H is for Home

An offhand comment from a friend made me wonder about my idea of "home" and how my spirituality affects that idea. The comment (which in retrospect hurt my feelings a bit) was that where I live isn't important to me, that my home was just a place for my stuff. The intimation was that I make enough money to afford a nicer place, so I shouldn't settle for something cheap. At first I thought, "Well, yeah. My apartment is a place that holds my stuff." But it is so much more than that and I'm not so shallow as to put material things first.

First and foremost, my apartment is where my babies, my seven fabulous felines, live. They are my top priority, why I stick with a crappy retail job until something better comes along. My previous apartment was tiny. It was on a busy street. It had very little to enhance the lives of my cats, my familiars. While the new place isn't much bigger, it has a floor plan that gives room to run and play. More important, it has a screened-in patio. The kitties can now feel the breeze and smell the fresh air and new scents instead of watching it behind panes of glass. Since I still live in a city near lots of traffic, they must be indoor only. But the new patio gives them some of the outdoors without risking their lives. They love it!


For me, it has separate rooms; individual places I can set up for quiet time, ritual time (including a fireplace), and creative time. My old place was two open areas with very little privacy. Moving also helped me to purge many unnecessary belongings and feelings. Big, dark pieces of furniture that made the rooms oppressive were exchanged for modular, white organizers. My "skinny" clothes, those clothes we hold on to in case we become thin again, were depressing reminders of a time I couldn't get back, a time I needed to leave in the past. They went to people who need them. My writing area has moved from a corner of the living room to its own space. I am free to work on the fresh start I so desperately need.

The best part of the new abode is that it really feels like Home. The energies are warm and peaceful. As a Taurus, I love a fairly sedentary lifestyle. And I'm an introvert, so being a solitary allows me to properly charge my batteries, physically and spiritually. When I'm exhausted after a long day in retail, surrounded by energy draining people, I can come back to a place that relaxes me by simply being here. I'm also very close to a park and the river. Nature is now a five minute walk away, ready for magick.

Home is not about living in the most expensive place. It's not about a place for my material stuff. It is about place for my life.