This house blessing and protection ritual uses all participants who live in the house, or you cnn do it with one person (it just takes a bit longer!). This should be done on a New Moon for a new house, or a Full Moon for a house that you have lived in for a while, or one that has previously been blessed and protected, but needs a "refresher". I do my own house at least once every three years, or more often if I feel the need to strengthen the wards. (I stregthen the wards about once every three lunar cycles)
Wear loose fitting clothing, or wear your ritual robes if you can do so going outside in your neighborhood. You will want to do this outside, even if you live in an apartment building. Just because it's not all your house, if anything bad happens to the building itself, like a fire, it can still affect you.
This is easier to do in a new house, or apartment, before the furniture is moved in, but of course you can do it anytime. The home must be cleaned first. If you still have boxes laying around that haven't been unpacked, pick one room or area to stack them all in, so the appearance is neat. Dust all your shelves and tops of doors, clean your ceiling fans, tops of pictures, etc, because this will not only be a better blessing that way, but also it can be distracting when you are going around the house to do this, and you start noticing dirt!
If you have not done this before you will want to "besom" or use a broom to sweep any unwanted energy out. This is done now on an astral level, a few inches above the floor, by a broom that has been consecrated. Start at the back of the room, and going widdershins (or counter-clockwise) and visualize and clouds or muddinesss in the atmosphere being swept away, take it all around the room, to the door, and sweep it all the way out the front doorway. If there is a lot of negative energy in the area you need to use, then go around first with sage, burning it strongly and smudging the area well prior to using the besom.
There is a chant that our group uses for doing this:
"Tout, tout, tout
Within and without
All negativity
Get out, out, out."
If this is a refresher for a house that has been previously blessed, and there is not any unwanted energy still in the house, than you can skip the above step.
You will start with the gallon of salt water. If the water is salted water - that is water that has 3 pinches of salt added to it - then you will need to bless the water. You can do this by simply calling on the Lord and Lady in the names that you know them, and asking them to bless this water that it may be used for this ritual, and to empower this water with their love and protection. Since salt water is of the ocean, it has already been blessed, and has not been processed at all, so it's fine just the way it is.
Now take the 3 herbs and mix them together in a bowl thouroughly using your hands. As you mix them you will ask for a similar blessing upon them, and also charge them with the powers of protecting your home, your loved ones, nnd yourself. Visualize energy being poured into these herbs, and them absorbing it.
Next, remove a cup of the water and set it aside to do the inside of the house. The remainder of the water, the herbs, the onion and the trowel, should all be taken outside at this time. You will start at the front of the property, to the right of the entrance, whether that be the driveway, the front pathway, or whatever. Just use your common sense as to what feels like the front entranceway. Start on the right of that, and you will go deosil or clockwise around the property line, sprinkling the herbs, and pouring out the water, slowly, all along the line. Imagining that there is a line of protective energy forming where you lay the herbs and the water - that this is a barrier beyond which no negativity, or evil may enter. You will do this around the whole perimeter of the property, until you get back to the point at which you started. At this time, you should have used all the herbs and the water.
Determine where the two sides of the entrance to your home is, and bury one half of the onion on each side. Just dig down a bit, doesn't have to be all that deep, and bury it so that the two cut halves are facing each other. These will form a line between the two that will only permit those who belong there or whom you invite there to enter.
Now we are ready for the inside!
You can either do the elements all at once, or you can take one at a time. If you have enough people, one person can each take one or two of the elements. Realistically, you can't do more than two elements at a time, because you can only hold one in each hand to be effective. To do all the elements at once, each person takes an element, and you will all follow each other. Use some common sense as this can get pretty close when doing small areas, such as bathrooms or closets.
Start at your front door, and moving deosil around the house, bless the perimeter of the inside of the house with each element. For example, the salt should be lightly sprinkled in the floor and especially in the corners, the water is sprinkled also, or you could use a spray bottle for this, but I prefer to just sprinkle. The candle flame is passed close to the walls and in each corner also, and the incense is also passed in the same way. You will go all around, following the walls, going into each closet, and following the walls around the house until you get to the front door again.
On the way, pay special attention to doors, windows, and mirrors or mirrored surfaces. These are entrances to your house also. Each should be blessed with an invoking pentagram drawn with the element you are carrying. Mirrors and mirrored surfaces (such as a toaster, the front of the oven, etc.) are an astral doorway into your home, and they need to have the same treatment. Dip your finger into the salt, or the water, then draw the pentagram on the surface. Pass the candle or the incense in front of the surface, drawing the pentagram also.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL around curtains, rugs, etc. and your other furnishings! Use your common sense - don't set your house on fire or sprinkle salt on a valued antique desk ! Remember, it is the power possessed by you that performs the magick, not the actual candle itself, or any other tool. So please be safe and careful while performing this or any other ritual or spell.
When you have reached the front door again, go over the floor where the doorway meets it, this is the main entrance to the house and needs to be blessed especially well. Go also around the doorjamb, and do the doorknob. You are now finished, end with saying "By the Grace of the Lord and Lady, and my Will, this dwelling is now blessed and protected. May all within share in this blessing and be protected. So Mote It Be." Or use your own words to that effect.
Many witches also have brooms or besoms hanging or propped up in the corner next to the door, or decorated and hung over the door, as protection and blessing symbols. Some have hung herbs in a small bag over the door, or horseshoes, or the "Eye of Ra" or other similar symbols. If you have such a symbol, now is a good time to bless it and ceromoniously place it.
When I cleanse a dwelling place, first I burn a good cleansing
incense, like frankincense or sandalwood in the home while I prepare
for the rest of the ritual. You should have in addition to the
incense, a candle, a bowl of salt water and a bowl of herbs. I
particularly like to use rose buds for love, lavender for
preservation, rosemary for protection, and any other sweet smelling
ones that appeal to you personally. If you can get them home grown,
so much the better. You should proceed around the house, widdershins(
counter clock wise) and cleanse the area with the salt water. Be sure
to get each corner, window, door, drain, etc. Simply sprinkle a
little salt water on each and ask that any evil or disruptive
influences leave the place. When this is finished, proceed around the
house deosil( clockwise) sprinkling the blessing herbs and invoke
whatever deities or properties you wish on the home, such as peace
prosperity, tranquility, etc. In the past, I have used 3 candles on
the central altar. Blue, symbolizing tranquility, green for healing
and prosperity, and purple for protection. Others might be pink for
love, or brown for hearth and home. You and anyone who is to share
the home with you should share food and drink, and don't forget to
leave a little of the food and drink to take outside and return to the
Earth that which has been given.
Blessed Be. Rowan