Mini Spirit House

I am home with my family for Spring Break! This means spending lots of time with my littlest siblings. My little sister wanted to have a day with me, and so I told her we could get something from Michael's and paint it. She found these mini-bird houses she wanted to paint, and I got one with her.

While I was in the store, I remembered that I had seen a few things about 'spirit houses' recently, and wanted to paint mine to be a spirit house, rather than just a decoration. I did a little research into spirit houses to make sure that it wouldn't be culturally appropriative, and it does not appear to be so.

Wikipedia describes spirit houses as: "...a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that is found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_house)

Since I just set up a sacred space in a forest, I thought this would be a good way to honor the land, as well as appease any spirits that live there.

Before Paint

It is quite a bit smaller than normal spirit houses, but I didn't have the money for a more extravagant one, and I think the spirits will appreciate the gesture.

After Paint

I made this house to honor nature spirits, so I wanted to keep a nature theme with it. I made the roof look like a sky, and painted the house green, with mushrooms circling the bottom to represent earth/ the forest.

Here you can see the mushrooms a bit more clearly

I really like how it turned out, and hopefully the spirits will too. I am going to add a clear coat to it, so I can hang it outside without worrying about the rain affecting it. I may also add a few bells to it, to make it feel more welcoming,

I will also come up with a dedication or prayer or something to say over it before I hang it up.

Thanks for reading! I hope this Monday finds you well.