Image by Hạnh Hoàng
In This Article:
- How aging magically empowers your sense of self.
- Steps to help clear clutter for aging peacefully.
- How can you rearrange your home to nurture your spirit?
- Why is clearing energy as important as decluttering?
- How creativity can breathe new life into old possessions.
Aging Magically: Growing into a Strong Sense of Self
by Cait Johnson.
All of you deserve a home where you can feel deliciously, happily yourself, a place where you can live authentically, weaving your magic around you like a comforting or inspiring cloak, a nest to nurture your spirit.
One of the great things about aging is that you now have an opportunity to create just such a nest, the perfect environment for your changing body and your soul. Just as you want to wear clothes that are deeply right for you, you can think of your home as another kind of outer garment, protecting and expressing your essential self.
Many older women live alone. Children, if you have them, are grown and gone, which means you have extra space. For some of you, spouses have divorced or died, and while there is much to grieve about this, it also means that you can create a space that is just yours, without input, criticism, or interference from anyone else.
And even if you still live with other beloveds, you are growing into a strong sense of self that now demands expression. So it is time now to fully embrace your role as Crone Queen of your domain.
An Important Step: Clearing
When you give yourself permission to express your true beauty and wildness at home, what liberation! But even though a part of you may be ready to grab a can of scarlet paint and splash it on the nearest wall, or buy that embroidered velvet bedspread you’ve been drooling over for months, or even—gulp!—to move to a new home entirely, first you need to take an important step: clearing the space you have.
If you want to age magically, you need to be able to let go of things—and relationships, and energies—that you no longer need. This goes beyond Marie Kondo’s famous decluttering techniques: you want to be sure that everything in your space not only fills you with joy but also fosters your connection to Spirit and expresses the unique, lively, magical self that you know yourself to be.
Fear of scarcity is often at the root of clutter and hoarding; letting go then becomes an act of liberation. It takes real wisdom and self-knowledge to recognize what you have outgrown, what no longer serves you—and it is so incredibly freeing to clean out all the dead stuff. It helps you to expand, to take deeper breaths, and it makes room for all kinds of new blessings to enter your life.
The trouble is, most of us stop really seeing our homes. How many times have you looked for something—a basket, a bowl, whatever—and felt horribly frustrated because it can’t be found, only to find it days (or weeks . . .) later, hiding in plain sight because you just got so used to it that you didn’t see it anymore?
Look around your home with fresh new eyes so you can recognize the dead spots, the places where habit, and not preference, has dictated that things are the way they are. Here’s a little magical exercise to help.
Goddess of Seeing: Visualization
At a time when you know you won’t be disturbed, choose a room and sit comfortably in the middle of it (you can do this in every room, but just pick one to start). Close your eyes. Now listen to the sounds around you—the ticking of a clock, the floorboards creaking, traffic or birdsong outside—whatever you can hear.
Let yourself go deeper. Visualize the Goddess of Seeing appearing in front of you. What does she look like? What colors does she wear? What form does she take? Now imagine that she approaches you and breathes very gently onto your eyes so that when you open them you will be able to look around and see things as if for the first time.
Thank her and allow her to leave, then place your hands over your closed eyes and count your breaths until you’re ready to open your eyes, then take your hands away and open your eyes. What do you see first? What jumps out at you?
The first time you try this, you may end up asking yourself questions. When did those lampshades develop cracks? Why is that Barca Lounger that I never, ever sit in still hulking in the corner? Who decided that my desk should face a wall instead of a window? What is that pile of unread magazines doing on the floor?
You can also try imagining what the Goddess of Seeing saw when she visited. After all, most of you do an emergency clean-and-clear when you expect company (it’s one of the many benefits of having guests), so why not let the Goddess of Seeing’s visit light a fire under you?
Another way to accomplish this is to take photos of your home (so easy with your cellphone) so you can really see what others see when they look around your space.
Clearing needs a three-pronged approach: dealing with the little stuff (the contents of cupboards, drawers, closets, knickknacks, etc.); the big stuff (furniture); and the energy of the place, which can be changed or improved by smudging your house with sage or some other helpful herb, clearing it with prayers, or sprinkling a little sea salt into every corner.
The Little Stuff: Pitch and Toss
Many women as they age feel like they are literally drowning in possessions. As someone once famously remarked, you spend the first half of your life amassing things and the second half trying to get rid of them. Does this sound like you?
Also, did you know that some belongings can actually feel energetically deadly? One Wise Woman I know had a set of china that once belonged to her toxic mother; it actually gave off a rotting, death smell, even after repeated washings. She smudged and cleansed the heck out of this haunted china and finally felt a huge relief when she gave it away.
One easy way to start the process of freeing yourself from all the little stuff that just doesn’t thrill you anymore is to put a cardboard box in every room and make it a daily practice to pitch at least one item into it that just doesn’t fit who you are anymore. When the boxes are full, donate the contents, have a yard sale, or invite friends in to take whatever they want.
The Big Stuff: Rearranging for Authenticity
The way you arrange your furniture dictates the energy patterns in your home as you move through the house—for example, around and between the sofa, the table, the bed. This creates an energetic pattern.
Sometimes, the placement of your big stuff makes an awkward stuckness, places where the energy just sits there and glowers at you, growing more stagnant by the day. The ancient Chinese art of feng shui can be a great help, but your own sense of what you want and need is the best guide of all. Feel your way.
Using your magical imagination, you can begin rearranging things to suit yourself. Why not put your bed in the living room, if that’s what youwant? Or move your favorite chair to overlook the garden?Or clear out that old den to make yourself a studio for painting, which you’ve always longed to do?
If you listen to your deeper desires, you can transform your home without having to pull up roots and decamp for pastures that may not be greener at all.
New Uses for Old Things
Sometimes you might feel you’ve outgrown something but you just can’t bear to let it go. Rather than beat yourself up for holding on, be on the lookout for creative, imaginative new ways to use old things.
It often turns out that you just need to use them in a different way. A treasured, worn-out workboot could become a birdhouse; a crib that once held children or grandchildren could hold magazines and papers; a hutch could display sacred objects from nature instead of the china you never use (and could give away).
Your passions, interests, and experiences can all find expression when you repurpose something to suit who you are now, affirming who you have become.
Copyright ©2022. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission of the publisher,
Destiny Books, an imprint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source
Book: Witch Wisdom for Magical Aging
Witch Wisdom for Magical Aging: Finding Your Power Through the Changing Seasons
by Cait Johnson,
You are invited into the magical world of four loving, feisty old witches, one for each season, who share earth-honoring wisdom, rituals, and spells to help you embrace your journey through the sacred latter half of life.
Offering practical and enjoyable ways to make aging an empowering, magical, and transformative adventure, this book of spiritual guidance will help you love yourself through the aging process.
Click here for more info and/or to order this paperback book. Also available as an audiobook and as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Cait Johnson is an artist and writer who teaches workshops on the Tarot, dream work, and ritual-making. She is the author of Tarot for Every Day: Ideas and Activities for Bringing Tarot Wisdom into Your Daily Life. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York. Cait Johnson and Maura Shaw are also the co-authors of Tarot Games: 45 Playful Ways to Explore Tarot Cards Together, published by Harper San Francisco. Author's Website: https://caitjohnson.com/Article Recap:
This article explores how aging offers the opportunity to create a sacred, nurturing home that reflects your authentic self. It emphasizes the importance of clearing clutter, rearranging furniture for energy flow, and repurposing items creatively to align with your evolving sense of self. Through practices like energy clearing and visualization, you can transform your space into a sanctuary for spiritual growth, empowering you to age magically and authentically.
