When one door closes....

There are a lot of phrases we use that involve doorways:  Don't let the door hit you on the way out, When one door closes another door opens.  We see doorways as portals and doors as boundaries.  I wrote several years back about the interesting ways in which our brain handles Doorways. 

Janus is the Roman god of transitions, doorways, beginnings/endings, passages, duality and time.  He is often depicted as having one face looking forward and another looking backwards.  There are lots of reasons to call upon Janus or to work with the power of doorways, especially at this time of year.

Doorways are a liminal space.  They exist as the boundary of one space and another.  In many practices, this makes them particular places of power.  I find it very interesting that the liminal quality of doors isn't limited to them being a physical boundary, marking the line between two spaces, but they are also seen as both a gateway/opening and a boundary.  We can leave a door open for someone or we can lock it tight to keep people out. 

At the turning of the year, we often think about what we want to invite in for the new year, but also what we want to keep out.  We look back and forward as we set our intentions for the new year.  It is a perfect time to work with Janus!

There are quite a few new years traditions that center around doors and doorways.  In some parts of the world, the first person who enters your door in the new year is an omen of what is to come.  In other places, it is traditional to sweep the house, making sure to sweep all the dirt out the back door, so that you will not be plagued with old issues from the previous year. 

Many of us bless or protect our doors, and this is a great time to refresh those protections.  Washing your door is a good way to protect and charge the portal to your home.  You can add herbs, stones or other ingredients to the wash water, then give the doorway a good scrub.  As you do, focus on washing away any lingering trouble that may have found it's way to your doorstep and inviting in prosperity while still keeping out those who would cause you harm.

You may want to hang a protection charm on or near your door.  A broom is a traditional protection for doorways, as is a horseshoe.  You could easily make a protection and blessing wreath, working in symbols for the things you desire and tucking your protections towards the back or inside where they can't be seen.

When you work protection, don't forget to do all the doors that enter your house (and windows, because they are like smaller doors!).  Think about how the doors in your house differ.  We have a front and back door in our house, and we use them for completely different purposes.  The front door is our functional door.  It is the one we pretty much always enter and exit the house from, the one that things we receive come in through, and the one that strangers and guests approach.  But the back door handles trash as well as being my portal to the back yard and patio (which is often where I go when I want to step outside and be in nature for a bit).  So I protect my doors differently, because they serve different purposes.

You can also work with the doorways within your house!  You might want to bless the doorway to the bedrooms to help keep out distractions while you are sleeping.  You might charge the door to your closet with helping you to feel good in the clothes you wear. 

And there are even more doors, that we often don't think of as doors:  cabinet doors, fridge/freezer doors, washer/drier doors...even my computer has a 'door' on the front of it!  The really great thing about doors is that every time you open or close them, you are activating that door, and whatever work you have done with it.

You can also set your enchantments up like on/off switches.  So your door may be blessed for different purposes depending on whether it is open or closed.  Take a bedroom door.  It might get blessed for privacy when closed, and communication when open (great for children's rooms, especially as they are getting older and starting to grow into their independence). 

Doorways are similar to doors, with more of a focus on being a portal between places instead of being a boundary.  And you can work with both the doorway and the door of a room, blessing each independently for different purposes.  Remember doorways work in two directions, and you can absolutely key your blessing to someone either entering or exiting the doorway (you might bless everyone exiting your front door with a protection, while blessing people who enter with a sense of peace and contentment).

I like putting things above doorways, on that little ledge formed by the molding (if there is one).  Many of our doors have those little skeleton keys (for opening doors locked from the inside), but you can add other little charms and tokens there as well, to help with your blessing of the doorways.  I have wood cutouts set above the bathroom door, and have driven a few nails above the laundry room door so I can hang blessing bundles (as I consider that the heart of our house).

There are lots of ways to decorate your doors, which can also serve as a focus for your blessings.  We have hooks over several of our doors (the kind you can find in the bathroom section of many stores...or around the holidays for hanging wreaths).  I also love table runners as door decorations:  just hang them over the door, and you can enjoy the pattern from both sides (I have one that lives on my closet door most of the year). 

If you don't mind the noise, you can hang bells from your door.  These will cleanse the air as you open and close the door and also work great to ward of intruders, both physical and spiritual.  My grandmother always kept a bell hanging from her front door.

A more discrete way to ward a door is to draw or attach your symbols of protection to the edge of the door.  The top of the door will be virtually invisible to anyone, while the hinge and/or handle side offer additional choices for triggering open/closed blessings.  If you put part of your symbol on the door and the other part on the door jam, then the symbol will be complete only when the door is shut.

You can also put trigger reminders on doors!  These may be blessings on their own, but they may also be simple reminders for you, about things you are working on.  The bathroom is a great place to put these triggers, as you will most likely be going in and out of the bathroom the most throughout the day.  You can hang or decorate your door, to remind you about whatever it is you are working on.  When you see it, you will be reminded to take a breath, ground, center, or release anxiety (really the sky is the limit, you can use it to trigger any behavior you want to grow in your life).

Doors and doorways are things we interact with numerous times in every day.  They are powerful liminal gateways and boundaries that we can use to enhance our life.  Working with the doors and doorways in your home is a great way to continually reinforce blessings and wardings or to work on building behaviors and habits.