With spring just around the corner lifestyle blogs and interior design magazines are already touting the benefits of giving one's home a good scrubbing, of clearing out the old debris and welcoming the new season with a clean slate (no pun intended). However, what about cleaning the psychic gutters, so to speak, and ridding one's self of emotional and psychological baggage, as well as negative energies, sustained throughout the winter months?
You may be surprised to find how relatively simple it is to give yourself a good psychic spring cleaning, and make way for new and better abundance. And yes, it does start with your home!
Our living spaces are the reflection, however unconscious, of our inner selves. Whether you live in an urban apartment or country estate makes no difference; how you choose to utilize, take care of, and present your home makes a world of difference in your ability to pick up higher, more positive energy frequencies and likewise repel the negative. In short, if you dwell in outer chaos, chances are your inner state is on par.
Give your home a good cleaning in the next week or so, going from room to room and ridding yourself of what you no longer use, value, or need. Donate what you can to charity, and toss the rest. Sweep, mop, dust, and polish until you've buffed away the last of winter; take pride in having a fresh space in which to welcome new energies and potential. Be sure to smudge each room of your home to purify and seal the surroundings; sage or palo santo (“holy wood”) are ideal, though you can also use your favorite incense.
Once you have cleared your physical space you are ready to do some crystal gridding. But first, reflect on the past year. What were your goals, dreams, and desires? Did you make progress in achieving them? If not, what were your obstacles? Think about habits, good and bad, that you either formed or broke, as well as the relationships you nurtured. Have you surrounded yourself with caring, supporting people? Have you shown care and support for your loved ones in return? By meditating on these tough but necessary questions you can consciously put change into motion.
Crystal grids are powerful tools for manifesting one's intentions. Employing sacred geometry to combine sacred stones and crystals, gridding allows the union of crystal energies to work at their highest possible level, resulting in tremendous positive change. For example, a crystal grid created with the intention of drawing a warm and romantic relationship would be ideal in the bedroom, while a money drawing grid is best placed in entryways, where money symbolically flows in and out all day as residents and guests come and go.
On a small piece of paper write down one specific goal or intention, then select a center crystal for it, which will act as a directing point. Clear quartz and selenite are the most popular choices, though any stone that is personally cherished will do. Next collect the appropriate crystals that align with your desires, such as rose quartz for love, citrine for wealth, flourite for health, etc. (If you are not certain which stones align with certain benefits, there are extensive guides available online and in specialty stores.)
Take your written intention and crystals to your chosen room and fold up the paper, placing the center stone over it. Visualize the outcome and keep that in your mind while you lay out your grid. Start with the exterior of the grid, and work your way inward, toward the written intention. When you are finished, activate the grid by connecting the stones with an invisible line, almost as if you were connecting the dots. You can use a quartz crystal point, altar wand, or feather tip to do this.
Once you've activated your grid you can adorn it with candles, additional healing crystals, and even flowers. Make sure the grid itself does not get disturbed, and leave it for as long as you feel necessary. You can make as many grids as you like!
With your cleansed and gridded home secure, you have successfully established a safe and beautiful space in which to work on your external wellness. The changing of the seasons is about just that–change. This is an ideal time to reassess your diet, fitness, and self care regimen, and put forth into action the changes you wish to see. Daily meditation is a wonderful way to calm and focus your mind, and keep your intentions front and center at all times.
To complete your initial spring cleaning ritual, write down all the things you are grateful for, as well as all the things you no longer need or desire and wish to be rid of. This will remind you that in life there are high points and lows, and that with the good comes the less-than-stellar. Dispose of this list however you wish, either by burning it, burying it outside in a special place, or even tossing it into a body of water. This will symbolize the “letting go” aspect of spring renewal, which is fundamental to turning a new leaf over, so to speak.
Best of all, you don't have to wait for the arrival of spring each year to perform any of the above cleansing rituals. If you start to feel yourself stagnate or accumulate unwanted baggage you can clear, re-grid, and reevaluate what it is you wish to manifest in your life.