Spirit of the Home: How to Make Your Home a Sanctuary

by Jane Alexander

A practical guide, packed full of simple, easy-to-follow advice, on how to create your own sacred space and sanctuary and discover peace and tranquillity in your home.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality

Paperback

First published September 25, 1998

About the author

I am the author of over twenty books on natural health, holistic living and spirituality. I am passionate about seasonal living, fitness, yoga, meditation, dreamwork and shamanism.

Reviews

[Andee Marley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely book about how to make your home a sacred space. I attempted the energy clearing method suggested in the book this morning, and can feel a calmness.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book has to do with Feng Shui, a subject I am not entirely interested in. I did however, find much historical and spiritual insight. I learned about Greek gods and goddesses of the home and how to balance their energy to create harmony and comfort.

With some effort, your home can be a true respite from the outside world. More than pretty pictures, a unique find!

[Juliette Morris Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been curious about feng shui, especially about the flow of chi through living spaces. Many of the books are stale and not things I'm interested in reading (try this! Spice up your life by doing this!). This book shows how to create energy flow within the home and shows beautiful photographic examples as well. I'm still enjoying (well, I do love good picture books!).

[Jo Kneale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good look at creating a home that is full of spirit, chi, force and that boosts your own wellbeing in the process.
The book is in 7 parts: dealing with spirits in the home, clearing and cleaning the home, creating sensuality, sanctuary, using feng shui and boosting romance, Creativity and career.

I found the book was full of ideas and inspiration that had me reaching for my notebook: some were quotes that I want to write out and let wash over me, others were decorating ideas that will help me create a sanctuary to sleep or bathe in.

My immediate takeaways are that I want to boost my bathroom from post-children chaos to home spa prettiness. I want more green plants in my home, to declutter mass-produced items and gradually collect handmade one offs.

I also love the emphasis on solitude or one time. Jane Alexander uses the term Hestia Time for that short period of solitude to enjoy the house: Cup of tea in hand, or gently polishing, puttering or passing time in enjoying how the home interacts with the environment because of light or weather effects.

Absolutely devoted Christians may not like the book: it talks about Greek gods and Goddesses, has respect for God's of other faiths and uses feng shui to align the home to the Earth forces.

Be prepared to work as well, though. I am working through the tasks and creating my home journal bit by bit. Making myself at home again is not an overnight task, but it will be a delight to create my cosy Nook and enjoy time at home once more.

I read the Kindle version so be prepared: it doesn't have any photos or pictures in, so it is generally dense text all the way, but none the worse for that.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photos are dated, but the book offers valuable information, despite being published in 1999. I enjoy Jane Alexander's books because she focuses so much on our internal well-being.

I would buy this on Kindle since the photos aren't plentiful or helpful. It's heavy on text and has some sidebars, but not as many as it should have. It could have used a better editor.

This book has seven parts and each part has there three to seven sections. Here are the seven parts:

The Spirit of the Home
Thinking About Home
The Clear, Clean Home
The Energetic Home
The Sensual Home
A Space of Your Own
The Helping Home

[☾⋆⁺ Nurse After Dark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way this book was laid out, with little symbols, point form lists, and other ways the author seemed to engage readers better than just continuous text. There was a lot of content covered and would be a great starter book for someone just getting into energy and symbolism. The tidbits of old home folklore were my favorite.

[Paula · Rating 1 out of 5]

5% Jungian 95% New-age mumbo jumbo.

[Lavonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my "go to" book when I feel like decluttering, creating space for a specific task or activity, changing some aspect of our home that's a bit out of sync, or just plain need direction with color, etc. Although my version of the book is a 1998 edition, it is still appropriate - you just need to consider the effect that technology plays in our daily lives. I am about to loan it to my daughter who will soon be living in her own space by herself for the first time (you can't count a single college dorm room). It's the kind of book that you can just read the parts that are specific to a task or you can read it from start to finish. It contains many good low-cost ideas for enhancing the spirit of your home. I have treated this as a reference book. This was another great find at the Menomonie Public Library book sale!

[DDog · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great look at some of the physical things we can do to make our houses homes. It's divided into sections that walk you through decluttering your house, creating treasure maps to find your dream house, a very bare bones intro to feng shui, tips on talking to your house and feeling the energy of rooms, ways to bring varied sensual experiences into your environment, and generally getting things sorted so you can truly live in your home.

It's got a bit of woo-woo but there's plenty practical/psychological tips and exercises to keep the skeptics happy.

[Liaken · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you find certain aspects of feng shui hokey (as I do), this book is for you. It offers a pastiche of theories and philosophies about the energy flow in a room. It addresses color, texture, scent, and more. It also has great pictures.

[Margery Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plethora of bits and pieces from multiple sources about how to tone up the home. A skim the surface kind of presentation, and in other words not particularly deep. Yet, helpful to point one in the right direction for fixing bits and pieces of the home design puzzle.

[Amy]

Just a started. Has some good points so far, curious to see where it takes me.

[Shumei · Rating 3 out of 5]

how to connect to your home with the lost art of 'home-making',

[Hannah]

Lovely book that gives basic theory of Feng Shui.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pictures are beautiful and the book is full of great tips on how to make your house feel like a home.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book changed the way I that think about and inhabit the my home. It's a perfect balance of inspirational and applicable, new age and practical. Looking forward to digging in to some of the books listed in the bibliography.