When bad energy accumulates in our homes, it can prevent us from thriving in our space. Amanda Yates Garcia, the Oracle of Los Angeles, tells us how to clear the bad energy and call in more of what you need.

Witchcraft can be really practical — literal, even. People get the idea that hauntings are very spooky or weird. But a lot of the time, poltergeists and other spirits are inner demons, externalized, appearing so that we can confront them. This energy can get trapped in a home. And that’s when it might be useful to clear the energy.

First, we need to think about what energy is. In science, energy is the ability to do work. So this ability changes and moves. Work is the transfer of energy between objects. So when energy gets stuck in a home, it means that the ability to do the work that we need to do there decreases. It inhibits other objects or beings in the space from doing the work that they want to do too. 
 

I'm not just talking about the capitalist version of work, the kind of work where you're working for the man. I'm talking about the work of creativity, the work of pleasure, the work of connecting with other people.
 

Let's say you break up with your partner. You fought a lot. You had a really bad breakup. You were living together and then your partner leaves and you stay in the apartment that you lived in together. You might find it difficult to do the work that you want to do in that apartment now. You might get distracted a lot. You might have all these bad memories where this energy is dwelling. It might be making it difficult for you to do whatever work it is that you want to do in that place. 

What we want to do is create an atmosphere in our home where the bad energy just can't live. As a witch, I look to nature to teach me how to use and clear energy. I like to use elemental magic to do this. So using the materials of life: earth, fire, air, water. 

Working with earth means dealing with physical objects in the space. You might move the furniture around, paint, or clear out debris. For air, you can fumigate with herbs like bay leaves, lavender, rosemary, or garden sage. You can create a cleansing potion with these same herbs for the element of water. Boil them in water for thirteen minutes, then use the mixture as a floor wash. Or cleanse with fire by walking through the rooms with a candle. Because fire is consciousness, using this element can also be a visualization of yourself clearing out the space.

I also like to use sound to help people understand that we can read energy — we can feel it. If you have stagnant energy in your home, a lot of times I’ll recommend using music to circulate it. Choose something that resonates with the energy you would like to call in to the space. Let it play whether you’re there or not. Let it essentially massage the space with its vibrations.
 

When you sit with a space and let yourself notice how you're feeling in it, what thoughts and memories come to you while you're there — trust those. Over time, you'll get a sense of what a space needs. For instance, you might be in a room and get a sense of purple-ness. It might just be that this room needs to be purple. Or every time you’re in there, you want to burn lavender. You can even give an offering of water, a libation like honey wine, or a grain.
 

Just through listening to a room, really being in direct communion with it, through prayer, writing, or stating your intentions out loud as you burn a candle, you’ll feel what the space wants from you. Approach it with great humility and say: 

I want to build a relationship with you. I'm here to listen to you. I don't necessarily want anything from you. I want to recognize that we know each other and that we both thrive together because I'm here to contribute to the thriving of this place. I want to be intimate with you. Tell me what you need from me. I'm listening.

When you call the spirits, they come. They really do come. You just have to listen to them.

Amanda Yates Garcia is a professional witch working under the title Oracle of Los Angeles. She is the author of Initiated: Memoir of a Witch and host of the podcast Between the Worlds.