What are you really banishing?

ear Miracles: On Sunday we performed our weekly house cleaning followed by our house blessing. It is a wonderful family ritual that we all get involved in. As we went through the house with our white sage I was standing at the wide open back door repeating my mantra for banishing:

“I banish thee, I banish thee, I send thee out and set thee free to dwell in river, air, and stone and never through our home do roam.”

As I banished anything that was not welcome I called it out by name:

envy — be gone
fear — be gone
lack — be gone
wrongful pride — be gone
anger — be gone
greed — be gone
miserliness — be gone
selfishness — be gone

We are a happy crew at my house, and I wouldn’t say that I/we have experienced  many of these feelings and thoughts in a significant way over the last week, but – human nature being what it is – they are always there and they are never useful, good, or loving.

All too often we sacred artists think of banishing external funk and negativity — vibes that are just hanging out around us and need to be cleaned out. That is not wrong or bad but it is incomplete. The next time you banish ask yourself: what inner states do I need to let go of too?

Then…bid them farewell.