Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

Ideas for a new home?

Bear

11:11 / 21.04.04

I'm moving into a new place at the end of the month and I want to be able to stay in this place for more than 9 bloody months (I've moved 8 times now in 3 years)

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on any workings that would create a safe place/good vibe etc..

I believe it's customary in Japan to give someone a potted plant when they move in as it's a sign that they will be staying there for a long time (that's why it's bad manners to give hospital patients plants!) In Latvia I've been informed that they draw a pentagram in the inside of the front door with salt and let a cat walk through every room in the house (can I borrow someone's cat?)

I think the eventual housewarming would take care of the banishing

cusm

18:27 / 21.04.04

I've heard of a bit of gipsy magick for gaining a home that might be useful. Take a stone from the ground around the home, on each of the 4 compass sides. Put 'em in a bag, keep as sacred or work further magics upon as you will. The bag makes for an arcane connection link to the home. You could just keep it somewhere safe or on your person to "hold on" to the property.

Bear

07:45 / 22.04.04

Thanks cusm, I think maybe this should have gone in the stupid magick questions to be honest, I feel a bit guilty now..

Gypsy Lantern

11:40 / 22.04.04

Not at all, house blessings are a really interesting and under-discussed area of work and definitely deserve a thread of their own. If you want to stay in a place, why don't you try and make freinds with it, or the spirits that inhabit it, depending on how you want to frame things. Treat the house as an entity and try to develop a relationship with it.

Bear

12:35 / 22.04.04

Yup I was planning something along those lines - the place I'm in at the moment although very nice just does't have a good vibe probably because the place was in constant change (people moving in out) - Also I think it might have something to do with the house being totally redesigned (bedrooms where the kitchen used to be etc)

I was also curious to different methods used around the world like the Japanese plant or the Latvian cat, I'm guessing Housewarmings themselves actually do have some roots in ritual?

Andek Niemand

12:46 / 22.04.04

Regarding housewarming rituals...
In Finland it is customary to give bread and salt as housewarming gifts, as a symbol of prosperity and good luck.

Also, couple of hundred years ago it was customary to open up the front door, then enter your new apartment through the window and basically say (with a little ritual I can't remember right now): "The people and their ghosts who inhabited this place before us: please do leave this house through the door, since we are moving in now." (OK, those weren't the actual words used, but that's the idea).

Of course, this sort of ritual is not very practical these days, since it would require considerable acrobatic skills if your apartment happens to be on the 10th floor...

Add Your Reply