Day Two — 2012 Great Release Challenge!
by Silver RavenWolf
Good Morning! Did you remember to do your Morning Braucherei Ritual? Good for you! No? Go do it quick!
Today you will need a vacuum, dust-buster, mop, or broom — depending upon what you like to use best to suck up those dust bunnies and other dirt. You will also need an old pot or pan and a wooden or metal spoon, or you can fill a canning jar with assorted jingle bells. Finally, before you begin, spend a little time at your release altar this morning and make some holy water (or use holy water you already have on hand). You will also need a blessed, white candle OR if candles are a problem — a flashlight will do. If you don’t have either, you don’t get to skate — envision white light.
Our chant for today may be familiar to you. It is one of my favorite ones:
Evil be gone do not return
The horse has run off and the bridges are burned.
That’s it. That’s all there is to it. This is a Braucherei charm, and although you may laugh, it works incredibly well to get rid of negativity and nasty people. We’ll be using this charm throughout the challenge period.
Your Mission Today
Vacuum, mop, sweep the entire floor area of your living space. Be sure to get in all the corners, behind doors, and under furniture (move it if you have to). Dust and dirt hold and trap negativity. As physical dirt piles up it magnetizes negativity to itself. The more dirt in the home, the more negativity in the space around you. This negativity may manifest in arguments, depression, irritation, or lethargy. Everyone in the home can be affected by it creating a circle of negativity that feels like it can’t be broken.
Use the above chant while you are working. Envision your Guardian walking with you, helping you as you clear away the dust and debris. What if it looks like so much that you already feel defeated? Then concentrate on one, small area, and begin, because beginning is the hardest of all! Add music in the background — something uplifting, or burn a wax melt or highly scented candle that makes you feel strong, joyous, or secure. Excellent scents for this time of year include fir, pine, or apples. Other cleansing scents include lavender, rosemary, or white sage.
If a family member baulks, tell them they can’t get new, cool stuff if the place is filthy as the dirt blocks the way for new things to come into the home. The possibility of great, new stuff is a fairly good incentive for most everybody. Its a donkey – carrot thing.
Even though you may see other things that need work, concentrate on the floor and be diligent in getting rid of all the dirt. Use your notebook to add any entries of things you would like to take care of so you don’ forget.
Now that the floors are clean, we want to break up negative energy sticking to the walls, furniture, and other items in the home. Fill a ball jar with jingle bells, a plastic jug with dried beans, or use an old pot and wooden spoon. We are going to use such things to break up the negativity with noise. Children love this part of the cleaning process. Carry your homemade rattle all over the house, in every room, basement and attic shaking your rattle continuously. Chanting the Evil Be Gone charm and punctuating the words with sound works incredibly well.
You can use your homemade rattle throughout the program to break up negativity, particularly when there is a squabble, hurt feelings, or irritation. Children or partners can’t help but laugh if you rush for the rattle and start dancing around the room. Although you can use a store bought rattle, your individually fashioned masterpiece really does have more power. Why? Because you made it yourself.
Next, walk through the entire house carrying that blessed white candle (or your flashlight) and sprinkling holy water. Once more, imagine that your Guardian is walking with you. Intone this blessing if you like:
Peace with the Gods
Peace with Nature
Peace Within
So Be It!
as you walk. When you are finished, ask for blessings from Spirit and let the candle burn completely. If you can’t let the candle burn, clap it out (hands above flame and clap hard –once should do it). You can use this candle again for any house blessing activity; but, nothing else.
For the Truly Dedicated Challenge Participant: Dust every surface before you use your rattle. Place cleansing herbs in a muslin conjuring bag, dip in the holy water and use the bag as your asperging vehicle rather than sprinkling with your fingers. Herbs can include basil, sage, rosemary, lemongrass, lemon verbena, lemon balm, or even dried lemon and citrus peel. Don’t have any of those things? Slice a fresh lemon and an orange. Put them on white plate, and place in the central area of the home while you clean. Both fruits have magickal correspondences for banishing negative energy and enticing financial gain. To welcome more money into the home, sprinkle fruits with white sugar. Let set for 24-hours, then place outside, giving them to the spirits of plenty.
For Tomorrow: Cleaning All Flat Surfaces, including The Windows and Doors
What If You Can’t Finish Everything Today? Tomorrow is another day. Do what you can. If you can only do one room, you might choose the highest traffic area in the home or the room in which you sleep. If you aren’t home due to other commitments, your main goal is to release at least one thing today.
Don’t forget that the sharing process is vitally important in this challenge. Please feel free to write your comments, ask questions or share your own ideas. Feel free, also, to make comments on what others post. We are a Magickal Village.
Summary:
1. Do Your Morning Braucherei Ritual and light your goal candle.
2. Continue to Work with the Sea of Potential Affirmation.
3. Wash or vacuum all the floors in your living environment. Dust every surface.
4. Clear the house with your homemade rattle or drum.
5. Bless the living environment with a lit white candle and holy water.
6. Give yourself one gold star if you did the floors, two gold stars if you dusted, too.
7. Get ready for tomorrow!!
Peace with the Gods
Peace with Nature
Peace Within.
So be it.
Silver
Related articles
- Braucherei Morning Ritual – Excellent for Use in the Great Release Program 2012 (silverravenwolf.wordpress.com)
- Day One of the 2012 Great Release Challenge!!! – Time to Rumble! (silverravenwolf.wordpress.com)
Silver RavenWolf 
Perfect timing. Tomorrow is carpet cleaning day. =)
Yes!
Did well today. Did not get all the clutter up. I have to much stuff. I have felt trapped for a while. This next ritual should help a lot. One to the next goal. Finish the last of the clutter here in my room, sweep, mop, vacuum, and dust. My goals will be done. All negativity be gone!!!
You are on a roll!
Did Kitchen and bathroom. I had to. Mother was coming over. Just had to scrub the bathroom instead. But did it with intent and did it with chinese floor wash, made by me. I mean scrubbed, and remembered to empty all the bottles out of there. Tomorrow is sweeping and mopping on schedule. 🙂 I have an out of control laundry room. Everything is clean, but it needs like a team of professionals to deal with. I am scared of it quite frankly but keep chipping away at the madness.
Excellent! You are Amazing!
Day One didn’t get to be started as I had two cats go to get fixed today and then our landlord told us we’d been sent a letter telling us we have 30 days to be out. We never got the letter because our postal carrier is afraid of our dogs, to point where she won’t deliver our mail and has even lied that they chased her. They’re in a 6 ft. high steel chain link kennel and I highly doubt they got loose, chased her, then let themselves back into their kennel yard. We’re hoping that it’s just a matter of getting the back rent caught up. My husband is going for his driver’s license next week and that will open up more (and better!) job opportunities for him and we can hopefully get back on our feet in a few months. If anyone could please send some good luck and energy our way it would be great. Thanks and Bright Blessings!
Definitely sending good luck and bright blessing to you and your family! This challenge will help you get rid of all this negativity that is following you right now. Just try to do what you can when you can. As long as you do something every day that’s all that matters. I know things will get better for you!
Thank you Rowynyew!
Day one went really well but day two is not going so great. Can’t get round to the vaccuming due to lack of time so will have to fit it in tomorrow. Also there are wooden floors throughout the entire house so I am pretty much dreading the wash and mop bit. Both my husband and myself have had a pretty awful year this year so I am sure that I reallly need to do this no matter how long it takes. Will release one thing today and resume the war on grime tomorrow!
You are doing great! 🙂
well washing and vacuuming is perfect for today, cause yesterday it snowed here, and i went outside multiple times to toss stuff to the garbage and then we went out to lunch, When we came back we tracked in all the snow and dirt from our shoes and etc onto the kitchen floor. So that all has to get cleaned up. I really do have to get some sort of a shoe mat or something for the kitchen.. i had one but then used it for the dog’s food and water dishes! now question is, will the dog chew up the mat if i get one… sigh! gonna have to be one of those pick up/put down, keep away from the dog things i guess.
Sounds like you have something to add to your wishlist there with needing the mat. Great job! And something that works great with small dogs is to spray them with a water bottle if they are say chewing on a new mat…if you have larger dogs, try bundling up some old socks and toss it at their butt when you catch them in the act. They will think the mat is punishing them for chewing on it if you don’t say anything and pretend like you didn’t do it when they turn around scared. 🙂
Up early to finish this days task now time for some good coffee.
http://etainbutterfly.wordpress.com/category/2012-the-great-release-challenge/
gotta love coffee!!!!!!!
So this is my first year doing the great release there is still so much I don’t know I want to learn all i can I still have so many questions so if anyone could please help me with any information it would be greatly appreciated. I don’t know how to bless the candle or to make Holy water I am not real sure where I can buy the herbs either. I am doing as the post say I just don’t know if without the proper things if this will work for me. But I will continue and maybe these things will to me cause I am doing this with a positive attitude and that this can be good for mysel and my family.
I will try to help you with your questions. You can email me at rowynyew@yahoo.com. I will go look for some simple blessings and websites that may help you and post when I find them. Silver’s books are always a great resource, as are other craft books! Hey, don’t think maybe these things will come to you, KNOW that they will! 🙂
Thank you your help will be greatly appreciated.
I found a couple of sites that may be helpful for you as far as blessing your tools (candles and others) and blessing the water. http://sacredwicca.jigsy.com/candle-blessing-ritual It has one for drawing energy and for banishing which may serve the purposes of this challenge better. Here is one water blessing, though I am not sure how effective this is http://www.angelfire.com/on/wicca/Water.html. Maybe Silver or someone else on here can make a better suggestion?
things I need to throw away: TV, computer
Well, Day one was an adventure. I finally got into a room that no one goes into. Of course I started and then never finished. I’m not finished yet, BUT— I completely got rid of all the recycling stuff, a few days before. I saw at the grocery store the days and times. I am sorry but recycling is NOT fun, especially not with the amount I had. But I made that my challenge, because it was quite huge. I turned it into Mary’s way, went purchasing, and now I know about the available dates of recycling, and got bins, so the sorting process just got ALLOT easier. I
I also did something different with the challenge. I have been tape recording my voice and doing the chants and visuals on it. I get to actually sit and visualize. I wish my camera was really working, I have a HUGE (never saw such a jar candle this size before) candle for this program. I find I am not so good at throwing stuff away. I get sentimental. Item is broke, but the memory lingers. I need to remind myself that the memory is not in the item but my head. xoxoxo Thanks for doing this! Your amazing Silver!
Mary
Hi silver its paul in beautiful az today was sort of hard but i casted a circle and I called michael from the south raphael from the east uriel from the north and gabrielle from the west and they brought my cleaning to the best. It was my xtra boost and wow was I off to cleaning. Sometimes we all need some help and I’m blessed they are always there. I’m glad your doing this release program again its awesome. I hope you and your family are doin well. BB Silver
Glad to see you, Paul!
Yesterday, Day 1, felt like such a homecoming. I normally dread housework, but it’s always so comforting to move around in a magickal state of mind doing these things. I look forward to the changes in our lives, and the new things this will bring.
I love the Braucherei rite for today. Before we moved in here, I did the full evil be gone one with salt, water and candle to banish lingering uglies that were obviously entrenched here. We’re the third owners of the place, and the last two ended in foreclosure. Eek! Had to break that chain, and fast. Happy to say that the energy here now is very clean, pure, and loving. As a home should be. As I sit here finishing my coffee and gearing up to wade back in, I look out the window at our friendly neighbor raven, perched on our pasture fence. Yes, I am finally HOME.
Thank you Silver, for bringing out the best in all of us. 🙂
http://ladyofthecreek.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/day-2-clearing-spaces/
Holy Cannoli i’m TIRED!! just finished vacuuming the hallway rug, the computer room rug, the bedroom rug, the library room rug, and the living room area rug. Then after that i mopped the entire kitchen floor, which that is a job in itself cause it’s a huge kitchen with a huge floor and the bathroom floor! then i rolled up the living room area rug, to clean the wooden floor underneath, and what do i see but AHHHHHH.. loads of sand, dirt, hair, fur and goddess only knows what else!! ICK!!! grabbed the broom and swept that all up, then after that was finished attempted to start to wash the floor like i had originally intended, but too tired at this point!! oh yea btw.. while i was in the living room sweeping… i turned around and saw that the dog had just piddled on the newly washed kitchen floor!!! DOOOGGG!!! imma knock you in the head!! I JUST washed this bloody floor!! *back into the kitchen again with the mop!* SIGH!!
Hmmm….. methinks the dust-bunny war shall be a never-ending battle tween the 30-40 year old house riddled with gaps, knooks and crannies in the poorly constructed wood floors and walls… and then adding two monkey boyz, a dog and a cat in the mix! Lol. Again will need to adapt today’s challenge navigating around stacks of unpacked boxes. Will also need to arm myself with a screw driver to get in and attack heating vents… In the words of Dory the Fish, “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…,” (in the sea of potential). 😉
Nice intention statement Musicnightowl. Me likey. 🙂 My home is about 89 years old, so I can feel your pain re: gaps, nooks, and crannies letting in the dust bunny. I guess we just have to keep swimming, and maybe put on the Wish List caulking/resealing/weather stripping those darn gaps, nooks, and crannies. Bright Blessings!
Sweet Goddess I hear ya! Especially with price of propane, and how hard the heater is working to keep this place barely warm! Sigh…
It’s a first for me, but i must say i enjoy the anticipation of what’s coming next, i had my hubby a bit worried yesterday when i took out my granny’s old massive jam pot, and a wooden spoon.
omgoddess, im so tired. but as i lay here on my bed i can see a dent. more than that i feel more refreshed. tired but refreshed. i never thought i could do it. and i havent yet…but im trying. but isnt it also good to clean from the inside out of me too? im running a bath in my big tub. and im adding some lemon grass tea to it. is it a coincidence that peppermint candy canes make us happy and peppermint makes us think of christmas?
LOL, Lady Autumn Hawk. I feel tired and overwhelmed just looking at my huge piles of clutter and mess. 😦 So, I can empathize. Even though I didn’t get it all done, I too feel refreshed for what I DID get done. Whoo hoo! I got more decluttering done yesterday than I have been able to do in months. I am going to clean my teeth (got major problems with them, but no $ right now to fix), and then vacuum the area I managed to clean. I will dust mop the same area, and add a few drops of citrus oils (grapefruit, orange, bergamot) on the mop, and then light a cedar/evergreen scented holiday candle to raise the energy. (Oh boy, it is hard to type! My cat is laying on my arms. )
Bright Blessings, and whatever you manage to get done, it is all good. 🙂
I can’t spend as much time today working on this as I’d like, because I need to do dishes, grocery shop, and clean out the crisper drawers and the bottom of the fridge. 😦 I just need to keep swimming in the Sea of Potential.
What wonderful timing…son and I do the cleaning (vacuum and sweep/dust) on Sundays and Wednesdays, so off we went. I love adding bells into the mix! I dug out my bell anklet and a bracelet I have with a little bell on it, and they chimed with my movement…such fun! Hubby even ended up helping out.
I love the idea of using a bell anklet and bracelet to add the sounds of the bells as you clean!
What an excellent idea!
I’m so proud of you, Jennifer!
sigh, well managed to put up most of the yule decorations and mop the living room floor.that was after i sat down and watched the “Brave” movie and had a little Pizza for lunch. Now i jsut have to sweep the Kitty litter from the bathroom floor and just dust a few places and i should be good. tomorrow’s gonna be extra hard cause i got work tomorrow too, so when i get home i’m already gonna be bushed! the only obstacle i’m having is my bf.. everytime i clean up a mess, he is making more of a mess! Left bowls in the sink, left pizza dishes and dirty napkins all over the living room! SIIIGGGHH i just cleaned everything and now i have to clean it up all over again!
One of my dogs beats up the food bowl every day. I so know the feeling!
ugh went to move over the last load of laundry to the dryer and i must have gotten bit by a spider on my wrist.. i got a big bump on my wrist and it itches like crazy!!!
well I got the kitchen and the living room and bathroom done! Had to give a Reiki session and visit with family and there went the rest of the day. I am glad I got something done before the day was done. Looking forward to the next challenge!
Sounds like you accomplished a great deal! Balancing is never easy!
ugh! I underestimated today’s job an under- decluttered yesterday! Well all is vac’d/swept save for the breezeway- basement and one room off of the garage. nevertheless I agitated the ‘muck’ stuck to everything and just finished blessing (the cats were freaked during part 1 but much better after the house blessing!) Clearing took some effort in the basement- I guess I’ve got some goonies down there that may need some extra attention in the future. I was feeling a little defeated earlier bc I hadn’t been able to scrub everything as well as I had planned but once I finished the clearing, things felt so much brighter! It was interesting that the speed and intensity of my rattle shaking changed in certain areas of the house (eg the basesment!) and my determination came forward as if I was leaning into a headwind. Suffice it to say that this witch has toooooo much stuff and needs to better organize what will stay after Dec!
Thanks so much for sharing about the differences in the rattle in different areas of the house.
I did it! Dusted, vacuumed, and mopped the funiture, rugs and floors in my home. Only took 8 hrs! There was a lot of dust and dirt! Tooked out two shoprite bags of dust and dirt that got sucked into the vacuum. I moved all my furniture and vacuumed and mopped everywhere. And those dust bunnies are gone! And did I have a lot of them! My computer room I left for another day and that was done on purpose. The chant for today was great. It really inspired me to keep going whenever I wanted to quit. It was such a pleasure blessing my clean home with my guardian. I am sooooo tired, soar and hungry right now but it is so worth it! My home hasn’t been this clean in years. I have work tomorrow, I don’t know if I will be able to complete tomorrow’s challenge but I will try.
I am so proud of you!
Yesterday I did we’ll. today…not so much. I couldn’t get anything done in the living area but I did vacuum and dust the bedroom and sweep and mop my bathroom. Wow. I did feel overwhelmed today. Lazy even. But I tried to move ahead. Did feel better when I did move. A little feeling of accomplishment. But a whole lot more to do.
I did have this inter voice telling me to move and clean. I got down on my hands and knees the other day to clean the kitchen floor as I did the bathroom floor today. Then I mopped. After I finish getting rid of all this junk I have just lying around I will feel so much better. I just feel ashamed at the fact that my possessions have possessed me for so long.
So I feel I’m babbling but I need to vent.
Bright blessings to you all. Good night.
Never feel ashamed. Life happens. Things get stuck. Now, you choose to move ahead — good for you!
I didn’t get to the floors today. I focused on a paper for my mysticism class (it’s the end of the semester). I did, however, clean out the fridge.
Even better!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like they’ve had a royal butt whoopin today. Sooo tired! But I’m almost done with a few other side chores, and plan to sit down and watch a little TV with some aleve and a mug of hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows. A nice treat for all the hard work. Cheers!
It’s great that others’ motivation is helping us all get through when we’re lagging a bit. Several times today I’ve sat down for a moment, exhausted, and reading other folks’ comments gives me strength to get back in there and get back to work. Please don’t stop posting your experiences!
Seems like today was just a crazy day, but I completed all the tasks. Took all day, but I wasn’t giving up. Of course a billion others things had to have my attention as well. Managed to burn myself with wax while I was making candles (sheepish face here as I admit I didn’t have any white candles lying around for today’s cleansing.), to boot. I really, really need to learn to focus and not get so frazzled if I have more than a couple things to get done.
Wow! You got a lot accomplished! Scheduling down time is good, too. Relax and enjoy, you earned it!
Part of my cleaning challenge in general is finding the time. Yesterday I took 30 mins and cleared up the clutter in our apartment (it’s not very big). Today we were out running around and really taking a relaxing day, but I did sweep out the house with intention! And it looks a lot better for just that 🙂 I need to vacuum the bed room, but … frankly the noise is very disturbing to me. I love the wood and tile in the rest of the apartment!
Have yet to vacuum, but the night is young! 😛 🙂
Did BMR on the go this morning, and Goal candle and Sea of Potential working this evening.
Made a cleansing mix(physical, and energetic) to sprinkle on the rugs, pre-vaccuming – baking soda, sea salt, and crushed lavender. Charged a white candle, and have a vibrational essence Angel spray, that I use for “holy water”.
So I’m already, for when I’m already. 😀 lol
Day 1 was quite a challenge. My office has been a mess for about a year! It was exhausting just thinking about tackling all of it but I made a promise I would stick with the program no matter what. It took three hours and I worked until the wee hours of the morning but I did it! I also found a few things that I thought were lost forever.
I made my own floor wash with vinegar, water and lavender. I didn’t have anything to make a rattle but remembered that I had a really amazing instrument that I bought in a free trade shop. It’s hard to explain but it’s basically the shells from nuts that are strung together. I absolutely love the sound they make, so I walked through the house shaking them and chanting. LOVE LOVE LOVE the chant! I will definitely be using that in the future.
I love your floor wash mixture! I also like your rattle idea! Thank you!
I remembered something you said once. That if you suggested something, that wasn’t the only way to do it. Chances are, you already have everything you need. Ever since I let go of worrying about doing everything “right”, I never have any issues. I always have everything I need for any spell or working, day or night. Thank YOU, Silver for this wonderful experience.
Kelly, I have(and used) the same rattle. 😀
Well, Day 1 had me rearranging the clutter so it looks nicer (in the middle of a bathroom and kitchen remodel that has me sanding and painting ALL the cabinetry. Got a late start on Day 2 because the moon was void in these here parts until a couple hours ago. Today I managed to vacuum and sweep most every bit of sawdust still hanging around, gingerly avoiding all the recently primed drawers and doors. Then I did my very best zumba-witch dance up and down the house the house with my djembe, whooping and hollering while I was at it. Yeah, it’s party time and this is the party part! It worked. Not only did I manage to unstick stale energy, I think a stale ligament or two got unstuck too– that there limp proves it!
I got most of my floors cleaned, but not as much as I wanted to. I got to the things that were bothering me the most, but I helped my mom rake her leaves at her house (unfortunately CO doesn’t have much snow yet, at it was 65 degrees. Warm enough for a short sleeve shirt). So, I did get a lot of stuff done. Does that count if I help others in cleaning?
Holy Guacamole, I got ‘er all done :).
After posting the above, I knew I *had* to get the vacuuming done. The floors and ceilings, you can hear right through them, so I picked out some music to accompany each stage, so I could chant to my heart’s content, volume wise :). Funky, groovy music for the vacuuming, and Flamenco while rattling. Forgot, and went back and dusted two main things that I wanted to. I keep a pot of simmering water, with fresh lemon pieces and different spices and herbs on the stove, and cleaned that out, and put in fresh water, and the fresh pieces of lemon -for the Three-fold Lady- for blessing, and prosperity. When I finished doing that, I looked down, and realized there was an entire section -the main section that I use everyday- of the kitchen floor, that I had neglected to clean! Oy vey! I stood there, trying to rationalize not cleaning it, which, of course, would not only be cheating, but cheating Myself, and kind of against the whole point!! So, tired, I sucked it up, got energized, and cleaned the floor, than re-rattled that room, as well as the two now-dusted spots. After all of that, I literally had to jump up and down, doing a bit of cardio, to get myself going for the candle and holy water Blessing phase. All done!! That felt like a workout!! Time for a well-deserved green smoothie, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother. 😀
Well, Day 1 was great! Day 2 was also great! I did what I could and got the family involved. I’m feeling really great about how things are going. I just feel like I have been given a breath of new life straight from the Goddess herself. Thank you for all your blessings and thank you Silver for providing this guidance! http://rowynyewsattempttoblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/day-2-silver-ravenwolfs-2012-release.html
Wonderful!
Day one was fantastic! Even started an online journal for my non-pagan friends to follow along. Day 2 was a little scary for me 😉 Found dust bunnies in places I didn’t know they could go. So happily evicted them to another form of existence. LOL
I know what you mean — how do they get there! Great that others are following your progress. Hopefully, they will join in, too! The Program works for every one.
wow! i’ve been at this for two days (started a month late lol) seems to be taking me twice as long… but that’s okay as long as it gets done, right? i was looking for something like this since last summer, i’m so glad you posted it up! i’m behind, but i already can feel the apartment “breath” aaaaaaah…. 🙂 just wanted to say THANKS YOU 🙂