To do with paganism, cleansing, and a thought

I'm having a cleansing day.
Everything must be cleansed, why?
Because I think something got dragged into the apartment sometime over the course of the last 2 weeks celebrations. Thinks are going wrong that shouldn't be and there's a not so right feeling floating around.
So out comes the herbs, the incense, the mop and bucket.

I try to keep up on my cleaning and cleansing as I welcome many people into this tiny apartment and rarely turn away those wanting to have a chat or tea, this however can drag into many unwanted things. I've have people come in that sparked a cleaning frenzy immediately because something, some emotion, some hang on, something was dragged in and left behind while others still just leave behind energy that may just not get along nicely with what's already here.
It happens and I deal with it although it's a bit early for a full apartment cleansing (I usually go top to bottom in February or March ). I have already started with my entrance way and kitchen, both of which are very important to my family and tradition.
People come and go through the entrance and usually gather in the kitchen... well around food in general. So those two places are the most likely to need cleaning. I have the entrance done and things are lightening up already, half of the kitchen has begun but not with much change yet.

I've also been reading up on some blogs, I don't really follow most because I forget, that and I read in spurts. Read a few now, make a tidal wave of comments then disappear for a few weeks. But I am getting more and more frequent with reading them, and because of this increasing frequency I have found many more that I like and that make me think.
I wont post them up yet as I want to ask if they are ok with it first but one blogger posted a few months ago about cults and the new age. This was weird because only a few nights ago I was discussing the topic with a few friends of various beliefs and faiths and most of the points we came up with matched this post more or less. I decided to do a little more digging and found that many people have similar thoughts on the subject but different views on what a cult actually is.
The collins dictionary says this

"cult  (kʌlt)
— n
1.	a specific system of religious worship, esp with reference to itsrites and deity
2.	a sect devoted to such a system
3.	a quasi-religious organization using devious psychological techniques  to gain and control adherents
4.	sociol  a group having an exclusive ideology and ritual  practices centred on sacred symbols, esp one characterized by lack of  organizational structure
5.	intense interest in and devotion to a person, idea, or activity:the cult of yoga
6.	the person, idea, etc, arousing such devotion
7.	a. something regarded as fashionable or significant by aparticular group
	b. ( as modifier ): a cult show
8.	( modifier ) of, relating to, or characteristic of a cult or cults:a cult figure
[C17: from Latin cultus  cultivation, refinement, from colere  totill]" cult. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved December 30, 2011, from Dictionary.com website:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cult And honestly I looked at more than one dictionary but all the recent ones say the same thing.  The definition of the word cult seems to mean many things but I can't help but think the way it's used and the definition really is dependent on the person using it. I have heard it used in so many different ways and it used to labels many different circumstances (though mostly bad) and it makes me want to ask a question, what really is a cult? What is the different between many of the large extreme religions around the world and the small groups that get all the media attention. I had a friend say something along the lines of this  "The only difference between what the media calls a cult and the large organised extreme religions is that one has more followers..." .
He further went on to discuss things like scare tactics and the like. The average person might think this idea is crazy or may stop to think a bit, those who are in a cult may very well agree with this statement, while those of organised religious groups (from my experience only) might very well start a very long and very angry rant. Now I know it's probably too early to have followers and maybe even too early to have many (if any) readers but I still want to ask this. What do you think? Please keep it civil and calm as I know this topic can easily start a blaze. I would like people to think long and hard before posting, maybe even sleep on their post, but i still want to read any comments that may or may not be left here. Anyways Back to my cleansing.