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.

Inside the Goody Cabinet

Since I always get asked "What's in there?" I figured I'd just part the veil and take a pic!

There is of course my "working Altar" on the top there...where I do al my cleansing, charging, and most rituals

Then INSIDE you can see several things
The chest where I keep my tumbled stones

Some extra candles

My books and My book of shadows stacked up

The Basket where I keep extra pillar candles, lighters and incense

Some oracle cards in bags and boxes

Some bottles for gemstone/moon waters/pther little brews

And other little odds and ends...a feather, a small box containing gemstone chips..just little here and there things

The drawers are much the same...more oracle cards, more herbs, some extra boxes, some ribbon in various colors

This all makes for a very convenient working area...EVERYTHING I could need is right there at my working altar

Your Body is Also Sacred Space

I've been thinking a lot lately about how our surroundings affect everything from our moods when we are in them to things deeper, like our ability to get along with others while in that space. I truly believe that while every witch should have a space set aside for magical workings, I also believe the home itself should be "sacred". The Goddess dwells in this space with us, along with some of her greatest blessings: our families, and yes, our selves.
If how you treat your space can affect you sp deeply, then it stands to reason that how we treat our bodies must affect us on an incredibly deeper level. After all, where do we live more completely and entirely than in our bodies? Where do we spend literally every single moment of our entire lives? Our bodies of course. And if what we put into our space can affect us, what about what we put into our truly personal and sacred space? If a negative object affects our home, what about junk food...how might that affect our bodies?
Let's take that a step further even...if what we put into our bodies actually affects our most sacred of all spaces, how might "junk" affect our bodies when it's mental? Are you putting too much junk into your body via means other than food, such as negaitve TV shows, engaging in "downer" type thoughts, or exposing yourself to unhealthy people and stressful situations?
I've been re-thinking my ways of doing things lately, and I've decided that I can make our home healthy and harmonious, but my family would truly benefit (as would I) if I turned the majority of that attention onto my first true sacred space. If I paid attention to every bite that went into my mouth and to every movie I put into my mind as much as I paid attention to every color I painted a wall or how well I've purified a peice of used furniture. The sacred space of the body is just as important as the sacred spaces outside of the body. It is important that we treat ourselves as the sacred beings that we are.
I have decided to make a serious attempt as watching the junk I eat and to give myself time to release the stresses I cannot help exposing myself to each day. I belive doing so honors our creator and our path as much as anything else we could do...sacred space I feel is so much more than a place. It can be a state of being as well.

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.

Meditation Room!!!

You'll have to excuse the messiness...still in the process of getting things where I want them.

I painted the room and the cabinet (which still has a bit to go...almost finished with it though!)
Everything else is just stuff I already had...
The Rug is one that my DH bought as a marine in Afganistan in the 90s. It's stunning...about 12 feet long and oh so plush!

Still trying to decide on curtains!! I think I'm going to go with white, since this room tends towards being really dark. I need to keep the sun out though, so I dunno yet....we'll just have to see I guess.

I'd like to get some kind of tapestry or something for the walls, but again, just waiting to see what I find out there...what catches my eye