House Blessing

“On the threshold the entire past
And the endless future
Rush to meet one another.”
–Gunilla Norris, Being Home

My friend Nancy and her husband are building a house from scratch in their hometown of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Copied below is the gorgeous blessing that they placed in a jar and buried in the ground before the the cement trucks arrived to pour in the foundation.

I don’t think you need to build a house to appreciate and invoke the power of this blessing. It’s potent no matter what age, stage, or condition your home is in.

Try this: Go to the main entrance area (or a special or quiet place) in your home. Light a candle and take a moment to center yourself. Read the blessing out loud or quietly to your self (selves). Imagine the words washing over (purifying, cleansing) your entire home, inside and outside. Allow the yumminess of these words to flow (seep, permeate) all the way to the edge of your property. [Note: It helps to replace the pronouns "your" or "you" with "my/our" or "I/we" if you would like to make it feel more personal.]

Notice how you feel.

And notice what it feels like in the weeks that follow.

May this house shelter your life.
When you come in home here,
May all the weight of the world
Fall from your shoulders.
May your heart be tranquil here,
Blessed by peace the world cannot give.
May this home be a lucky place,
Where the graces your life desires
Always find the pathway to your door.
May nothing destructive
Ever cross your threshold.
May this be a safe place
Full of understanding and acceptance,
Where you can be as you are,
Without the need of any mask
Of pretense or image.
May this home be a place of discovery,
Where the possibilities that sleep
In the clay of your soul can emerge
To deepen and refine your vision
For all that is yet to come to birth.
May it be a house of courage,
Where healing and growth are loved,
Where dignity and forgiveness prevail;
A home where patience of spirit is prized,
And the sight of the destination is never lost
Though the journey be difficult and slow.
May there be great delight around this hearth.
May it be a house of welcome
For the broken and diminished.
May you have the eyes to see
That no visitor arrives without a gift
And no guest leaves without a blessing.”

–From To Bless the Space Between Us by the late Irish priest, poet and author John O’Donohue. [With special thanks to my dear friend Nancy Shapiro for sharing it.]

I’d love to hear how this invocation goes for you; or what you did different that might have worked even better!