about but I don’t feel as if I’m fully in the driver’s seat.

What I’ve learnt about working with house spirits

• It’s about relationships.  If you’re energetically in alignment with our house spirit, you’ll find your living environment to be protective and peaceful.
• Your house or apartment has its own occupant preferences.  As you journey through life, you might not have the same connection with your home as you did when you moved in.  For example, when I moved into my old home, we were a family of five and the house suited us.  My sons moved out and we were down to just the three of us and it no longer felt like home.  The house wanted the bustle of a big family and we were no longer the right fit.
• Spending time in bare rooms allows for the essence of the house to reach you.  I know that not everyone would like to spend four months without hardly any furniture but you don’t have to go that extreme!  Keep your house clutter free and find a corner where there is space to sit down to just be.  In my old home, I would sit on the floor by my bed.
• Talk to your house. Yep, I’m the crazy house lady.
• Create a home for your house spirit.  I have a little ceramic casserole dish on top of the kitchen cupboard that the house spirit is welcome to use as a ‘home’.
• Don’t buy furniture or furnishings willy-nilly.  Ask yourself if the item will feel good in your home.  Would the house spirit love it as much as you do?  It’s a good practice to go through existing items too – do they still feel like a match?
• Be open to co-creating your living environment.  Follow intuitional hunches when it comes to furnishings.
• Read up on feng shui and put it into practice.  A good energy flow in your home environment keep all inhabitants happy!