I love how we humans share so much in common- far more things than not- and that when we tend to those shared needs instead of our opinionated differences, we do better as a species. Housekeeping is one of them. Cleaning is universal. I don’t mean necessarily wanting to clean things or actually doing it, but the need to be clean and keep things clean and orderly for optimal function, well—it’s just a fact of life we all share. And in the first week of the New Year, it’s a place I like to shine the light.
Cleansing, Clearing, Cleaning, Letting Go. It can happen intentionally or inevitably. Out with the old and in with the new. I start clearing on the material level and let it work into a soul level and just when everything seems all clean and uncluttered, my house and I become a mess and have to do it all over again. But better to do it regularly than let it build up, right? Cleaning is like putting beads on a string with no knot on the end. Like washing windows while there are pigeons on the roof. It’s a never-ending cycle, so you might as well just surrender and make the best of it. Make it an art.
As a child, I saw cleaning as a form of play. My parents had a woman named Alice who came once a week to help with the housecleaning and the story goes that when I was four-years old, I asked my mom to help me make a sign to hang on my bedroom door: “Please leave my room alone. I can handle it myself. Thank you.”
To me, having things in specific, organized spaces was a work of care and beauty, and it didn’t make sense to have someone do it for me if I was capable of it myself. I also saw cleaning as my statement to the world for expressing love for my surroundings and an appreciation for what I had. I was never able to draw well, so cleaning a room was my equivalent artistic expression- an open space for creating the scene in your mind’s eye. I have always been highly attuned to settings and known there was a basic standard of care and attention needed to bring flow into any space.
If I went to a friend’s house and their room was a mess, I would ask if they wanted me to help clean and organize it. My best friend Stephanie’s mom loved having me over, needless to say. But I think the overarching thing cleanliness did was help me find order in a nonsensical, uncertain world. It brought me into the present. It brought peace.
“If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”
-Thich Nhat Hahn from The Miracle of Mindfulness
Cleaning is what makes me feel alive! Caring for our space is an honor, a privilege. When I wash the dishes, I am aware how blessed I am to have running warm water, to have dishes, to have dirty dishes, which means that I had food to eat! When I clean the toilet, I remember how it felt to not have a pot to piss in. I have been there. Every little corner of my home holds energy, and I want that energy to flow. Cleaning is attention and attention is love. And it’s not always easy or fun. I think of Sri Swami Satchidanada’s way of explaining purifying things in the Yoga Sutras. He says if you want clean clothes, you don’t just fold them and stick a rose on top. No- you shake it, soap it up, agitate it, put it under water over and over, ring it out until, finally, it comes out clean. It’s like that with our hearts and minds too. I love how housework mirrors our soul work. Whether with the broom or vacuum, the way you clean up the outside is usually a reflection of what’s going on in the inside.
Tending lovingly to our space is a powerful prayer of gratitude for what we have as well as an acknowledgement of how many of our brothers and sisters don’t have a home— whether they are homeless, or there lives have been bombed, or they lost it to flood or fire— we can show respect and hope for all beings to have a place to call their own, by tending to the gifts we have in front of us.
When I water and tend the houseplants— pick off their dead leaves, repot them, rotate them— I say the name of the folks that each plant connects me to. Walt, who loves the Pencil Cactus so much he rooted them and gave me one. Cindy, who always sends me home with something and this time it was the Propeller plant. Paul, who made the pot the Rose Geranium plant lives in. Meghan, who gave me this blue-hued succulent that fun New Year’s Eve so long ago. Jessie showing her love for me with a gift of a String of Hearts. Marc for the birthday Begonias; mom for the Aloes; Makyziah for the ghost succulent; Jeremy for the Burrough’s Tail; Caty for the barrel cacti and on and on they go! I get a chance to bless their life and send love to each person and plant, what a joy! We can do this with so many of the possessions we own- what are their stories?
You can only truly own what you can take care of.
And in truth, what you own also owns you.
The work and responsibilities to maintain things well around here have gotten to be too much. Recently, after cleaning my home and hundreds of others over the decades, I have called in some regular help with cleaning so that I can have time to write. It’s been such a blessing! But I will always keep housekeeping as long as my health allows. Gandhi would have everyone at his ashram take part in the cleaning and rotate the tasks among the residents. No one was above cleaning a latrine. With this attitude, we embrace the magic of the ordinary, which is where most of earth’s magic resides. I have had some of my best epiphanies while cleaning the toilet.
This brings me around to cats and how I just can’t write about cleaning without calling in cats, the best housekeepers. Always looking for order, precise function, clean surroundings… But how do cats, with their stinky breath, their mouths that eat mice, make themselves so clean and smell so lovely from just licking themselves? It is one of life’s many mysteries. And I do not want to hear about any scientific explanations of anti-bacterial properties in their tongues. It’s magical. Oh, the way my cat Junipurr licks her paws, in between every toe- she is fastidious and meticulous. Watching her groom herself is one of my most effective de-stressors and inspirations to clean my own body and space. Thank you, dear cats.
May we tend to what we have, let go of what we cant, and live simply so that others may simply live. Blessings of 2024, everyone!
Mary Morgaine Squire
1/5/24
~Love Letters to Our Plant Allies~
Tea
Camellia sinensis
Theaceae
Dear Tea,
Having a daily relationship with you for over 15 years was one of the best things that ever happened to me. You gave me the charge to be an extremely productive and sharp thinking person. You opened up my senses and pleasured my tastes and kept me going. You taught me about ceremony and variety and culture. And addiction.
I had to end it, this internal love affair, because loving you so much eventually came at a cost that was greater than the benefit. I am afraid to pour another cup of you, for fear I can’t stop. One becomes two. Two becomes three. Three, four. You taste so good! How strong your influence has been over me. If I could limit my intake to one cup, I would keep on. But I was never able to do that and my adrenals have become taxed. Instead of lifting me up, by and by, drinking you has brought me down. I envy the people who have found a balance with you because you are such an amazing ally.
I am on a new path with you now, Camellia, where our relationship is external- by cultivating you, by looking at illustrations and photos of you and talking about you like an old friend. By smelling my husband’s freshly poured cup of Darjeeling and letting your steam swirl around my face. By admiring the gorgeous colors of your bushes bred for their showy flowers in southern gardens. By making arrangements of your white autumn flowers with their mass of golden stamens and pistils. By making floral water out them.
Do you realize, Tea, that next to water, you are the most consumed beverage in the entire world? I try and imagine you being birthed in China so many millions of years ago and then that first discovery of your gifts. How you trickled into the homes of everyone you grew near. What an ancient being you are, traveling the Tea Horse Road and later following the route of colonization, without choice, being cultivated and devoured all over the planet. India’s climate really worked for you and you have taken off there, famous for the regions where you grow. People have put down your roots everywhere you will tolerate.
We have figured out how to play with your sinensis leaves and twigs to make all kinds of variant drinks: white, green, oolong, black, pu’erh, kukicha. One species, many teas. Time, tradition and skill transforming your freshly picked buds and leaves into pure medicine.
Growing up, my family poured you under the guise of Lipton, served iced and sweet. I tasted you once like that when I was young and thought “I hate this drink!” Decades later my friend Kerry introduced me to a warm cup of your Earl Grey with a touch of milk, and I was shocked this could be the same plant.
I wanted to name my first daughter after you, Camellia. But her father didn’t like that. Then I tried with my second daughter, and her father wouldn’t go for it either. The way your name rolls off my tongue, Camilla, Camilla- I think it sounds absolutely beautiful. Perhaps I will name my next cat after you.
Your leaves are picked green, packed and fermented till black. Rich you are in antioxidants, helping us feel ageless for a minute. Thank you for being an anti- inflammatory and mood enhancing ally and so influential upon the human race. I am still really in love with you.
Love,
Mary Plantwalker
-Want to drink some seriously high quality tea? Visit Rivers & Lakes Teas website and choose from their authentic collection. Gus travels to the places of tea origin to source the best quality tea.
-What solution do I like to clean with, you may ask? A plant infusion-based solution, of course!! Here is my favorite mopping recipe:
Mary Morgaine’s Natural Mopping Solution
For a gallon or so of solution:
-Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add Lavender or Motherwort or Shiso or Yarrow or Rosemary or something else or all of the above and let it steep for at least an hour, covered. Strain it and use as your base.
Then add:
-a cup of vinegar
-a couple tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide
-a tablespoon of borax
-a tablespoon of Dr. Bronners
-and some essential oil if you want
-Stir speak your prayers into the solution
Use it all up. Don’t store this, ok?
Cleaning and tea go together in my world… I started seasonally decorating my space when I had a houseful of children. It was a way to celebrate and enjoy every seasonal change. I’ve kept doing it, on a smaller scale, now that they are on their own. And, as a woman of a certain age, I am mindfully downsizing my belongings with an eye toward what I’ll be able to maintain on my own as I continue around the sun…. This includes furniture that I cannot move on my own… it’s my way of keeping my independence… and my daily afternoon tea ceremony is my way of appreciating that independence!
I’m always amazed by the parallels of our lives.
Just this past week I was deep cleaning, remembering how clear and nourishing your spaces feel. And just this morning watching our kitty lick her paws clean and marvelling.
And, as usual, your wisdom brings insight:
“You can only truly own what you can take care of. And in truth, what you own also owns you.”
I had forgotten how much I love kuchika twig tea! Thank you for the reminder. It’s going on our grocery list!