The Sacred Flame of your Home

You can partake in this simple ritual easily. Many places around the world use the concept of an eternal, sacred flame to honor special spirits. You can honor the spirit of your home/your ancestors/a goddess of the hearth or home/a saint associated with home matters in the same manner.
You will simply need a stock of 7 day candles and some incense. 7 day candles are INSANELY cheap and so very useful. They can even be found in the international foods aisles of many food stores like Kroger-these typically have saints on them, but those are simple to remove if you do not like the image...just peel it and use soap and water for anything that gets stuck

Light the tip of the incense. I always use the stove to start this ritual since it is the modern day hearth and so much of my magic is home centered. Use the incense to light the candle (I always use white, but as always I invite you to pick the color that feels most relevant to you). I then place the candle on the stove and then walk the incense through the home, purifying the air and asking the goddess for blessings and protection. When the candle is burning low I use another stick to transfer the flame to a new candle and repeat walking through the home. This way, each week I am doing a small and simple home purification, and by transfering the flame to a new candle, the sacred flame of the home never goes out.
These candles can generally be burned safely unattended, however, use your reason and caution. If you are going on vacation for a week, it might make more sense to extinguish the flame for this period of time and relight it upon your return. And obviously, use your candle logic. Do not place an open flame near anything that could set fire.

Home Altar/Memorial for My Uncle

Here are some pictures of the home altar/memrorial I set up for my dear Uncle.

The plant is from the service-my Nana let me bring these home since she cannot care for live plants. The seashell was found by his grandmother (my great-great grandmother). The stones in the little basket were the one's I'd placed in his room before he died. There is also a ceramic heart they gave to each of us at the hospital. My kids accidentally left theirs in Tennessee, so when we go up there they are eager to place their hearts in the basket as well.

Witchy Decor Website

I want these! I have a tree in my house that these would be so amazing on!
http://www.themagickmoon.com/full-moon-stuffed-ornament.html

I found an awesome website I wanted to share that has some REALLY great prices on all things magical-from tools, to jewelry and YES, my favorite, home decor!!!
It's called the Magick Moon
http://www.themagickmoon.com

Spiritual Housecleaning

Many years ago, when I was off the deep end as a Christian, I read a book called "Spiritual Housecleaning". This book was, essentially about literally cleaning your house of anything occult in nature, even going so far as to say that a Christian having a crucifix in their house was an invitation for evil, since it was a way to glorify "Satan's greatest triumph". And of course the usual dribble about not watching Harry Potter (Lord of the Rings was, of course, fine) due to the good portrayal of those who practice magic, and just generally ridding your home of everything that did not reflect that pure joy of being a Christian. Yeah...
I thought the book, while not on target as to what to remove had good points however, and looking back, I can see even more of those good points. Though I would never recommend that anyone follow the advice in that book, no matter what religion you are (if I recall they actually suggest that some particular children were deamon possessed because of some mundane object in the home), there is something to be said about what you surround yourself with-what pictures do you have framed? Are the from unhappy or down times in your life, or are they you at your happiest? What do you watch on TV? Lots of negative, downer type stuff? Do the things in your house make you happy? Are you unintentionally surrounding yourself with icky energy? Are clutter and mementos from bad times in your life bringing unwanted nastiness into your present life? Are the colors themselves just downers? Is it too dark for you? How about too bright?
I generally try to cleanse my space in some capacity regularly-with sage, incense, or just visualization. I like to open the windows and see, with my minds eye, all that black nastiness flying right out. And that's no small feat in a 4500 square foot home. To really do it completely can take a long time if our home is in serious need or if I've neglected cleansing it for a long time. But the energy after I do it is it's own reward.
However, even with regular space cleansing, the items in your home can hold their own power. That picture of you when you were going through a deep depression might not be the best one to frame and place on prominent display, even if you look like a total babe in it-you could be subconsciously linking depression to that photo, and thus be bringing that into your home and current life. And no matter how many times you might have cleansed the couch you remember sitting on and watching your parents fight, if the memory is still there and still painful, then you might want to consider replacing it-if the memory is still attached for you, then it might be "cleansed" for someone else, but that memory you associate with it might just be too attached to that object for it to ever really be cleansed for you, if that makes sense.
I just started thinking about this the other day. We all need to do spiritual house cleaning from time to time. Simply taking an inventory of what we have decided to place in our space and how that item affects us, and then deciding whether to keep it, cleanse it or just plain get rid of it. I urge everyone to do it, even if like me, you can only do a little at a time. Eventually you will have a home that can just be cleansed in it's entirely as need be, and any negative associations to smaller objects or furniture will be a non-issue, or at least a much more manageable issue.

Witchy Style

Everyone has their own style of decor, a personal taste that resonates with them. That's also true for pagans-we each have a style (both of decor AND of practice) that makes us feel comfortable and that best expresses how we feel inside.
We might prefer a minimalist approach or a heavily decorated victorian feel....each of these styles calls to mind certain attributes that speak to our nature.
I personally tend to go towards things of a more eclectic-cottage like nature. I like mixing fabrics and even styles to come to a "gathered, yet homey" feel. It's interesting, because I also practice my faith that way-by meshing what feels right to me, and letting it form something of it's own. Now, my house is not perfect-nearly everything in it was purchased used somewhere, and it doesn't look like THIS photo, though this is a great example of a style I like. But it still recalls certain quality that anything could fit in, and that is something that feels good to me.
I encourage everyone to look at their personal space-what does it reflect about you? If it is messy, dirty, aimless...or even if it is stylish and clean, but not YOU, I encourage you to spend some time working on it until it really reflects you. Try to form a personal, signature style within your personal space. Try to surround yourself with colors and items that resonate with you, that reflect who you really are and what you like. When you feel more at home in your space, everything else tends to feel better too-you are more relaxed and more able to really just BE in your space.

Sneaky Witch

There are lots of ways you can include the
magical/metaphysical in your everday life without attracting too much attention.
Here is my entry table, which I think is the perfect place for doing fun displays that include things that are magical and symbolic without being all "in your face" about it.
I've included a fountain, some seashells that belong to my grandmother and some citrine stones.

Fountains are supposed to direct good "energy" into your home...in that fountain I placed riverstones that my children and I found together on a camping trip.
Seashells are intensely magical to me...there is just some mystical and ancient about the ocean, and I find myself drawn to it. Because I want my home protected, I thought shells were appropriate since their primary function is as a protective home for small, vulnerable creatures
And of course anyone with a metaphysical background in crystals and stones knows I probably am trying to increase the flow of money to my home by placing several citrine stones and clusters there...I even have some situated in the fountain.

So this is my entry table, and I've found several small ways to include spiritual things that mean something to me and include them in a tasteful, seemingly mundane arrangement among photos and lamps.