Home/Building Spirits- Lore that interests you

[Kalinia]

I am curious what some of your favorite lore is in regards to house hold spirits. Do you follow any of the lore? Have you found different methods that work for you? Do you even believe in household/building spirits?

 

For me, some very interesting bits of lore are: house hold spirits can be tamed and even changed with sacrifice. If your sacrifice is adequate, you can persuade a house hold spirit to change its role to what you wish. 

 

: House hold spirits cant stand a messy home. A messy home invites chaos and sadness, where as a clean tidy home invites the properties spirits to be pleased

 

: Bells will cause spirits to become hostile

 

: In Europe, when new buildings were built, it was common to have an animal be the first living being to go inside, as a sacrifice to the spirits. The first being to enter was said to die. This same belief goes for bridges, where many believed that Satan took sacrifice, and would settle for an animal.

 

I LOVE reading lore like this, and have many more tidbits, but these ones have been what I have been reading about most as of lately.

 

I know that if I have a messy home, everything feels off. Anxiety rises, I feel asny, nervous energy, and have brain fog. When I tidy things up, and smudge/ herbal wash with intent, everything feels much more calm, open, free, at peace. 

 

I do not use bells, so I can't say how I feel about this one.

 

I have never "sacrificed" anything to a new building/home. The idea of sacrifice makes sense though to me. 

 

 

[NorthernPilgrim]

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but some people say some lines to the effect of "I won't be here for long and I'm ignorant. Please forgive me if I do anything wrong"  so that the house spirits will not disturb them, when they are renting a flat or staying at a hotel.

 

I prefer to do this as a gesture of goodwill, especially when I'm a guest. However, I also know that some spirits won't leave me alone simply because of such words . . . 

[Zombee]

Gee, I use bells often for clearing and just a happy sound. If that annoys any spirits, they are welcome to leave. At any rate those who are around have never complained...or as one has just commented, I wouldn't listen if they did. Hmm. Perhaps I'm just a wee bit possessive of my space. Somehow we manage to nudge along. I even have a little bell with a witch on a broomstick for a handle.

[Belle]

I don't know about house spirit lore, but the house theme is very important to me and how I work. 

 

If something is broken it needs to be fixed. As long as it isn't fixed, it's a problem. 

 

Lights are very important. 

 

Any kind of improvement is major...Fixing that broken thing is symbolic for fixing something else. Sometimes the broken thing has to wait for the right time before it is fixed. 

 

Symbolically your house is your structure, and that is your psyche, yourself....If something is wrong with the house it means something is wrong inside. When you fix the problem with the house then you fix the problem inside. 

 

Right now, I have a broken light fixture in one of my bathrooms. It isn't the one I use but as long as it's broken then things aren't right...It will be fixed when it is meant to be fixed. I have to wait until the right person comes along to help me. 

 

I also have a burnt out light in one of my rooms. It needs to be replaced because burnt out lights are a 'no-no'...that is something I can do myself. Usually I do that right away but there has been a little procrastination. It needs to be done. 

 

Also, the cleaning and decluttering is very important. I so agree on that, as well as getting rid of things that no longer serve you. Useless clutter is a magnet for the bad energy. I used to love useless clutter and I would hoard it...not to extremes, but bad enough and cleaning meant, moving objects from one pile into another pile.  I had to learn the principals of having clear walkways and clean surfaces...It's good to keep things that you want, but everything needs a place. That was another big mystery that I didn't understand. 

 

I am fairly organized now and not slobby, but I admit that it is time to perform a proper cleaning. Even though I clean up my messes, dirt and dust need to be dealt with and that seems to appear without me putting it there. I have dogs also and they don't know the rules about picking up after themselves. 

 

I totally get the little witch bell toy...It makes perfect sense to me. 

 

I bought a few bells recently...I knew I needed them for some spell...I don't ring them but they serve a purpose. 

Edited June 14, 2016 by Belle

[Mistflower]

Regarding one's house, I see mine as a ship that's sailing on a voyage, with various areas, cabins etc. 

The phraseology comes into play - I try to "run a tight ship" here; I "clear the decks" when I'm tidying, I "batten down the hatches" when I lock up at night and close the curtains etc., especially on a stormy night. And of course, there is the ship's cat! The outside areas, gardens etc. are part of this ship too. I know which way we are going - we are always sailing North-West.

[Belle]

I have one room that is called the pirate room.. It used to be a kitchen but it is long and narrow. It is supposed to be like a ship's galley...Yellow walls but one light is burned out. 

 

Just one room represents the ship but I understand the symbolism.

 

I like that you think of your house as a ship. It's a vessel...

Edited June 15, 2016 by Belle

[Oroboros]

Well these are not exactly on topic, but related (In my mind at least). Thailand and Japan and I think several other countries have "spirit houses" which are miniature houses whose sole purpose is to serve as a dwelling place for house and/or land spirits. (I have limited knowledge about this tradition, but what I have heard is rather fascinating.

 

This is a medieval church version of a house spirit. If you look up "church grim" you will see a lot of fictional uses of the lore. However, the origin lore is referring to a tradition where an animal or sometimes even a human, was sacrificed and buried under the foundation stone of a newly constructed church. It seems, the idea was multipurpose, but that being was to provide protection to that structure. Some sources say different bodies were used for different types of protection. Also, sometimes an animal or person was buried in the churchyard in addition to or rather than under the foundation. I have also read when it was a human, it was a criminal sentenced to die. I have to wonder if that was really true, or if that detail was added later to take away from the human sacrifice stigma. Who the hell would want a criminal deserving of death to guard a church?? There is also a bit of "black dog lore" here, as that was supposed to be one type of church grim. Though the lines between lore and historical fact are quite blurry as far as I can tell.

[AuroraBaenSidhe]

There are house spirits in my home. One is a spirit that likes to go on walk- abouts. It definitely doesn't look human(I've gotten glimpses of it before it vanished and seen it's footprints in the kitchen after we mopped). This being guards the kitchen and living room. This i think is the original spirit of the home, definitely predating my moving in there. The dog doesn't seem to mind its presence whatsoever. 

There is another spirit which was with me in my last home. I think this may be more of a personal protector or something like  that since he moved when I did but I classify him as a house spirit because he doesn't leave the home so far as I am aware. He patrols my bedroom, the steps and the landing but doesn't step foot in the living room or kitchen. You can hear him clomping around sometimes almost like he's wearing boots. I can see him standing in front of our front door. I've seen his silhouette but no defining features.He confuses the dog. She sees him and thinks someones at the door sometimes. 

 

Then there's my brother's 'house spirit'. He's similar to silhouette man but his territory is my brother's room and the hall leading into it. If you step into it's territory believe me when I say you know its there watching you. If I've ever had to go into my brother's room (usually because he asked me to) I get this definite 'this is not your space!' message. I hold up my hands and say " I was given permission to come in here, He needs such and such a thing" Or, he lives here but this is MY house." And the feeling abates. My friend Jamie had quite another experience. I've never felt threatened by my brother's guardian. She has. She came over once when nobody was home. She was going to meet me and thought I was maybe in my room. She'd never been to the house before, so she wasnt sure which room was mine. She ended up going to my brother's room. She says she was physically pushed back when she tried to open the door, and the same happened when she tried to enter my room. That would mean my brother's guardian sensed a stranger in the house and got super protective. She felt so unsafe that she left and waited for me in her car. 

[Kupala]

I've figured out why there's no house spirit in my house...I'm a slob! It does bug me if the house is messy for a few days though. My parents' house had a house spirit of some sort. It loved to hide things. You'd set something down and turn around and then it would be *gone* when you turned back... Sometimes for *years*. It will return things if you ask nicely and leave the butter out, though.

[Zombee]

Ooo, i hear ya. The darned sciatica is worse for 2 days after vacuuming, but it sure is nice when the job gets done. Lifts the mood too. Wish the spirits would vac.

[Yex]

In regards to sacrifices, I remember hearing something that while you can leave offerings to brownies and the like, you should never pay them, as this will drive them away, and as such you should make it clear that any offering you leave to them is a gift, not a payment.

[odalibuc]

I haven't really heard much about house spirits, but its interesting to me that some of you have them; my property has always been looked after by the spirit that lives in the biggest tree in my backyard. Everything that ever comes into my house is just looking for somewhere safe to rest before they keep going; nothing that comes here on its own stays longer than a night or two. The spirit in my yard's maple tree though... its been here since my neighborhood was a forest. I get the feeling it likes having company again, and that it likes that I pay attention to it and give offerings so its taken over as a pseudo-house spirit, except it can draw more power from the earth.

[Llyr]

I am wondering if what I am experiencing at home are house spirits, they don't seem to have any connection to me as far as I can tell. Its early days yet but it is like they have "chosen" my home. They are harmless enough but it does make me wonder have they attached themselves to me or the house. I have asked by the way but I haven't identified any type of response so far.