Made of Myth House Blessing and Clearing Ceremonies s e s

Everyone knows that the best houses in the rom-com world are the ones in Nancy Meyer films. Whether you are in a cute little cottage a la The Holiday this winter, or a picturesque family home circa Father of the Bride, there are many ways to get cozy and feel fabulous. Diving into positive vibes, we interviewed a ceremonialist to tell us more about how to bless our houses and really enjoy our homes. Whether you are in an apartment, your parent’s basement, or on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Madelyn’s advice can apply to your life and your home. Read on for some enchanting wisdom.

Please tell us about yourself:

My name is Madelyn and I live in Aspen, Colorado. I also love to get to the ocean whenever I can. I have a background in art and energy healing, mythology, and spirituality. My biggest passion is to create space for people to come into embodied presence where transformation is possible. I offer one-on-one cranial sacral sessions, embodiment sessions, and I do a lot of mythology and archetypal embodiment work as well as custom ceremony and rituals to help people create more meaningful rituals around weddings, baby blessings, and all of the different life transitions that we go through. I teach skills of presence and transformation to my clients online in group formats. I also offer tea ceremony, which is what I call a gateway drug to meditation. It’s a great way for people who haven’t experienced meditation or who have maybe a hard time meditating to come into embodied presence with support. And then of course I do house blessings and clearings to help create more resonance and alignment in life.

What does mythology and archetype do?

They give us a roadmap for where we are in our lives. Myths that have survived time describe the journey of the soul and the human experience that’s true for all of us at certain times in our lives. So they might not be true with a lower case t like a factual event, but they contain truth with a capital T: the Truth of our souls, the Truth of what it means to be human. So if you can find a myth that resonates with where you’re at in your life, then you have a roadmap of where you are and what the next step might be to take for you to transform the situation that you’re in.

Favorite Rom-Com:

I have to say the Princess Bride has to be top on the list because it’s such a classic. I also really love Crazy Rich Asians. Both of those films draw on fairytale archetypes. Crazy Rich Asians is a Cinderella story and it’s one of the best Cinderella stories that I’ve seen. And of course Princess Bride combines so many classic fairytale motifs.

Favorite rituals for the home:

I always like to begin with remembering what we’re learning from quantum physics that everything is consciousness. So, our homes have consciousness and energy in them already. Some of this also comes from Marie Kondo’s work. She does a lot around cleaning your home. She comes from a Shinto background, which is a Japanese spiritual belief that all things have consciousness. One of the best things to do just to begin is every time you leave or enter your home is to thank the energy of your home. To tune into the life force of your home and its consciousness and thank it for sheltering you, for providing a place of comfort, protection, and safety. And just a simple acknowledgement of that with a bow of your head or placing your hand on the door as you’re leaving and entering your home is a really beautiful way to begin.

The other thing I love is the simple act of lighting a candle when you get home from work or at the end of the day before bed to change the frequency or the mood of a space. As you light the candle the fire element represents life force energy, so you can thank the life force energy. You can really notice and feel the energy of the sun in the flame that’s the heat in your body, it’s all the same thing. And as you’re lighting the candle set an intention for yourself or for your family. It’s incredible how a candle, just one, can change the energy of a room by inviting in the warmth of the sun that it contains.

Lastly, opening all the windows and doors.

If you’re feeling stagnant in your life or needing something to move or shift just ritually inviting in new energy and letting the old leave is a really simple way to do that. The most simple things are often the most profound, but we get caught up thinking things need to be complicated to be profound.

How do the house blessings and house clearings work:

I do them in four stages. It’s pretty intensive when someone works with me one-on-one. I also do these for businesses which has been really incredible to see how that has helped people flourish. Especially because business buildings have a lot of stagnant energy in them from previous owners. For new businesses that’s really useful. The first step of anything is to get clear on your intentions for the space for your home. I’ll also work with the numerology of the address to see what energy is already present that’s influencing the house. For example if there’s a two in the address: two is the number of union, of relationship, of working in harmony with each other. A home with a two in the number or as the total number it adds up to is going to be conducive to that kind of energy. This stage can take longer than the other stages because a lot of times what starts to come up in setting the intentions are subconscious blocks and material that hasn’t allowed your intentions to manifest in your life. We often times take a few calls to actually really get to the bottom of some of the competing beliefs, unconscious beliefs that they were holding. For example, beliefs that are preventing them from hiring the right person for their business. Once we are clear on the intentions, I always ask my clients to have their home physically cleaned or clean it themselves before I come, that’s a huge piece of the clearing. On the day of the ritual I have my own ceremonial cleansing and clothing that I wear. We begin by calling in all of the elements, the four directions, ancestors and guides and asking for blessing and support to be able to clear and bless this home for the highest good of everyone, so it will benefit all beings everywhere. And then we start with clearing the home from inside out, we start at the front door. And I use tools like brooms, sage, sound instruments. Once the clearing has been done, it is time to set the intentions for the space. So we’ll go to the heart of the home like the kitchen or the fireplace and we’ll light a candle and I’ll have the people of the home speak out what their intentions are for the house and what they see happening here. And then once we’ve set the intentions for the whole home, then the next stage is to really set the new tone into each space. Using sound tools, water, plants, we go into each room and we start to refine the energy and set the frequency of the house. The last step is really important, which is that you want to seal the energy in once you have created the frequency that you want for the house. You want to make sure that energy is vibrant and boundaried. It’s like if you poured water on the earth instead of in a bowl. The bowl is going to contain the energy and keep the water clean. The final step is to seal the house, which keeps out bad energy and seals in the good. We do that on the whole property line as well as inside the house. And finally, we do a closing to thank all of the energies that were present with us that day, and give gratitude and thanks and bless the home for the higher good of all concerned.

Favorite part of home:

I love my whole house. I actually do healing sessions out of my home, which my grandparents built by hand. It’s a really special space. My whole house is kind of an open studio, but I love the kitchen because I love to cook. I love food and nourishment. And I also love my altar. For me, both the kitchen and the altar are spaces of transformation and alchemy and creating more love in life.

Favorite thing to cook:

I just made bone broth. That is one of my favorite things to do. Cook a really good home baked chicken and then take the bones and make a nourishing bone broth over the course of two days slowly simmering it.

Are there ways to read your home energetically:

One of the best ways physically is to look for places of clutter. Look for the places in your house where things are always disorganized or tend to pile up. Or places you don’t go or hang out in. That always suggests some kind of stagnation is happening there, and it needs energy brought to it. You can also use a pendulum. As you move the pendulum in a circle around your house, it will slow down or speed it up. It might become erratic or slow down at places of stagnant energy. It will have a clearer circulation of energy where there is clarity. Another way is we can all feel energy more than we give ourselves credit for. We know what a haunted house feels like. We can feel good vibes and bad vibes super easily. So another cool way to do it is you can create a little map of your home on a sheet and you can walk around your house and pause and just feel your body in different places and notice what’s happening in your body and take notes.

Where do you gather inspiration from?

Definitely the natural world and nature. I am always communing with plants and animals and the elements because they are always in coherence. Nature is always energetically aligned and has messages to help us when we’re out of alignment. I teach a lot of my clients if you love birds, finding ways to give back to the animals and the life forms that nourish us. Whether you have bird feeders or you donate to the autobahn society, finding ways to live in reciprocity with them. Inspiration also from books, such as: “Women who Run with the Wolves”, by Clarisa Pinkola Estes.

What are some ways to make a home a sanctuary?

The best thing is to tune in with what makes you feel happy and joyful because that is what is sacred to you and that is what will create a sanctuary specific to you. Sanctuary comes from the word Sacred— so it means to make something sacred. So you can bring more awareness of the little things that remind you of what you love in your life. For me it’s having little statues or crystals around my house that remind me of what I love and what my values are and lighting candles at those places is a great way to do it. It’s all about consciousness: are you aware of what you love in your life? If there’s a sport that you love to play, where do you store your sports clothes and your equipment for that? Is there a way you could hang your baseball glove on the wall where it becomes something that you’re making sacred and beautiful or do you shove it in the closet when you get home?

What does a day as a ceremonialist look like?

I always begin and end my day at my personal altar practicing ceremony with prayer and gratitude and meditation. That always sets my day up for success and clear energy. I’m always working with symbols and archetypes at my altar that represent what I am focusing on and creating more of and bringing consciousness to in my own life. I do a lot of individual sessions Monday through Wednesday and then I do ceremony work. On Fridays I offer free tea sits to the community at my house. If someone has hired me for a house blessing that typically takes all day to do depending on the size of the house. Sometimes people will fly me out to do their wedding or ceremony long distance.

Thoughts and closing remarks:

Enjoy your home and have fun! Take the time to bless your house. The smallest things can make the biggest difference. Don’t get overwhelmed by the big house clearing blessing, even just beginning the practice of greeting and thanking your home every day or lighting a candle every day can bring so much transformation to your space and to your life truly. Only do what feels good for you because that is the energy you want to bring into your house.

Mother Earth, our Home.

by Tiffanie Snyder

Burgundy and gold shedding from the sky

A symphony of color Or tears if trees could cry

Shaking shivers with the winds caress

Lady bugs lounge about Witnessing leaves crumble with distress

Contrasted with blank clouds of grey

The sky is bored

Almost to tears…of rain. Please stay

Beneath the weeping willow drapes are Swaying in the wind

Orange and scarlet confetti dot your car

Nature’s mosaic.