I Got a Thing About Doors

Of all the pieces, parts, and rooms in a house, I consider doors to be the most magickal. Doors are the ultimate between places. What is the scariest part of the horror movie? When the door creaks open. How many times have you seen a movie, tv show, or read a book where a character finds something unexpected behind a door? Doors have power.

Mama Kate's house had a weird door situation and I think that very placement had a more profound influence on my psyche than anything else in childhood. It was a little house with a short hallway. There was 6 doors in the space with the illusion of two more, plus a large floor vent taking up a yawning space. I was terrified of the vent and would not walk over it. Unfortunately, it was right in front of the bathroom. I used to make my parents carry me in and when I was done, I would scream for one of them to carry me out. They got tired of my fear, so I had to edge along the wall sideways.

There were just too many doors. The hallway was weird. The air was cold and thick. It was dark. Once in the hallway, the rest of the house seemed to disappear. Sounds were muted. People seemed to fade away or become lost as they walked into the bathroom.

The hallway had a door on each end. These folded back against the wall and gave the illusion of two more doors in the wall. There was a closet door, a bathroom door, and two bedroom doors. And that big, black chasm in the middle which I never wanted to fall into.

I have to say, my grandfather had a ceramic shop. His shop used to be my grandparents' house before they built the house of too many doors. The shop had a big floor vent too. I had no problems walking over it. No strange, cold air in the ceramic shop. No funky hallway either, and all the doors were in normal places.

Doors change everything.

About once a month, usually on a dark moon, I ward all my doors. Doors are portals, not just to rooms, but they can be portals to the otherworld. I don't want just anything coming through. Some other things that can be portals are windows, mirrors, pictures, screens, vents, drains, and curtains. Anytime you change the focus of a wall you could create a portal and that's why I don't like those little fairy doors. I think they're an invitation for the fairyworld to come into this plane and not all fairies are nice.

The first thing I do is clean. I wipe down the door frame with a damp rag. Next I wipe down the door. If the wall is dirty (yeah, I'm the type of housewife who scrubs walls) I'll clean it too. Then I seal the door. I've used drops of oil (nice, but leaves a stain), I've drawn pentacles (very effective and muggles have no clue a door is warded), and I've hung empowered objects over the door. I've also hung bells on the doorknob to keep evil away (the sound purifies) and tied knotted cord around the knob to keep nosey people away. I keep an open safety pin under my door mat as protection against intruders. Plants help too, mums are my favorite, they keep neighbors from gossiping about me.

I've never used a mirror on a door, but when I lived in the trailer I kept mirrors in some of the windows because we had Sadie working in the office. Sadie was meanest old bat I have ever met. She was passive aggressive and conniving. She loved to go into people's homes and snoop. She would also go through the trash. Her trailer was on one side of mine and the office was on the other side. After I caught Sadie in my home, I kept mirrors in each window and Sadie begin to have horrible luck. Her car went out on her and she had to buy another one which she couldn't really afford. She was cheated by another tenant. Eventually Sadie got fired for embezzling. I still kept the mirrors in the windows until I moved.

Warding is not a once and done deal. The spell must be repeated on a regular basis. It's like housework- you'll do it again and again. Since it needs to be done repeatedly, I add it into my housekeeping. I do lots of magick that way. When I clean my mirrors (on the full moon), I seal them (portal, remember?) Before I clean a room, I smudge with incense. I want to cleanse the negative energy as well as the dirt and dust. Every six months (summer and winter solstices) I clean behind the fridge and stove.

Tomorrow- kitchen witch tips.