Cleaning House and Getting Ready for Imbolc

One of the most important themes of Imbolc is cleaning; physically cleaning one’s space, spiritually cleaning, etc. And it’s a good theme, for sure. But…I hate cleaning. I hate it with a fiery and unquenchable loathing.

Why? Well, there are a lot of reasons, but the biggest one is this: I look at a mess and I am almost instantly overwhelmed by it. If social media is to be believed, this is a mentality shared by a lot of people, and it may have something to do with something called “executive disfunction”, but I’m not a doctor in any way, shape, or form, so I’m not going to diagnose myself or anyone else.

Instead, I’m going to be honest with you, and share how I have have been tackling the unpleasant tasks of cleaning, and, hopefully some of the tips will help you (if that’s something you want – I’m definitely not telling you what to do here).

I also want to give a special shout out to my boyfriend for showing me that breaking things down into their smaller parts makes them easier to complete. I would not have been able to develop my tactics for cleaning without his organizational techniques and patience. Especially since, to him, cleaning is enjoyable and he’s always happy to help me with this task.

On that note, if you feel comfortable doing so, you can ask for help in your tasks. I say this because I’m the kind of person who sometimes forgets I have people I can ask for help. And also, asking for help can look like someone talking on the phone with you while you clean, or, just helping you fold laundry. It’s okay to ask, and it’s okay to accept help.

Small Steps = Big Progress

One of the weirdest things about my brain is that I love micro-organization. What I mean by that is, I really love sorting my books in various ways, cleaning and rearranging what’s on my alter according to whatever feels right, and focusing on specific pieces, rather than the whole. This is a thing that works in my favor when I’m dealing with a cleaning issue, since it doesn’t carry the same overwhelm as tackling a “big” cleaning project is. I can categorize it and focus on it while I listen to a podcast/Youtuber/whatever.

What this looks like:

Currently, my office is a wreck. Total and absolute wreck. It’s become a bit of a storage space for decorations that need to go to their proper places, all of my witchy things, and, books. Looking at it as a whole makes my brain absolutely hit the “nope” button. So, instead of that, I am doing what I’m suggesting above, piece by piece.

• Piece 1: The Bookcase: Organize books located on the bookcase, and make the bookcase a place where I can look at my books and enjoy it. Breaking this goal down further, we have the following steps:

1) Clear out any clutter that’s accumulated on the shelves

2) Pick up items that don’t belong and, if they don’t belong in my office, set them in the kitchen – I know this seems counterproductive in the short run, but there’s a method I’m going with here. The goal is to focus on one small piece, and then tackle the next thing, little by little.

3) When I find potential distractions – either because they are a “mess”, or because they’re a fun thing I want to engage with (something likely when handling books) set them aside for now and promise that I will return to them later.

4) Come back to the focus when other disordered places in the room catch my overwhelmingly short attention span.  Focus: Organize the bookcase.

•    Piece 2: Organize the second bookcase and alter in my office. This is where I currently keep my insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor supplies. They are safe here, but I’d like them to be in a sort of order so I can more easily track what I have.

• Piece 3: My working Alter Organization – This one is going to be tricky because I will have a lot of fun things (ie: candles, crystals, and herbs) to distract me. By my focus must be thusly:

1) Put herbs where they belong, and do not remove a single one from its container. That is for when this room is clean.

2)  Organize candles according to color/intention/size

3)  Clear the space on my working alter so I have a clear space to work.

•    Piece Three: Deity Alters

1)   I work with a couple of different deities, and I have really lovely alters for them in one part of the house (this is the place where I do my shadow work and overall it’s where I feel the safest to do that). But, my alters in my office need a little bit of sprucing up in honor of Imbulc. They’re near my working alter, so the previous focus feeds into this one.

Honor the Progress You Make Along the Way

   This is such an important thing, and I didn’t realize just how important until my loving significant other helped me clean the kitchen. While he tackled one part of the room, he let me focus on a smaller piece that was really important to me. When we finished the job, he praised me for how good my side of the kitchen looked. I wanted to downplay the accomplishment, but he pointed out that, no, I had done the work, and I deserved to feel good about it.

   So now, I’m telling you: if you picked up a few clothes off the floor, if you cleared the notorious chair that manages to hold an eclectic blend of items for you, if you put the dishes away, folded some laundry, or heck, just burned some incense or a candle to cleanse, you did a good job. Celebrate and honor the progress and accomplishment you’ve made.

Why this is important

    The moments when I shame myself are my least productive. I won’t lie; there are days when those self-critical, horrible little negative thoughts win, and on those days, I will snuggle on the couch with my dog, and play a video game or something because brains are weird and sometimes the thoughts we have can be really mean. Please always practice selfcare and self-compassion for where you’re at mentally, and, remember that any deities/entities you’re working with will most likely understand if you need to take a day off, or if you can’t clean or celebrate any given ritual for whatever reason. It is okay. Take care of you.

    On days when those negative voices are a little more on the recessive side, and I’m ready to tackle my cleaning projects, the above tactic seems to really help. So, when I’m cleaning the bookcase and organizing, and my brain wants to fixate on how much more there is to do, I repeat (often aloud to my semi-confused dog) “I am cleaning the bookcase. That is the goal.” No room for anything else at that point, just the focus. When I’ve finished, I look at what I’ve done, and acknowledge it, because it’s progress.

    This is by no means a perfect practice, nor is it a prescription to help alleviate anxiety/depression or more intense intrusive thoughts that humans can experience. This is just a way to help push aside the mentality of, “But there’s too much to do!” on a temporary basis. The goal isn’t to clean everything in one go. The goal is to clean little by little and to trust the process so that a much larger impact is made.

     Okay, Tosh, that’s great – what the heck does that have to do with witchcraft? Cleaning and cleansing are integral to our lives as humans on this planet, and therefore also as witches. Inbulc is a time of cleansing, and releasing in preparation for the rebirth of spring. This is a way for us to prepare for the good that the universe has coming for us, and to make room for that good.

     And, on a practical level (as much as I hate to admit it), I do feel much better when I have a clean house. I like being able to know where my green candles are when I’m manifesting money, or, where my long black cloak is when I’m sacrificing something to my dark Gods.

      There’s also something incredibly freeing about cleansing on a spiritual level. When I bought my home, I took dried rosemary and burned it as I walked through the house alone, windows open. It was a way of clearing out the energy left over from those who had lived there before, and, a way for me to introduce myself to the place I now call home. As annoying as it is, cleaning on every level can be a grounding practice, allowing us the space to prepare for what’s ahead, and to honor what we’ve been gifted.

    Yeah, yeah, let’s say I’ve cleaned my house, then what? Well, now, if you want, you can cleanse items/rooms/whatever in a variety of ways.

Here are some of my favorites:

HERBS – Herbs are great and pretty easily found. If you grow them yourself or grab them from the fresh fruits and veggies aisle at your local grocer, you can dry them yourself in an oven. If an oven isn’t available, or, if you have a contentious relationship with your oven (I had such a relationship with the oven in my first apartment) they can be dried through hanging them instead and left to dry out. You can also buy dried herbs at your local witchy shop or online, and there are plenty of bundles as well. If burning things is out of the question, for whatever reason, that is entirely okay. Water is powerful for spiritual cleansing, and, you can make infusions with certain herbs for clensing purposes. Please note that not all herbs are safe to smoke or infuse, and certainly not all are safe to ingest – always proceed with caution. The herbs I’ve listed below are okay to burn (always using fire safety please!) and okay to infuse.

Some of my favorite herbs include sage (*please note that white sage is a closed practice and if you are like me, and you are not part of the cultures those practices belong to, please refrain from using white sage. I don’t care what Zak Bagins says - stay away from it. Garden sage is great and will work for what you’re needing), rosemary, pine, and incenses like dragon’s blood.

When doing a spiritual cleanse of your space, be sure to ground yourself and prepare mentally for what you’re wanting to do. Open the windows and doors to release whatever negativity you want to banish, and then carefully burn (use fire safety practices, please!) or spray (if using a tincture). I like to talk to my house when I do this, and gently nudge any unwelcome energies out the door and off my property. Using your own voice to claim your space is a powerful way to cleanse.

Now, if you don’t want to use herbs/incense for cleansing, sound cleansing is another great option. You can play music, clap your hands, ring a bell, and use your energy through sound and your own voice to clean your space.

I hope that this helps if you’re like me and you hate cleaning!

-NL