Welcome to Gaia! ::

At least once a week I take the time to sage my home, sure to get into even the smallest nooks.

To do this, I close all the windows and doors within my house (Though leaving one window open to allow the negative and stagnant energy to be released) and start from my bedroom (Where I am most of the time, as it's my personal sanctuary). I use a raven feather to fan the smoke up the walls, over my bed, around the door frame and such. I work in a clockwise motion around the room, and follow in that same clockwise notion around each individual room of my house (making aspirations and annotations of harmony, love, and blessing as I do so) until I've come back to my room. Once I have completed the circle, I will thank spirit, The Goddess, and my angels for my blessings, love, and light and close the window as the sage burns out - banishing any and all energies that do not serve me, or my home to their greatest potential.

My home is then a harmonious, and divine place of light.
The scent of sage remains for several days, and is a gentle and kind reminder with each passing through the front door.

Sage is a cheap, easy, and effective way to cleanse and balance, and may also be used to cleanse your own aura.
Try it out, if you haven't already! :3
3nodding 3nodding 3nodding 3nodding 3nodding

Oh, and on the note of the feather, am I the only creepy pagan that sees dead birds and wishes they had the feathers? Like, we were talking (a friend and I) about creepy pagan habits, and she had a friend that took dead owls feet, and sometimes had the whole owl stuffed and put in her home, and she talked about how whenever she saw a dead bird, she wished she had a preserved and feathered wing. I was talking about how in the past I'd considered keeping the skulls of deceased pets. My husband is into hunting (we live in the damn Alabama woods, red neck happens) and he said he would like to have a deer head and I was like EEEEWW! But then I was like I wouldn't mind having the skin, skull, and horns (lol), which he thought was pretty disturbing, so... yeah. OH! and a lot of men I know keep snake skins and turtle shells. I had a turtle get chased up on a hill behind my house by the dogs, and took it home until my husband got home (cuz I didn't know what the hell to do with a turtle!), and when I posted it online I had several people tell me if it died they wanted the shell... I was like, seriously!? Poor thing, but it made it out okay...

aaaand, that is way of topic, so I think I need to cook breakfast now sweatdrop

I smudge my home once a week as well. I also smudge myself when I have someone that can help me with it . Oh and for the dead bird thing I am wiccan/native american and with me it happens when ever I see any dead animal. One of my friends in the tribe does some you may be a native jokes about it. biggrin

Sorry I just posted nothing.

As for the feathers, I used to keep clippers gloves and plastic bags when I drove a truck. I picked up birds off the road, took some of the feathers, occasionally a wing, then I left left the birds somewhere more natural

I try to smudge the house once a week. Usually I will use sage but I have been known to make rosemary sticks, lavender and sage bundles or simply use sweet grass. I like all the scents but I often times have to take into consideration allergies and sensitivities of friends and family. (We have some friends who are allergic to lavender, and a couple of family members and friends who get migraines from sage).

My husband's step father is an avid hunter. The living room of their home is filled with dead animals and mounted animal heads. The creepiest is a squirrel. We stayed over at their house a while back and I had to go out to the living room in the middle of the night to get something out of my purse that I had left on the table in there. You have to step down into the living room as you do the light switch is arm level well just above the switch at eye level is this squirrel mounted on a piece of a branch, it's face turned toward you. That thing scared the day lights out of me that night.