BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Pagan Magical Housework?

I was reminded recently of a simple but effective form of magical concentration- housework. No really, I mean it. One thing I like to do is sweep my home as a form of smudging with a straw broom and then start the physical cleaning. Sometimes, I also will make an offering of a candle or incense to the patron of my hearth and home before I do a cleaning in gratitude for keeping things running smoothly. Do any of you have any household magical tips you would like to share?

I never thought of sweeping in terms of smudging before. Interesting.

I like to think of the magic being in the deep appreciation of tasks, especially simple, honest work. The motions are very soothing and (I'm trying not to use the word "ritualistic"). Our home is our sacred space, so keeping it clean and fresh is part of honouring the occupants. I'm also reminded of the health of my own body as I work, and I honour that. With gardening, especially, I find I can connect quite deeply with the all through working with the earth.

Though I never thought of it that way, I guess I sort of view housework as a cleansing act (no pun intended). When I get mad I always want to clean. I guess it helps me to get rid of those angry vibes...

I thought this post was going to tell me how to get my housework done by magic-wishful thinking, I guess-lol.

I've used sage to smudge, esp when I wasn't getting along with one family member. Every time she left, I'd smudge to clear the air. Maybe it worked, we get along really well now.

Wouldn't that be nice. I'm in the process of packing up to move. I wish there were magick spell for that!!

Oh you mean your houses dont majacly clean them selves? My house is spotless all the time and it cleans itself everyday it even does laundry and dishes......

and then I wake up in the real world and find my well lived in house a pile of laundry sink ful of dishes and no Samatha or Jenny to twitch blenk or otherwise make the house clean....
It is like God is saying "Well its your mess you clean it!"

Welcome to my life grab a dishrag and start the laundry! LMAO!!!

I'm with you, froggie. For me, housework is a physical and emotional cleansing.
--If I'm feeling emotionally trapped or closed in by some aspect of my life (usually that's work related), I go on a de-cluttering spree.
--If I feel like things are too complicated in my life, I clean and clean... and clean. Cleaning is simple and satisfying, not too mention relatively mindless. Gives me time to sort my thoughts.
--If I have a desperate need for change, I spend a day rearranging the furniture in one room. My muscles are sore for a couple of days, but the pay off is that I feel like I have a fresh, new place to be. Rearranging satisfies my urge for change and tempers my natural wanderlust by letting me "fool myself" into thinking I'm somewhere new.

you know my mother always rearanged the living room and she cleaned the house top to bottom and then started over everyday... she use to say the same thing! if it look different then its new and I am happy but then she would hate it for one reason or the other so she would rearange it back the way it was and then she would feel like she was in a rut so she would change it again. She finaly gave it up and left the furniture where it is. I think she really thought that if she could change the livingroom around that she could change her live and things would be great...like we would magicaly be out of debt and the house would not have problems we could not afford to fix and we would be healthy, happy and my dad would raise from the dead and life would move on to that happily everafter.... It was sad to watch! I hate to clean house or move furniture and maybe that is why....?!
I do love to deep clean I hate to do laundry and dishes and the everyday stuff but boy when the mood hits me I will move everything out of a room and scub the ceiling walls and deep clean the carpet and start over! it is like i gather so much yuck that I have to strip it out and purge and purify everything and start over! Drives my family nuts!!! and I will go throught the whole house that way. its like a fresh start over I dont like things the way they turned out so I start over again....
I guess Mom rubbed off on me more then I thought....lol!

Wonderful responses folks. Thank you. I also use cleaning as a way to calm down when I'm upset. The repetitive and Myrabeth mentioned mindlessness of it is the "magic" I was actually trying to get at in my OP. That state of "no thought" is the place magicians and people who meditate strive to reach. That is the place where we let go of the outcome and start being receptive to answers to the situation at hand (whatever it may be).

I don't practice Feng Shui (the art of placement and arranging of your space to achieve balance), but there have been times when I have felt like a load was lifted when I cleaned out a closet or rearranged the furniture in a room.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel about it too!

And, like Froggie, I also love to scrub something when I'm angry. I remember after one really bad argument with my mother, I went home and scrubbed the kitchen floor, and I felt so much better.