Clearing the Hearth

When a hearth is choked with ash and buried memories, it is difficult to sustain fire. We sweep the hearth with our acceptance and understanding of what has been passed on to us from our ancestors. We do this for ourselves, our family, and for the future. – Anne Scott, Serving Fire

Last weekend Mark and I decided it was time to do a little bit of radical cleaning. I’ve done enough reading about energy to know that the home is a reflection of what is going on inside. So apparently my insides were quite dusty, cluttered, and even a little bit mouldy.

Not. Good.

So we gave the day over to the kind of cleaning that first creates complete and utter chaos, and I was in charge of the bedroom.

When we first moved into this house it had no heating (that we were allowed to use) apart from the fireplace in the living room. Without proper heating, we soon discovered that any heat that we did manage to get into the house promptly went straight up each of the other three chimneys. So a quick trip to a housewares store equipped us with a dozen pillows which we promptly stuffed up the chimneys. In an attempt to further stop the cold air that also came down the chimneys, we put things in front of the fireplaces – in the case of the one in the bedroom (pictured), it was an unused bulletin board.

And so it went for a hundred years. Or that is what it felt like. Eventually we got central heating. Then we got insulation in our ceiling. Then, finally, a lining for our roof. But the barriers remained firmly in place. Walls: up. We had all but forgotten that there were fireplaces there.

Which brings us to last week. As Mark came in to help me clean, he picked up the bulletin board and said, “Do we really need this anymore?” And I laughed out loud because there it was: the hearth in my bedroom – always there, but completely unnoticed – uncovered not three weeks after I began working with Hestia. Uncovered not two weeks after I had talked late into the night with a dear friend about the importance of the hearth and the heart. Uncovered not one week after I began a new novel all about all of it: the hearth, the heart, fire, and magic.

Sometimes you have to shake your head in wonder at yourself, the universe and everything.