The Witch's Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018

Create Comfort
Household Self-Care

Your home is your spiritual retreat. You start from it every morning and come back to it at night, and the energy of the space should reflect the protection, nurturing, and support you need from it. Maintaining the energy of your home in the best possible alignment benefits you and anyone who uses the space. That means cleansing or purifying it regularly, protecting it with energy barriers to defend it against unwanted energies, and working to keep it in physical shape as well.

Create Comfort

Surrounding yourself with things that bring you comfort helps you release tension. The idea of an environment that supports and nurtures you is one that magic encourages. Creating a magical environment with energy that supports your goals is a very common practice for a witch. It’s also an excellent approach for self-care. Programming the energy of your environment to nurture your spirit adds an extra layer on top of decorating your space with things that bring you joy.

First of all, examine your space. What about it do you like? What frustrates you? Is there anything in it that you associate with bad memories? Are there any elements that make you feel odd or downright bad? Make note of them. Remove them if you can.

Think about the vision for your room(s). What would you like to see more of that is already there? What would you like to include that isn’t there? Is there anything you would like to deliberately place in it to bring in specific energy?

A busy room may make you happy. If so, examine why. Is it because it’s distracting? Does it help you dodge thinking about things? That may be avoidance, which is not healthy in the long run. It can provide a kind of vacation and break from the daily grind, but avoidance isn’t a sustainable coping mechanism.

Think about what you can add that would bring you peace. Is it more of a specific color, a texture? What could you take away to improve how you feel in the room?

Cluttered Space, Cluttered Energy

Something you need to think about is clutter. It can be daunting to sort through it, but clutter left in a space that is supposed to be calming works against the purpose. Even if you don’t notice it consciously, clutter is a stress that impacts you. You can even start accepting it as part of the space if it is there too long, which isn’t what you want at all.

Reduce the amount of stuff. That can be hard if you’re a pack rat or if you love collecting. If that’s the case, think about organizing in such a way that creates harmony instead of visual clutter. But packing a lot into a small space is a recipe for tension. Reduce what you can. A riot of color can also be visually stressful.

Daily Maintenance

At the end of each day walk through each room and do a quick tidy. Encourage other members of your family to do the same. Light, ongoing maintenance is much easier to do than putting a drastic time investment into overhauling a room. (Remember, self-care is about making things easier and less stressful for yourself!)