The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018
Acting Mindfully in the Kitchen
The Kitchen As a Sacred Space
If the kitchen is serving as the modern spiritual hearth, it stands to reason that any and all activity done in the room may qualify as having the potential for spiritual application. It’s not as easy as declaring anything done within the kitchen as spiritual, however. While living one’s life is a sacred undertaking, it’s hard to argue that taking out the trash qualifies as spiritual. The key is to be in a spiritual headspace while performing certain tasks.
If we argue that every moment has the potential to be spiritual, then what is required is a method of initializing that potential and making it real. Performing an action with awareness (also known as acting mindfully) offers this possibility.
Doing something with awareness is also known as being fully within the moment. Being in the moment means not thinking about what has happened previous to the present or what you have to do next. It’s granting the present task or situation your entire attention and focus and allowing it to unfold without forcing it or insisting that it occur in one way or another. Why is this considered a desirable thing? The main benefit of staying in the moment is that it engenders less stress. The position is relatively stress-free because there isn’t an emphasis on “Oh no, I forgot to do something” or anxiety about what you have to do later, so it is more positive. This state is also more receptive to the healing and rejuvenating energy your spiritual hearth can provide. Being in the moment can help you appreciate the feel of your home and the impact your spiritual hearth has upon the people within it.
Perhaps the most important guiding principle for acting mindfully is to perform one task at a time. Multitasking is almost instinctive in today’s world, but fight the drive to do as much as possible at once. You can’t give your full attention to something if you’re already dividing your attention between a number of tasks. By allowing yourself to focus on a single task, you are allowing yourself to absorb as much information as possible about it and opening yourself to the spiritual energies involved, maximizing the potential for benefit.
Being in the moment sounds easy. If you’ve ever tried it, however, it isn’t as simple as it sounds. Here are some suggestions to help you be in the moment:
✵ Be aware of your environment. What sounds do you hear? What is the light like? What are the smells around you? This helps anchor you in the real world that is around you right now.
✵ Be aware of yourself. How does your physical body feel? What are the textures of the clothes against your skin? How do you feel internally on a physical level? What is your emotional state? Do not judge any of these things; simply accept them for what they are.
✵ Imagine that you are seeing what is in front of you for the very first time. Come at it with new eyes. Don’t simply accept what you see; observe it and allow yourself to absorb the details instead of assuming that you know what is there because you see it every day.
✵ Take at least three deep, slow breaths. This is a commonly used technique to aid grounding, or reconnecting to the energy of the earth. It also features the bonus of delivering a good shot of oxygen to the lungs, which in turn oxygenates the blood.
It’s impractical to consciously focus on every single move you make throughout the day as being spiritual. If you did, you’d likely go slightly mad under all the perceived pressure and repercussions. It’s generally enough to touch base with your spiritual hearth once a day and ask that your actions be blessed throughout the day.
Make Some Moments Special
While it may be hard to make every action spiritual, you can mark certain actions or series of actions as consciously spiritual. Preparing a meal, for example, or tidying the kitchen are excellent examples of actions that can be consciously recognized as spiritual. It helps if you consciously assert this before each instance of the task. An excellent way to do this is to wash your hands. Water is considered a purifying element, apart from the basic physical association of cleaning with soap and water. Washing your hands with awareness makes an excellent trigger to signify the beginning of a spiritual act. It also provides a method of reconnecting to your spiritual hearth throughout the day, as it is a frequently performed action that can remind you to pause and reach out to engage with the power contained within your spiritual hearth, to restore or refresh yourself. Think of washing your hands as preparing yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually for spiritual activity.
Here’s an example of how to use washing your hands as a spiritual trigger.
1. Focus on being in the moment.
2. Turn the water on and let it run over your hands. Visualize the water washing away any negative or undesired energy.
3. Apply soap and wash your hands, keeping yourself in the moment. Notice how the soap feels on your skin, what the sensation of soapy skin over soapy skin feels like.
4. Rinse the soap off. Take three deep, slow breaths, releasing any tension or stress you may be holding as you exhale.
5. Dry your hands with a clean cloth.
If you like, you can say a small prayer that you create yourself or speak from the heart as you wash your hands.
By performing these steps with awareness and acknowledging that washing your hands is a spiritual act, you are signaling to your conscious and subconscious minds that you consider what you are about to do as important.
This is an excellent way to begin and end your day, as well. It provides you with an opportunity to be quiet and still for a moment and to acknowledge the sanctity of the spiritual heart of your home. It is a moment of honoring it with respect and honoring yourself as an integral element of that hearth. Doing it at the beginning of the day is a way to approach the day with openness and thanksgiving; doing it last thing at night before you turn off the kitchen light is a way to quietly thank your hearth.