Space clearing is the feng shui art of clearing and consecrating energies in buildings. It’s as essential to the energy maintenance of a place as physical cleaning is to the physical maintenance.

the origin of space clearing

The term ‘space clearing’ has passed into the English language as a generic term for all kinds of energy clearing techniques, but it’s a term I originally coined in 1989 to describe the specific ceremony I have pioneered and developed since 1979. You can read the full description of this in my book, Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui, which was published in 1996 and received Amazon.com’s Bestseller Award in their Interior Design category in 1998. They didn’t quite get the category right but the book sales established the title as a classic in its field. Together with its companion title, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, published in 1998 and revised in 2008, worldwide sales now exceed 2 million copies, translated into 22 languages. These are 'must read' titles for all feng shui practitioners and anyone wishing to improve the quality of their life.

why space clearing is necessary

In my book, I explain that every religion in the world offers ceremonies or rituals to elevate people temporarily to levels of the astral light they cannot easily attain by themselves so that they can experience enhanced states of being. To facilitate this, temples are constantly purified to maintain their atmospheres at high levels, especially at times of high ceremonies.

Space clearing is designed to raise the level of the astral light in our own personal spaces and, in so doing, raise the quality of life that it is possible for us to experience. In other words, depending on your knowledge and skill, you can use these techniques to cleanse the astral light and create sacred space wherever you are. If you want your life to be more meaningful and purposeful than the general level it is being lived at today, space clearing is vital.

how space clearing works

Energetically, everything that ever happens in a building goes out in ripples like the effect of a stone being dropped in a pond. It is recorded in the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the furniture, objects, plants, animals and people in that space. It's imprinted in the very fabric of the structure. Repetitive patterns get deeply imprinted and events accompanied by strong emotions or trauma are the most strongly imprinted of all. If you've ever had the experience of walking into a room after there has just been an argument, you know that you can literally feel it hanging in the air. People sometimes say, "You could have cut the air with a knife!", meaning that the atmosphere was so dense it was as if the argument were physically tangible.

The residue of these energy ripples accumulates around the edges of the room, and it builds up, particularly in corners, and in nooks and crannies. If you're reading this inside a building, stop for a minute, look up, and imagine what the place you are in would look like if it had never physically been cleaned since the time it was built. Imagine the build-up of dust, cobwebs, and so on. The worst areas would be in the corners and any nooks and crannies. Well, of course no-one would ever want to live or work in such a space, but on an energetic level, that is exactly how a building looks and feels if it has never been space cleared.

Everyone creates a certain amount of energetic gunge on a daily basis, which leaves a residue in their homes in the same way as everyday living creates cleaning and tidying on a physical level. As Jane Alexander so succinctly put it in her article about space clearing, "Most of us are probably living in the psychic equivalent of a rubbish dump".

Very few western homes are so well designed that there are no areas where energy gets stuck. Most buildings are designed without any thought being given to the way energy can flow around them, and awkwardly positioned furniture can then add to the problems. How much stuck energy builds up depends on the feng shui of a place (how well energy flows around it) and the activities of the people who are living in the place.

the relationship between space clearing and feng shui

For your life to work well, it is vital to have a good flow of clear, vibrant energy in your home and workplace. Feng Shui is an organized system of knowledge that shows us how to enhance this energy flow by improving building design, furniture placement, colour schemes, and many other aspects. The Chinese name describes the system that is best known in the West and most easily transposes to the western way of life but most ethnic cultures have their own form of feng shui they have been using very successfully for thousands of years.

Space Clearing is a highly specialized branch of feng shui that works at even deeper levels to clear and consecrate the energies of buildings. Space clearers are often called in to help where a feng shui professional has done all they can do but the situation still hasn’t improved or hasn’t improved enough.

what happens in a space clearing ceremony?

The ceremony follows a series of 21 steps that need to be done in the correct order to be effective. You can find the full description in Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui. If you don’t have a copy of my book, you can get it from one of my online stores, located in the USA and UK.

The 21 steps of the ceremony are listed in some editions of Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, but this brief description is nowhere near enough information for you to be able to do the ceremony safely and effectively.

The Space Clearing ceremony described in my book and taught in my foundational workshops is a simplified version of the one that is conducted by professional practitioners. Designed for use in a person’s own home or business and the homes of close friends or relatives, no prior study or special skills are required. Even so, I’ve received thousands of emails from people from a wide variety of cultures, religions and ethnic backgrounds around the world telling of wonderful results they have obtained just using this basic version of the ceremony.

the difference between basic and professional level space clearing

To become a space clearing practitioner requires many years of personal development work, the cultivation of subtle bodies of energy and then in-depth training in space clearing skills. It is a lot more advanced than the training a feng shui practitioner receives, and there are a number of vital prerequisites that must be fulfilled even before a trainee is accepted for Space Clearing practitioner training.

The results that can be obtained doing a Space Clearing ceremony yourself are good, but there is no comparison to what can be achieved by having a professional Space Clearing consultation. The effects can be life-transforming and so significant that people start dating events in their life pre- and post-Space Clearing.

What happens during a professional Space Clearing or Clutter Clearing consultation

who needs space clearing?

Just about everyone. There are very few buildings in the world that are so well designed that they don't need regular space clearing. Many people now choose to do this ceremony as part of their regular building maintenance programme so that the space is energetically as well as physically clean and clear. It is also widely accepted that traditional feng shui works better and faster when done in conjunction with space clearing.

how long does it take to do a space clearing ceremony?

The length of time it takes to prepare depends mostly on how much cleaning and clutter clearing you have to do first, and for some people this can take a while. After my Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui book was published I received so many emails from people saying they hadn’t done the ceremony because they never got past this bit that I wrote another book, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, just to help them. Judging by the rocketing sales, there’s a lot of clutter out there!

how often does space clearing need to be done?

Do a full Space Clearing ceremony at least once a year, or sooner if you have a major life change such as starting or ending a relationship,  career, etc. If you have a very busy life or are going through a difficult time, then do maintenance Space Clearing every 3 months or even every month if you want to (maintenance Space Clearing is described in my book).

other articles & blogs by karen kingston

Does Space Clearing really clear imprints?
Why It Feels So Good To Sleep In Your Own Bed
It's Spring Cleaning, but not as you know it...
Practitioner Level Space Clearing
What's Your Clutter Ratio?
Understanding The Unseen Worlds
Why Space Clearing and Prozac Don't Mix
A Feng Shui Hotel in Bali

read more articles in karen kingston's blog