What Lies Within: Lore About the Home

Our homes are the places we learn, rest, grow, and love. It’s protection from the outside world. It’s our solace and our peace. It’s where we create magnificent meals and share them with our families. It’s where we fill the walls with inspirational quotes, books that inspire us, mementos from our travels… Our homes tell our stories.
 
And sometimes that story is a haunting one…

We’ve all been spending more time at home lately, which has been really good for the home improvement stores, right?! We’re finally getting around to those projects we always wanted to do; we’re planting flowers and painting walls. We’re cleaning out closets and organizing drawers. We’re getting our houses in order. But why is it that during a global pandemic that we seek to fix our house? Psychology may have some answers. 

JUNGIAN THERAPY HOME

According to an article by Brian Collinson, Jungian Therapy is riddled with home symbolism. As a secure place, our homes are akin to our mother’s womb. They are safe places for us to grow, learn, love, and rest. Many of us perpetually seek the home we grew up in—even though it’s more of a feeling, a memory, than an actual building.
 
In our dreams, the home is a symbol of our personalities. Depending on how the home appears in the dream, may reflect the state of our own minds. Our inner house needs tending to, as well. And during times like these—hello Covid-19—we may find ourselves needing to take care of both our inner and outer homes.
 
Beyond the psychology, there are also lots of myths and lore centered around the home.

THE GREEK GODDESS HESTIA

For example, Hestia was one of the three virgin goddesses that included Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. She was also an Olympian deity, which are the principal deities of Ancient Greece. 
 
Daughter of Titans Kronos and Rhea, she was the older sister of Zeus and Hades. Hestia was the goddess of domesticity and home—she was the goddess of the family structure even though she’d promised to always remain a virgin. There was a public hearth in every city that would burn continuously in her honor. When new cities were founded, a flame from the older city and placed in the new one. In essence, the cities were her children.
 
As the goddess of hearth and home, every meal began with an offering to her. Because she was the goddess of the home, people interacted with her every day. She would welcome them into their homes, watch over them, and offer them protection. She is also thought to have helped the Greeks learn to build their houses.
 
She is regarded as gentle, kind, and mild.

THE LARES IN ROMAN MYTHOLOGY

The Lares, sometimes called Night Watchman, were guardian spirits in Roman mythology. They were often depicted in snake or lizard form and dwelled under the hearth. Some believed they were the spirits of their ancestors who passed on. Romans kept alters for them in their homes. Ancient altars for them were even found in the ruins of the city of Pompeii.

BROWNIE

​A Brownie is an elf-like creature from Scottish folklore. Brownies are not the cutest creatures. They are hairy with spotted brown skin and wear tattered clothing. This house-elf does chores for the family while they sleep, but only if they treat him well. Brownies are easily offended, and if they’re treated poorly, they will destroy the house or leave it altogether.

DOMOVOY

Another moody household creature is a Domovoy, from Russian folklore. These creatures are believed to protect the home and its occupants, with special favor on the children. If the Domovoy gets angry and leaves, the house would then be unprotected and open to evil. To get back in its favor, it’s said that the blood of a sacrificed animal will appease it and convince it to carry on its duties to protect. 

MATAGOT

A Matagot, from French folklore, is typically depicted as a cat or fox. When it is a cat, it’s always a black one, but it’s not bad luck at all. A Matagot brings wealth when it’s being treated kindly. But don’t cross one. They will cause much misfortune if mistreated.

BOGGART

A Boggart, better known as the Bogeyman, has been the source of children’s nightmares for ages. Originating in English folklore, the Bogeyman typically has long dark hair and big black eyes—It is tall and thin.
 
It’s believed that the term first originated from the men who took dead bodies from the homes during the Black Plague. Now, they’re hiding in our closets and under our beds.

BANSHEE

​And then we have the Banshee, from Irish folklore. A Banshee appears before someone dies. They mourn the person who will die until they pass. Banshees are usually young women or old hags. They are said to have red, swollen eyes, long flowing hair, and wear long dresses. And they float… like ghosts.

WAYS TO GIVE YOUR HOME GOOD LUCK

Even if we aren’t lucky enough to have a Brownie, Domovoy, or Matagot to help us out. According to almanac.com, there are ways to improve our luck.

1. Never walk under a ladder. That’s said to be the devil’s territory.
2. Never give a knife as a housewarming gift. It’s believed that it will make the neighbor an enemy.
3. When you first move into a home, enter with a loaf of bread and a new broom. They say never to bring an old broom into a new house… I wish I had heard of this before we moved a month ago.
4. It’s said that pounding a nail after dark will wake and anger the tree gods. OOPS!
5. Hanging an empty hornet’s nest high will also bring good luck.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HAUNTED HOUSES

​But let’s say we aren’t blessed with a kind, comfortable home… perhaps some of us are plagued with a haunted house. As humans, when we don’t understand something, we tend to vilify it. We create monsters from shadows.
 
Carl Jung wrote about his experience in a haunted house. While he was away at a cottage with a colleague, one night, he felt tired, and there came a horrible smell in the room. Then there was a smell of flowers until the morning light. Then he was able to sleep again. The next night, with the windows open, again came the horrendous smell. He recognized the scent as an open wound from a patient in his past. He then heard the noise of a tap dripping. One drop every two seconds. But there was no water anywhere, and it wasn’t raining. Finally, sleep came when the sun came up. He couldn’t make sense of the noises and smells. He experienced it again, but now there was more noise. Every time the lights went off, the air would smell terrible, the sounds would begin, and sleep wouldn’t come. But when the lights were on, everything was normal. Things continued to get worse as the days past. Now, there were bangs from outside. He kept trying to convince himself that there was no one knocking, no storms, no noises. They had gotten a great deal on the rent, which they were excited about at first, but now he understood why it was so cheap. And one of the housemaids mentioned that the house was haunted and refused to stay there after dark.
 
In the attic, they found a door with a lock. The house girls didn’t even know about the door, and they couldn’t figure out why it was blocked off. He saw the head of an old woman, and one of her eyes stared at him. He moved into another room and finally was able to sleep. He was convinced the house was haunted.
 
Later, his host experienced the same things, and his host left the home. Carl also learned that the house had been torn down later because its owner couldn’t keep it rented.
 
The paranormal is difficult to explain, and like we discussed earlier, we aren’t usually comfortable with things we don’t understand. But between you and me, I’m a believer in actual ghosts… but the most terrifying monsters walk our streets.

THE HERO’S JOURNEY

​This idea of home has really been on my mind a lot lately. We recently moved, and there’s a sadness for the chapter that’s now finished in changing homes. There are memories that emotionally we feel like are lost just by leaving that space. But by moving, we’re opening a new chapter, and hope and possibility are floating around. 
 
It’s a surge of emotions to change place—to redesign and structure your story going forward. The original title of this episode was “Your Home, Your Story,” because that is what our home provides. It’s the hardback cover and spine that protects and lifts what’s within.
 
Nearly every story—and all the good ones—involve some sort of hero’s journey. A protagonist leaves the safety and comfort of his home and sets out on a journey. Returning home is usually a goal throughout, but what he learns—after he’s faced the dragons and monsters of this world—is that there is no returning home. Home is never the way it was. And that’s because he is not the way he was before. He’s changed, and in that change, home has taken on a new meaning. There’s a sense of completion but also sadness there. The protagonist had made it, but he knows that his youth’s blissful ignorance will forever be gone. And the truth is often a heavy weight to carry.

CONCLUSION

But it’s inside the walls of our homes that our tales are told—our journey is written on the walls through photos, quotes, books, and mementos. We are comforted by dwelling within our story, and even though most of us crave adventures outside, it’s our homes that give us deep connection and often peace.
 
Ghosts, elves, boogeyman, and all.
 
There’s no place like home, yet home will never be what it was.

Produced by Vanessa K. Eccles.
Research Assistance by Whitney Zahar.
Music by Kevin MacLeod and Epidemic Sound (paid license).