It can be helpful to understand the phenomenon known as ‘hoarding,’ this behaviour involves holding onto a high percentage of every possession, one comes into contact with, for as long as possible. It has particular relevance to your relationship to the ghosts in your life, as this inclination, not wanting to let go of things, makes it difficult to move on and allow new things to come into your life. If you surround yourself with possessions, which by their very nature act as talismans for people and certain times of your past life, then you will be consciously and unconsciously spending time and energy reliving these experiences – this can be useful and fulfilling for awhile, as in grieving – but eventually it will become a barrier to new life reaching you. You must ask yourself, “is hoarding an issue for you?”
How Much of a Hoarder Are You?
Hoarding has many levels of manifestation, from the full-blown bag/cat lady, Steptoe & son, tinker mentality, where the whole house becomes a tip or junk shop; down to rooms and cupboards filled with junk from the past. The hoarder may even be unaware of his or her behaviour, as things are transferred to garages and sheds; into storage and out of sight out of mind, but the attachment to these things remain. It is often the case, that many of us have whole sections of our lives boxed up and stored, almost like the situation with museums and art galleries, where they only have a small percentage of their collection on display and must have huge warehouse spaces, often beneath the gallery spaces, to house the majority. Underworlds of dead things labelled and boxed, each thing with a story to tell about the past and a connection to someone, somewhere.
Hoarders Are Hanging Onto the Past
The hoarder is preserving possessions from his or her past in a last gasp refusal to completely let go of this time in their life. If you have had the experience of returning to these boxes of archaeological evidence from your past, you will know the mixture of emotions that are ignited when opening these formerly sealed time capsules. It begins as just a non-descript box containing who knows what and then a little excitement builds as you recognise something of its contents, soon you are enchanted by the memories, immediately transported back to that time, these feelings can be bitter-sweet and eventually turn to dust, as you rifle through the remaining contents and realise that much is merely rubbish; it is your connection to the memories which maintains any magic in the experience. All relics are the same really, whether holy religious icons, whose magical spell is maintained by the believer; it is the belief that maketh the magic.
Watching young children, when asked to clean up their rooms, shines a light on our connection to things from the past we have held onto, as the children quickly lose touch with the current reality of cleaning up and are instantly transported back to whatever game the objects/toys originally inspired. Adults when moving to a new house are often, especially at the beginning of the process, similarly re-enchanted by their own memorabilia and personal possessions from the past. We all invest tremendous amounts of energy in the possessions we hold onto and we often forget this. We are then frustrated by the slowness of change, when we desire it, and are unaware of our trapped position in this spider’s web of old stuff/memories holding us back.
Become aware of the litany of your collection of possessions, don’t just leave it for the executors of your will and family members, deal with it while you are still alive and see if you really wish to hold onto this stuff. It would be good to have an annual clearing day on the calendar, where all individuals are encouraged to reappraise, reengage and possibly recycle their ‘belongings’ (interesting word association as in who belongs to who?). It is not just about throwing away old things, it is a much more involved process and could be awarded a ritualised status to acknowledge that. We invest our energy, feelings, hopes and aspirations in these things and they hold part of us in their grasp, as we have reached out and grasped these things.
As materialists living in a material world it is interesting to observe our connection to the many and varied things in our lives. To look at how factories and manufacturing have replaced craftsmanship in the production of the material things we daily interact with. No longer are many things handmade and unique, but rather mass produced and ultimately disposable. Our current obsession with high tech gadgets, like phones, computers and such, and their rapidly diminishing life spans of usefulness is an interesting quandary for us all.
What does this mean for our age-old inclination to invest material objects with meaning and magic? I think it points toward a return to the intangible nature of existence away from the worthless plastic shell, which may encase it. The flickering screen and impermeable quality of our communications and creativity speak of something beyond solidity. The dance of quantum energy performing here and there, but only for a moment. Let go of the past if hoarding is an issue for you.