Clearing Psychic Spaces

This is an old article of mine which gives at least an impression about how I consider psychology, spirituality, and our primal nature to all be the same thing.

Clearing Psychic Spaces

This is based on my experience of clearing psychic spaces is from a time when I was local 'paranormal guy' who knew about 'spirits and stuff'

Abstract

Sometimes the new owners feel that the presence of the former owner is still in the house in some way and this has to be cleared out so that the new owner can psychically claim the space as their own. This is my pet theory, what to do about it, and how to go about it.

My Pet Theory

The 'exorcism' of the previous owner's presence is, in a way, like evicting the previous owners themselves who otherwise would be felt to be 'still there' and having a claim over the space. In other words, causing psychic tension for a new owner who, in a legal way, has rightful ownership, but not in a deeper more primal way.

I personally believe it's a real, psychological phenomena on a primal subconscious level primarily based on smell. Houses have a unique smell which is the accumulated residue created by the people who lived there as they simply went about living their lives. Everything you can smell as it happens sticks to the place. Cooking, smoking, air fresheners, the perfume / cologne you spray, even the dumps you take. A good example of this kind of odorous residue is the infamous church smell, a residual combination of air freshener, cologne, perfume, paper, leather, and polyester.

We normally don't notice the residual smell of our own house because it habituates. If you want to smell what your house really smells like, take a big whiff the second after you step in the door after being away from it for awhile. We do, however, often notice the smell of other people's houses. And even when we do, the smell quickly habituates.

Even if the new owner is initially able to smell the unique smell of the previous owner, it habituates, too. The thing about habituation is that even though we are no longer consciously aware of the habituated smell, our subconscious is. And, theoretically, if the subconscious is aware of a habituated smell of a previous owner (a potentially dangerous thing, in a primal sense), it will attempt to let the conscious know – not by the smell, but by something that puts the conscious on alert by more directly symbolizing the primal threat, something the conscious can be on the lookout for – the feeling of a presence.

Some people actively 'purify' their house when they move in by scrubbing it down (including walls) and spraying air fresheners even if the house has been scrubbed down previous to sale. For these people, the fact that someone lived there previously to them seems more real to them than others and their reasons are often (consciously) more about removing 'germs' rather than a presence. I've never had someone like this need their house to be purified.

Another group who never need their house purified are people who move into a recently renovated house (as I did recently), do renovations themselves because their house is a fixer-upper, or move into a house which needs cleaning.

So, that's my pet theory. I think it can be extended to explain most the essence of most haunting phenomena where there's new residents moving into a place where previous residents have moved out. It may be accurate. It may not be. In the end it really doesn't matter. What matters is 1.) the new owners feel a presence that needs to be removed so that their new house can also be their home and 2.) there's a way to do it.

The Purification

There's two ways common in religion to purify anything: an overpowering sensation [1], most often a smell [2], and with water. In many cases these are used symbolically and in small amounts, and those in cases dissimilar to the one described here.

The first part is to have the new owners scrub their house from top to bottom with whatever they ordinarily use to clean with using water from a familiar place ( preferably from a family's house ) mixed with water from the new place. This is important for more reasons than already stated. First, bringing water from a familiar place connects the new place. If water from a family's house is used, it contains an association with the family as well ( important for a house becoming a home. ) Secondly, it allows the new owners to take part in the process and put their own energy into it, to take ownership of the process. In other words, they get power because they are doing something about it.

The second part is to use incense. Use enough incense to create a light haze in the house. [3] You want to make sure it's seen as a presence in it's own right and lingers long enough for the new owner's smell to start to stick to the place.[4]

And that's it. It's that simple.

Understanding

When you do this kind of thing you want to keep in mind that they don't understand. When someone wants you to do a purification what they really want is for their tension to disappear and be able to relax in their new HOME. No matter what explanation they give you, accept it as if it were the truth, go along with it as if that sort of thing happens all the time, and always stay focused on what you are there to do – make their tension disappear and help them relax in their new home.

Notes

[1] A bell counts as an overwhelming sensation. The moment the bell rings is loud and sudden, centering one's attention on the following ringing which lingers. Energy chimes and gongs work on the same principle.

[2] I think sulfur counts, but it's not something people sit around and whiff. It's a combination of overwhelming smell and RAID bug spray.

[3] I always wanted a Catholic swinging censer, but alas, I lived in the protestant bible belt and online shopping hadn't been invented yet.

[4] The smell of the incense (in theory) becomes a 'guardian presence' to the subconscious once it too, habituates. From the subconscious view, some of the old smell may linger even after the clean up but it's not the only smell, there's a new, familiar and friendly one.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Is This Necessary?

This approach is necessary even if my pet theory someday proves to be true. As I wrote above, people who have a presence don't understand that they don't understand. They just know what they feel. So you deal with it on that level.

After all, if you believed you had a presence living in your house, how would you react to someone telling you to clean it with lysol? :)