Most people who have a regular magickal or spiritual practice perform some kind of regular cleansing or blessing ritual to keep their personal space free of unwanted energies. Full moon cleansing rituals, smudging with sacred herbs, or the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram are some of the ways that practitioners keep up with their spiritual hygiene. Ritual cleansing is becoming more mainstream, and many people are open to the idea of ridding their homes of unwanted energies. Some homeowners will seek out individuals who specialize in this area, while others will attempt it themselves. Cleansing, both physical and spiritual has become a regular part of moving into a new place. What about when you move away? You don’t usually leave any of your belongings behind for the next person to find, so what about your magickal footprint? Chances are another magickal practitioner isn’t going to move in to your previous home, but what if they did? What would they pick up on? Would you appreciate someone leaving your new place cluttered with their own magickal detritus?
Perhaps you’ve moved into a home recently, and feel as though you aren’t alone or the energy doesn’t feel right. It could be the left over emotional baggage of the people that lived there before you, or echoes of negative events that occurred in your new home. The homes of magickal practitioners are often strongholds of protection spells, wards and other defensive measures. What would it look like if you could put on special glasses, and see the layers of magick woven throughout your own space. If every magickal working left a visible residue that was detectable under a metaphysical black light, our living spaces would look like the inside of a seedy motel room.
I am writing this article because I am in the process of moving into a new home, and I got to thinking about the rituals people do when they move into a new space to magickally re-establish themselves. That got me wondering about what people do if anything when they leave the previous place behind. A simple cleansing ritual could and should be performed after you have packed up your belongings, and ideally moved them to the new place. This will help to remove any residual emotional or magickal energy that may be lingering about.
Picture what your own magickal footprint would look like. Picture all of the spells and rituals you have ever cast. Picture where you cast them, and what they would look like if they had a visible magickal footprint. Picture the invisible threads of energy connecting to the objects you’ve enchanted and their area of effect. Think of your altar space and all of the workings that have taken place there. This is the central point with a thread of light connecting to every spell you’ve cast, every magickal object you have blessed, and every person that has been touched by your magick. It quickly becomes a tangled mess of interconnected lines, floating shapes, and passing spirits. This is your magickal footprint.
There may be rituals you use to reconstruct your altar and consecrate the new space. Consider a closing ritual as well, as you carefully wrap and package the sacred items and tools on your altar consciously seal their power so that remnants aren’t left behind. This is especially important for any spirit vessels, ritual fetishes and otherwise enspirited objects. By telling your familiar spirits what is happening they can prepare on their ends so that they don’t return after a night out to find that their domicile has been moved. Altars become batteries for magickal power, and often act as portals. It is important that that energy is sealed within the objects that make up the altar or the altar itself so that it is retained.
Saying goodbye to any land spirits or household spirits that are attached to the immediate area. By giving them the courtesy of informing them of what is happening and thanking them for their camaraderie with a final offerings, the both of you will have closure. This will also prevent the new resident from unwittingly moving into a house with agitated and hungry household spirits. Time and space operates differently with these beings, and all they know is that there is now a new person in their space who is no longer giving them the offerings they were accustomed to.
This is also important for egregores or servitors that are attached to the home or the surrounding areas. Performing a recanting ritual now that their purpose has been served, allows them to return from whence they came. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that many hauntings are the result of unconscious egregores that have been left roaming around. The same goes for wards and various protective measures. You might think that you are doing the new resident a favor by leaving up your protections, but it is not your right or responsibility. Personal protective measures often only work for the person who cast them in the first place, and protective boundaries may night align with the boundaries of the new person moving in.
Moving is enough work with all of the physical things that have to be done, let alone worrying about cleaning up after yourself magickally, but it is the responsible thing to do. Sensitive individuals will appreciate not moving into a new place to find that it is energetically cluttered, and marked with some one else’s magickal footprint. We’ve all heard the ghost stories about the teenagers who were dabbling in the occult that unknowingly opened a portal and now the place is haunted by malevolent spirits. When we do magickal work we are opening portals and creating connections, which are strengthened overtime. While it may not be our intention; when we are no longer around other entities can used these pathways that we have opened up and left abandoned. By not tying up these loose ends we are leaving people who probably don’t have the slightest idea of how to deal with these things at the mercy of whatever forces happen to come through.
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