Hallows Everyday - 27

Hearth - Happiness in our hearts and homes

The Halloween Oracle by Stacey DeMarco

There is no place like home... for most of us... or at least the home in our hearts, that place we long to have as our sanctuary, our place of comfort. No matter how large or small, no matter how rich or poor we are, we can certainly make that place, because that sweet home is not made with money and possessions, it is made with love. 

With this card we are nudged to look at what makes our sanctuary. It tells us to look to our relationships with family and friends. We build that place of love - our hearth, our heart of the home - by bringing in the loving fires. We need to make our relationships the priority in our lives, not to the exclusion of all else, but healthy relationships are maintained by being nourished. We nourish with love, freely given and received, compassionate and unconditional.

Now some may think that they will lose when relationships become the priority, one person cares more and most no longer want to risk being the person who cares more, who struggles to keep the heart of the home, the loving fire, burning. The truth is that without love, there is nothing to hold the home together and there is nothing to hold us together. Even if one lives alone, or a couple has no children, love is still what holds it all together, it is that which creates the sanctuary. And that sanctuary, that loving home, is just the best place to be. We must begin by loving ourselves, warts and all; that is unconditional love. Next, accepting who our families are, again unconditionally. This does not mean accepting abuse of any kind, it means filling the home with love that will heal.

We have come to a time where family and friends mean less than money and possessions. Conflicts are not dealt with to resolve them, relationships are discarded because there is no sense that they are more important, necessary to creating and nourishing a healthy environment in which to live. It seems today it is easier to walk away than work to nourish that home fire.

At this time of year, it is the perfect time to build that merry home fire, to make our homes the sanctuary they ought to be. We need to take stock of our relationships and give them love. As fluffy as it sounds, the fire in the heart and our lives, is love. When one has love, wherever it comes from, and that includes the self, one has everything. The love of self is where it all begins, creating the initial loving flame that spreads throughout our lives and making the hearth fire burn strongly, overcoming all.

A few times a week, or every night if you can, light a special candle designated as your home fire. As it burns merrily recite this little prayer, perhaps three times if you feel so inclined, with real feeling and visualizing loving energies flowing and filling your home. Allow the candle to burn for an hour or so, then extinguish.

I ask my Ancestors, those who love me,

Come and fill my home and family

with all that is loving and good.

May we be surrounded and filled with

 that which is nourishing to us in all ways.

May we know love and kindness and happiness, 

good health and prosperity.

May the flame of our home burn brightly always

bringing all we ever need.

So mote it be!

(c 2016 E A Kaufman)

Blessings dark and deep!