Sweeping
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I have been helping my mother organize and clean her house and property- go through the clutter and separate the wheat from the chaff - there have been several trips to the dump and thrift store - making deposits and donations -- lightening the load that she has saved and filed and kept for many of her 77 years. Now is a time for cleaning away - for dropping off the old and the unused and the forgotten: boxes of materials, bits of fabric, tin cans of paper clips, collections of plastic bags.
After I finish clearing I put the few remaining things back in the drawer, cupboard, closet or room from which they came. Before that, I sweep. I sweep the corners. Collect the bits of dirt, skin, dust, granola, and insect bodies and I put them in the dustpan and dump them in the trash.
How does sweeping connect with a Return To Earth?
Consider shamans, healers, witches and alchemists. These are nature-based people. They also are sweepers and broom owners.
The broom is seen as powerful because with one, a medicine man, witch or shaman can gather the bits of dust, skin, and hairs and detritus from an individuals dwelling to create potions that work either for or against that individual. The collecting of bits and motes and particles for the purposes of casting spells and doing magic - doing healing.
And perhaps it is not just physical bits of dust and dirt and hair and insect body that are collected at the front edge of a broom, it is maybe some of the intention in the space as well - the energetic leavings - some of the happiness, sadness, emotion, wonder, and love that have been in the space - all of those get collected and pushed out of the corners by the bristles of a broom.
So, when I sweep a corner of a closet or an entryway, I am cleaning and clearing the area and am also collecting and sensing and maybe inventorying some of what has happened in that space. I am sampling it all and scraping it into my dustpan.
It is a satisfying activity sweeping. It is a cleansing as well as a review - a chance to understand an area more - to appreciate how the particles collect and where. It is an opportunity to know and to experience a physical space and to collect some of it for myself. I am made more whole by the act of sweeping.
The next time you sweep an area consider the more shamanistic aspects of this chore. You may be gathering magic and power you will be able to use later. And of course, the swept and tended space is calming, more peaceful - a place more suitable for growth, healing and expansion.
