The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018
Everyday Things Can Be Magical
A Place to Call Home
There is always a sense that something that is simple cannot possibly be as effective or powerful or useful as something more complicated or difficult. This is an odd human perception. People love to complicate things, possibly in order to have a scapegoat available if they fail. “It was too difficult!” they can cry. Humankind seems to instinctively eschew responsibility. But taking responsibility for your spiritual practice, working from the heart of your home outward, is a step toward a more rewarding relationship with the world around you.
Everything is, or can be, a magical act. Stirring a pot of soup as you reheat it can be a magical act. So can wiping down the counter, washing the dishes, filling the kettle, and arranging your tea caddy. So how do you make these things magical? Not with secret words or arcane shapes drawn in the air. It isn’t the addition of something that is necessary, so much as a recognition and acknowledgment of something that is already there.
How do you recognize the magic? Try these steps:
✵ Live in the moment. Being in the moment is harder to do than it sounds. It means not thinking about your next action or the one you just performed, not thinking about how you have to leave in half an hour to pick the kids up from practice or how you have to remember to buy milk on the way home. It means thinking about what you are doing this precise moment instead. Just be. Feel the weight of the jug in your hand; feel the weight shift as you tilt it to pour the milk; hear the sound of the liquid flowing into the glass.
✵ Be aware of your intent. Awareness is key to most magical working. While you are performing your action, make sure you have a clear expectation of the associated result or energy. Envisioning a clearly defined result is key to success.
✵ Direct your energy properly. Focus your will and allow it to fill the action you are performing. Poorly directed energy is wasted.
✵ Focus on an action. It may go without saying that there should be an action upon which to hang your magical work, but for the sake of clarity it’s worth noting that it is better to focus on a single action rather than a series of actions. It is harder to maintain focus over a long period of time, especially if you must change actions along the way.
Remember, hearthcraft is about keeping things simple and focusing on the actual work you are doing in the home. If you feel you need to speak during a moment you define as spiritual or magical working, speak from the heart or use a short prayer or poem that you already know and can apply to several situations. (See Chapter 10 for suggestions about spoken magic and prayers.)
In essence, magic is the art of clearly focusing your will to help create a change or transition of some kind. If you’re familiar with the contemporary practice of magic, particularly in conjunction with your spiritual practice, then you know that certain symbols or objects can help you focus and lend energy to help accomplish that change. If you’re interested in this kind of work as a supplement to your spiritual practice, you should read a book specifically focusing on magic and spellwork, such as my book Power Spellcraft for Life. As this book focuses mainly on maintaining a home-based spiritual practice, there isn’t a lot of magic-based work described here. It does include folk wisdom and home-based tradition, however, which some people may identify or define as magic.
Although many people use the terms house and home interchangeably, there is a difference between them, and each term is used to describe something specific in this book. House refers to the physical dwelling, the four walls and the roof over your head and the address and geographic location of your residence. Home refers to the energy entity created by that physical dwelling, the family that lives in it, and the identity that arises from the interaction between the two.
How does this all tie in to spirituality? Every moment is an opportunity to be in the now, to appreciate the moment and to make it magical. By doing this, you acknowledge that even the simplest of tasks informs your spirit and can nurture your soul. Allowing yourself to be in the moment illustrates how special you are. Life is made of many tiny moments strung together, after all. Opening yourself to the simplest of tasks and allowing them to inspire you with some insight or wisdom, or even a moment of peace, illustrates that the Divine can whisper to you in the oddest of unexpected places. Hearthcraft is about communing with the Divine through everyday tasks, not through complicated formal ritual.