The Energy in our Homes

Ok...this isn't technically Druidic in a cultural sense ... but it has everything to do with energy.  I believe that looking to and learning from other cultures, even ones dramatically different from our hearth cultures of choice, is necessary to grow.

I'm curious about feng shui.  The idea that energy flows in and out of rooms intrigues me.  My Irish ancestors must have had some beliefs about this, even if they weren't as developed or well-recorded.  They were a practical people, but they were also deeply spiritual and concerned with boundaries as well as hospitality.  For many, the center of the home was the hearth and I can imagine it being a center of generosity, well-being, and comfort.  Everything was there for a reason and had to be aptly stored as homes were small.



Photo from European Cuisines.  

The typical American home isn't set up like that.  The focal point of our homes is usually the living room.  Truly it is where I spend most of my time.  We have our tv there as well as our computers.  In fact, my husband's computer is hooked up to the tv.  Our game consoles are also there.  As a result, there are a plethora of wires.  Too many wires...  It makes me agitated and not just because they are obstacles.  Something about their presence feels suffocating and intrusive.  Perhaps it is the energy they channel, along with our other gadgets, filling the room.  I have a difficult time meditating in the living room, and not just because it is difficult to have any quiet alone time there.  Something about my ritual room with its minimal electronics is more relaxing.  The bedroom too.

I found vidoes like the one below on Craftster and have been getting some good ideas.  I'm also curious what the author of O-C-Designer would have to say about feng shui.  I think I have some rearranging to consider...

( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Spring and Reiki

Happy spring!

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox and I went down to Utica for a reiki workshop led by friend and reiki master Imagickat.  This was her first class on reiki and the first time she's given attunements.  I must admit, before the class I knew very little about reiki.  She's given me reiki treatments before and they always really helped.  They make me feel at peace, like massage but in a different way.  This will sound strange, but I love to be touched.  Not in a sexual way - but spiritually.  It's warming and comforting.  

Back to what I was saying.  I've been largely ignorant about reiki.  It's something I knew existed and, like I said, even experienced from time to time.  For whatever reason I never bothered to read about it.  This is mostly because I have so many other interests that it never dawned on me.  I always (wrongly) assumed it was derived from Shinto  practices in Japan.  I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to dapple with.  However, I learned that it's adaptable to any spiritual practice and that it was even brought to America (by the Japanese) and changed so as to be better understood by Westerners.  It's also incredibly modern, the practice only having been founded in 1922 by Mikao Usui.  

Learning this put me at ease.  Originally, I felt inclined to attend the workshop because I wanted to learn more about using and sensing energy.  I wasn't sure if I would actually want to go further than learn, but in the end I'm glad I did.  The attunement wasn't orgasmic, but I definitely felt something.  I'm much better able to sense energy within myself at the moment, but practicing yesterday enabled me to better sense it in others.  I was practiced on so much yesterday that my sinuses cleared for a whole day.  I later practiced on willing family members who said they felt at peace, that headaches vanished, and that they felt something sucked out.  I sensed a weird energy in my mum's knees and she said they've been bothering her recently.  It's all very interesting.  

Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the ritual at Muin Mound in Syracuse.  I was feeling ill yesterday morning and felt that I shouldn't go after an already busy afternoon (especially considering the necessary and long drive home afterwards).  I missed it but it was wonderful to see my old Pagan friends in Utica.  I'm hoping to do a Druidic ritual with my husband later.

I hope everyone has a blessed celebration of spring!  Just ignore the snow we had this morning.  ;)