The Dash Between

So - as I was packing last night, I ran across a housecleansing ritual/spell that I had written several years ago for an apartment that I was moving into.  As I read it, I got the feeling that these words had power - had good juju - and it was my good juju. Since I had more or less given up on actually doing a ritual BEFORE we moved into the house, running across this was truly useful. I'm going to try to make it my first Heka.

Heka (G/R Hike) - "Magical Speech" Heka is an abstract Name, embodying the concept that there is power in the spoken word - power which can be used for good or ill. While sometimes Heka is simply translated into English as "magic," Heka is more than a "magic word" or a "spell" - He is a lasting reminder of the responsibility to keep one's speech in accordance with Ma'at. Anyone who has spoken an unkind word can attest to the power speech has to change our lives; and Heka as embodied in the Ren, or name, is a personal force in Kemetic culture - to speak of a thing is to cause it to exist. Kemet's entire funerary industry may derive directly from this concept of "meaningful speech," as to continue to repeat a person's name was to render them immortal - so long as your name was known, you could not die. When depicted, Heka is shown standing in the prow of Ra's Boat of Millions of Years along with Hu (Authoritative Utterance/Command) and Sia (Perception). 
(HoN)

In Egyptian mythology, Heka (also spelt Hike) was the deification of magic, his name being the egyptian word for magic. Heka literally means activating the Ka, which egyptians thought was how magic worked, the Ka being an aspect of the soul which embodied personality, but more significantly also power and influence, particularly in the case of the Ka of gods.
The hieroglyph for his name featured a twist of flax within a pair of raised arms, however, it also vaguely resembles a pair of entwined snakes within someone's arms. Consequently, Heka was said to have battled and conquered two serpents, and was usually depicted as a man choking two entwined serpents. Medicine and doctors was thought to be a form of magic, and so Heka's priesthood performed these activities.
(Wiki)

It's interesting, which houses I feel the need to cleanse, and which I don't. I think it might have something to do with age - the older the place is, the more likely it is to feel to ME like it needs a good psychic airing out. I distinctly remeber writing this for an old apartment in a old building,  but I don't think - or at least I don't remember - having performed it since then.  So! 

Thankfully, when I wrote it, I made it pretty generic - so it shouldn't be difficult to form it into a Heka. I'll be tweaking it a bit from my written copy as I go along...

Opening (Light incense and candle during this)
By the Lady who fills the dark with Light
By the Lord who follows her through the night
By my words and my will
Shape this Heka and make it real. 

Cast Out - Wind (incense - stand and recite this in each room) 
In this place I stand
Holding the Winds in my hand
This home I bless
Casting out others mess (see, it's lines like this that make this mine!)
I cast out anger
I cast out fear
I cast our betrayal by a lover dear
I cast out uncertainty
I cast out pain
I cast out all negative history
And never invite it in again

Invite In - Water (a bowl of water)
With every drop I spill
I invite thee in
Of my own free will
Peace - Enter
Joy - Remain here
Health - Stay close
Love - stay dear
Compassion - be overwhelming
Wealth - ever flow
Understanding - Linger here
May these things never go 

Ward Out - Fire (a lit candle)
By the fire of this flickering flame
I ward thee out
Here thy shall never remain
Despair - Forbidden
Stress - Be gone
Coldness - I bid thee, never enter this home
Enemity - Be Shunned
Sloth is doomed
Deception - Go Away
Illness - Be removed
Distress - Never come
Poverty - Never stay
As long as we live here
May it be kept this way. 

Create and Claim - Earth (mixture of salt and blood)
Like the waters of a flood
I claim this space with salt and blood
I fill this space with my love and peace
I claim this space,  for me and my family
With every speck of blood that falls
This place becomes ours - our home, our walls
With every grain of salt that is shed
I claim this place - this home, this land. 

Closing (extinguish incense and candle)
Thank you my Lady
Thank you my Lord
for looking over this Heka
and for guiding my words

Thank you Wind
For casting out evil
Thank you Water
For bringing good in
Thank you Fire
For warding this space
Thank you Earth
for making this our place
Thank you Spirit
For holding this tight
May there be many joyful days
And many blessed nights. 

And I really want to put a line break here, but when I switch to 'Source' mode it's being throughly difficult, and I've already lost this entry ONCE, so pretend this is a line break, kay? 

So - as for who I am going to focus on - it's really interesting - my reading/research into the Festivals made that clear as soon as I readt he first line. Ma'at is viewed as the 'steerwoman' of Ra's boat - there fore, she could be considered the Lady bringing light to  the darkness, and Ra' certainly follows her in that situation, so, voila!  I'm not going to try to assign Netjer to the various elements - I don't know any of them well enough to feel 'right' using them  -  I barely know Ra, but there has been some - interesting synchronity between me, this house, and sunlight - so that I'm prety comfy with.  Also - since I'm using representations of the elements - I'm happy.

I wrote it as  a walking Heka - but I'm seriously considering standing in each room and reciting each - verse. That'll be nine times each, but I figure it's worth it - this IS our first house!! I already have all the supplies - must get some salt before hubby packs it, and must be sure to keep out a stick of the GOOD incense and unpack one of the candles....

Hmm... there is an upstairs and downstairs in the house, so I'm thinking about having the candle and the incense downstairs, and the water and the blood upstairs. That way, I start downstairs, walk the whole downstairs, walk the upstairs, grab the water. Walk the upstairs, then the downstairs, grab the candle. Walk the downstairs, then the upstairs, grab the blood. Walk the upstairs, bring EVERYTHING downstairs, walk the downstairs, go outside for the closing so that I can dispose of the water, the incense, some of the wax from the candle, and the rest of the salt and blood mixture into the dirt outside the two main doors of the house. 

*grins* this is gonna be so much FUN!!