Today I'm going to give you a no-frills guide to a cleansing ritual for your space: smudging. In the simplest of terms, it basically all boils down to wrapping up a bundle of dried herbs (usually sage) and burning it to release magical cleansing smoke that vanquishes darkness from your life, space, mind, etc. This practice has literally been alive as long as there has been bad energy to get rid of. It's made a resurgence in the past few years because, well, it’s awesome and very effective, if I do say so myself!
Click through for the full guide!
Before you begin:
Be sure that when you are smudging, you are in your own space. If you live or work in a shared space, please make sure that you have permission from everybody before you begin, as to not crop up potential negativity attached to the smudging ceremony.
Please be careful and use your common sense and fire safety knowledge you learned in school. You're going to be dealing with a bundle of burning leaves in closed quarters, so make sure you don't leave it burning unattended or around flammable materials.
What you need:
A bundle of sage - You can get this online, in new age/occult shops, bookstores, and even some health food stores.
A fireproof receptacle - Anything will do, but this is where I like to get fancy and use a pretty silver tray. It's up to you how elaborate you want to get!
Lighter/matches
Optional: Candle; crystals (quartz is especially good for absorbing negative energy)
This cleansing ritual can be done alone or with open minded friends!
Don't force or bring anyone into this who may not be comfortable or might bring negativity into this space.
Directions:
Before you begin, set an intention.
Focus intently on what you want to accomplish during this cleansing ceremony.
Here are a couple of verses that I like to use:
Please cleanse this space of negativity and fill it with light.
I welcome all the love and kindness the universe has to offer.
Protect me and the ones I love from harm.
As you light your smudge stick, visualize a warm light cutting through and removing all of the dark negative energies swirling around in your physical and mind space. Ask that these energies be dispersed, removed, and do not return.
Be confident and have conviction in your prayer. You are a wonderful, strong human being and full of the power to control the energies in your space.
While the smoke burns, use your hand to fan it all around yourself and anything else you may want to cleanse. To cleanse a space, begin in one corner of the room and move around to each corner, making sure to fan smoke into the corners of the room and behind doors. Move from room to room as you see fit.
This is a very intuitive ceremony, so when you feel like you've completed it and have successfully cleansed yourself and space, extinguish your smudge stick in your receptacle. You can do this by rubbing it out like a cigarette or sprinkling some water on it. I usually burn it pretty lightly so it extinguishes itself within a couple of minutes.
Thats it!
If you have any questions or comments about cleansing rituals or want to chat about your smudging experiences, send me an email at contact@lolitabandita.co. I'd love to hear from you!
Happy Cleansing, my friends!
