Clutter clearing involves getting rid of “things” that no longer serve a positive or useful purpose. Space clearing is a ritual performed to release stuck, negative energy and resets the space with clean, clear, vibrant energy. The two work hand-in-hand when it comes to making space for good things to come into your life. While your home may generally be a happy place, the imprint of arguments, breakups and other unpleasant occurrences hangs around and stagnates as time passes. It seems many of our elders were aware of this phenomenon. Spring cleaning involved an extensive room-by-room removal of furniture, followed by a thorough washing of walls, windows and floors. After the cleaning was done, furniture was put back in place and things that were not needed were thrown out. This cleared the entire living space and created a vacuum of physical and emotional space for new things to enter.

De-cluttering and space clearing are important, especially if you’ve just moved into a new space or feel ready to start a new life path. Space clearing is especially supportive of career changes, ending or starting relationships, attracting prosperity, releasing negative emotions and any major life change. Decluttering may be done separately from or as part of a space clearing.

Sometimes we have emotional attachments to clutter for sentimental reasons, of we fear we may need something in the future, so we hold onto to it, “just in case.” Guilt may be the reason you keep and display that horrid picture frame your best friend gave you as a wedding gift. For some of us, the habit of clutter is inherited from our parents. Whatever your reasons, it would serve you well to conquer your clutter to clear your mind and make space for wonderful things to come into your life.

According to Jayme Barrett, a Los Angeles feng shui consul- tant and author of Feng Shui Your Life, asking yourself the fol- lowing questions will help you decide if an item is encouraging good feng shui or counteracting it with unnecessary clutter:

• Do I love it? • DoIuseit? • Do I need it? • Does it evoke a positive feeling and make me smile?

Tess Whitehurst is a Los Angeles feng shui consultant, energy worker and author of Magical Housekeeping, The Good Energy Book, The Art of Bliss and, soon to be released, The Magic of Flowers. She classifies clutter into categories to create a flow for assessing and eliminating items.

• Paper
• Decorations
• Food
• Clothes
• Furniture
• Car Clutter
• Books
• Gifts
• Unfinished projects or broken things
• Items with negative associations

A practical road map to clutter clearing and reclaiming your living space is available in Whitehurst’s “Magical Clutter Clearing Boot Camp” for .99 cents in the Kindle e-book store. It is filled with tips and strategies to move you through clearing each area of your home. A word of caution, there is no short cut to ridding your home and space of clutter. In Magical Housekeeping, Tess acknowledges that clutter-clearing is a lifelong pursuit. She points out the rewards that make it worthwhile; “Everything is connected, and every inch and component of the physical world is filled with an invisible life force and unique magical energy...every one of us has the inherent ability to sense, change, channel, and direct these energies to create positive conditions and manifest the true desires of our hearts.”

After the clutter is minimized, a space clearing will fine tune your home by releasing the energy and debris remaining from arguments, confusion and general negativity. Noisemaking (rattles, bells, clapping), smudging (sage bundles), misting (essential oils), and visualizing (white light or elemental) are all methods of space clearing. presents several simple space clearing rituals in an article, “Try This! Traditional Rituals to Clear Out Bad Home Energies.”

Whether you tackle your clearing all at once or break it down into smaller tasks, the benefits are reported to be long-lasting and transforming. Open yourself to the positive possibilities of a springtime declutter and space clearing. There is much to be gained and all you have to lose is your unwanted junk.