Forming the circle: Who are the important people at this gathering. How are you related to one another? Call out your name and let it resound in this place that will be your home.

Invocation: Who do you call upon to bless your house: God? Family? Community? How will you make this home reflect your belief system and your relationships? Far too often we have been afraid to make a nest for our dreams. Now in joy let us say. "We live here. This is our home. Blessed be!"

Background: What is the history around your house? When was it built? Who lived here before you? What is your history around house ownership? An important component of a happy future is living intentionally in the present with a clear understanding of the past. This allows us to consign unwanted legacies to the past and to retain the gifts that shape and nurture us.

Piecing A Quilt of Their Lives: Issue an invitation to the mourners to remember and share stories that will keep this beloved person alive and warm their hearts forever. You may choose to tape this part or to ask folk to write their memories down so they can be gathered into a book.

Statement of Clarification: What kind of life do you wish to make in this home? What will be the most important activities in your house? Will you fill it with family and friends or will it serve as your retreat from the world? Will there be public and private spaces? What purpose does each of the rooms serve? How will you participate in the neighborhood? Clarify your intentions for this next period of living in the house. You can always rededicate the house when your situation changes.

Relinquishing the Barriers to a Full Life: A house blessing is an opportunity for a new start. What do you want to avoid and let go of as you create your home? What do you no longer wish to have in your house? This is an opportunity to release negative emotions and conflicts or anything that has gone on in the house. Relinquish anything that exists in yourself and in your relationships that you'd like to make better or that holds you back from having a great life in your home.

Sharing of Bread and Wine: Food and hospitality are such important parts of life. We forget what a sacred activity sharing food can be. Use your house blessing as an opportunity to celebrate the fullness of life in a ritual way.

Prayer of Dedication: Proclaim your intentions for living in your home. Allow Ann to write a prayer and a blessing that reflects your values for living. Read this prayer aloud. Post in your home. Make it a piece of living your life.

Living within the Sacred Circle: Dedicate this whole house and the life to be led within it to beauty, safety and love. Claim the blessing of home and declare that there is no room in this new home for anything but good to enter.