things around my house thursday, 9 of 52

Things Around My House Thursday
On a Monday.
I'm so together, aren't I.
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I do mix things up from time to time, but this is what currently sits on my front stoop:

collected stones, a few crystals, some sage, and rock with the word "home" painted on it

I think I was in my 20's when I became interested in the concept of a having a "burden basket" near the front door. I had seen one in a metaphysical shop (for a ridiculous sum of money,) and the basket was described as an item that Native American peoples would place at the entry of their home. It was to remind anyone that entered that they were to honor those inside by releasing their troubles and concerns, and leaving them in the basket.

In other words:
Check your shit at the door, please.

I'm not sure if the goal was to have the basket somehow aid you in transforming your shit, or if the basket was there to safely hold it for you so you didn't have to worry about it anymore, and you could then pick your shit back up again on the way out.

Upon further research I learned that most "burden baskets" were actually used to....well....literally carry actual burdens. Hauling. Gathering. These were working baskets. I never did find a historical Native American reference for the baskets being used symbolically or as a spiritual item, but maybe I just didn't research far enough (I'm notorious for that). I'm sure that what I saw in the metaphysical shop was a bunch of new age frou frou, and at the expense of another culture, to boot. It irks me when that happens.

Either way, real or reinvented, I always liked the concept of having something at the door to remind myself and others that a change was about to take place. I'm a huge fan of transitions into and out of spaces (maybe the dancer/performer in me?). I also enjoy using any sort of mental tool that reminds me to have a separation of things....like work and home.

I think in every place I have lived since seeing the original fake-out basket, I have placed a little something at the doorway of my home. Not a container to check your woes, per se...but just a little something special to catch the eye of those who enter or exit, so that maybe their energy will shift to a good place as they pass the threshold.

In this home that I am living in now (since last summer) rarely do I enter through my own front door. I almost always enter through the garage here. It only took one or two passes to realize that I needed to have something at that entry, too. I'll show that in the next installment.