Cleansing

 

What is cleansing?

Think of cleansing as an energetic cleaning, you're wiping away all the negative emotions, and the energies of other people, and starting off brand new like a blank page ready to be written on with only your imprint, your energy, and your intentions. 

Cleansing is used to purify, clean energy, and clear vibrations. It can clear away negative & toxic energies or stagnant energies, cleansing can be charged with your intentions.

Cleansing can be done on many things including, a new home, your current home, a particular space, ritual tools, tarot decks, crystals, your Grimoire or even yourself.

You can and should cleanse yourself daily, an easy cleansing ritual that I use daily is when I'm showering in the morning I will visualise the water washing all the negativity off my body down the drain. 

Another technique that is easy to incorporate into your life, is when you are vacuuming or sweeping imagine that along with the dust and dirt, any negativity, toxic energy, stress or whatever else needs to be cleansed is being vacuumed up or swept away.

There are many ways to cleanse including, smoke, water, the moon and the sun, crystals, salt, visualisation and sound.

Cleansing with smoke: 

Burning dried plants, woods and resins in rituals has been used by ancient peoples and civilisations for thousands of years. For example, Ancient Romans lit up cinnamon during funerals and rosemary to stimulate healing. In Mesopotamia, the Minoans and the Mycenaeans burned ladanum (a gum resin) and saffron (an antioxidant herb). Burning incense is a staple ceremony in ancient Egypt as a way of worshipping their gods. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), burning agarwood and sandalwood is believed to promote emotional and physical wellness. The Roman Catholic church practices incense burning to amplify prayers so that petitions and intentions would rise to heaven. The Assyrians burned boxwood, cedar, Cyprus, and fir in their homes, altars, and healing places. The Native American Indians burn sage in a ritual called smudging for sacred ceremonies such as spiritual healing and cleansing of negative energies.

Herbs for smoke cleansing:

Bay - Cedar - Cinnamon - Clove - Copal - Dragon's Blood - Elder leaves- 

Eucalyptus - Frankincense - Juniper - Lavender - Mint - Mugwort -Olive leaves - Palo Santo - Pine - Rosemary -Rose petals - Thyme - Sage - Vervain - Yerba Santa

How to cleanse with smoke:

First, choose your herb, incense, resin etc make sure they are ethically sourced, and do some research as each herb has multiple correspondences. For example, Lavender which is one of my favourite cleansing herbs can be used for healing, calming, anxiety, clarity, communication, release, sleep, peace, love, tranquillity, happiness, cleansing, balance and psychic protection among other things. So if you want to cleanse your bedroom or the room your altar is in with smoke and you want to imbue your intention at the same time say peace then lavender is perfect. Or if you're cleansing an object say a new deck of tarot cards and you want to imbue the intention of intuition, Echinacea is a great herb to use. 

Cleansing a house or room:

Once you have chosen and sourced your herbs, you should psychically clean the space, open the curtains and let the sunlight or moonlight in, and open the windows so that the negative energy has somewhere to go. 

Stand in the front doorway of your house or the door to the room you are cleansing and either aloud or in your mind repeat your intention or say a mantra something like "with this smoke I banish all negativity so only love and light remain". 

Using your chosen dried herbs, light them till they start smoking but not alight, you don't want them to be on fire. Using a fireproof dish, abalone shells work well, (to hold underneath your herbs and catch the ash), walk slowly around the room letting the smoke fill the space. You can use your hand or a feather to waft the smoke if you like, but make sure the smoke reaches all parts of the room, the corners, windows, and doors. Keep thinking or speaking your intention or mantra as you walk around the room or house and finish back at the door you began with. 

Once you have finished use the fireproof dish to extinguish the smoking herbs. Or alternatively, you can place the smoking herbs into the fireproof dish and let them go out themselves.

Cleansing an object or yourself:

The process of cleansing yourself or a particular object such as crystals (use dragons blood to cleanse and amplify), ritual tools (use juniper to cleanse, center, clarity and focus), tarot decks (use mugwort to cleanse, protect, give strength, amplify psychic power aide in divination), or your Grimoire (use bay or bay leaf to cleanse, protect, and wisdom) and is basically the same as cleansing a room or house. Start by choosing your cleansing herbs, remember that herbs have multiple correspondences, so try to choose one that matches your intentions. 

If the object can be physically cleaned do so, but if not that's ok, if you are cleansing yourself have a shower or bath beforehand. Using a fireproof dish under your dried herbs, light the herbs until they smoke and think or speak your intention or mantra.  Make sure that the smoke wafts over the entire object or yourself, you can use your hand, feather or fan to direct the flow of smoke. Repeat your mantra or intention. When done either extinguish the herbs in the fireproof dish or place them in the dish and let them go out themselves.  

Cleansing with the  moon:

Moon water collected when the moon is full is an excellent way to harness the power and energy of the moon. It makes a great tool with which to cleanse just add it to a spray bottle and use it in any room or on an object that can get wet. To read the post on Moon Water click here.

Another way to cleanse with the moon is to do a full moon cleansing ritual. This can be done to cleanse yourself, your crystals, your tarot cards, ritual tools, or anything that may hold need an energy cleanse.

To perform this ritual all you need is the object you want cleansed and the light of the full moon. Outside is best for this but if the object is small you can place it on a window sill (same as making moon water). If you're cleansing yourself with the moon, it's best to take a cleansing shower or bath, use Epsom salts or herbs like lavender or mugwort, put some calming music on the light some candles and incense or essential oils (again use candle colours and incense or oils that correspond to cleansing and calming).

Once you or the object is clean sit or lay where you and can see and feel the moon. Leave the object for as long as possible but collect it before the sun rises. If you're cleansing yourself you may like to meditate or use visualisation to complete your cleansing ritual. 

Cleansing with crystals:

Using crystals for cleansing is so effective and super easy. You can even use crystals to cleanse other crystals! 

The best crystals to use for cleansing are Amethyst - you can use a geode or make a circle of amethyst crystals around whatever you need to be cleansed. Large quartz clusters and selenite slabs, carnelian, and hematite can be great tools for clearing smaller stones. You can place your crystals inside or on top as long as the cleansing stone is bigger than those being cleansed. 

Cleansing with Visualisation:

This method can be intimidating for some, especially those who have never done it or have little practice. The more in-tune, you are with yourself, the easier it will be to cleanse with visualisation

A cleansing shower can help to calm and get into the right mindset for this cleansing method. Take a few minutes to ground and center your energy, then visualize your chest filling with white, radiant light. Feel the heat from the cleansing light, visualise it slowly filling your body, and surrounding it. Picture the negativity and stress begin pushed out but the cleansing light flowing out into the air and dissipating. Now visualise the light's glow slowly dimming and fading away falling back into your chest as you breathe slowly through your nose and out through your mouth. 

Cleansing with Salt:

Salt has been used for thousands of years to cleanse, absorb negative energy and for banishing unwanted energies.

All salt has cleansing properties but there are a few different types of salt and all have different correspondences. Click here to read Salt Correspondences.

Different salt that can be used for cleansing is White salt (normal table salt), pink salt, sea salt, Fleur De Sel, Sel Gris, Epsom salt, Kosher salt, Alaea (red) salt, Pickling salt, Kala Namak and black salt can all be used for cleansing.

Place the object into a bowl filled with desired salt and place or bury the object in the salt. Leave for around 12 hours you can place the bowl in the moonlight for extra cleansing.

Cleansing with water:

Water is perhaps the best cleansing agent on the planet, different types of water have different correspondences, to read the post about Water Correspondences click here.

Moon water, seawater, river water, spring water and rainwater are a few types that are perfect for cleansing. 

If you're cleansing crystals be careful some can't be put in water at all, and others can't be put in salt water.  

To cleanse an object with water submerge, bathe, or spray the object with water. 

To really amp up your cleansing you can add essential oils like angelica, bay, birch, pine, lemon or sage or herbs such as basil, eucalyptus, frankincense, juniper or lavender into a spray bottle mixed with water. This is the perfect way to cleanse a room that can't be cleansed with smoke, or when you need to be a little more discreet with your witchcraft like the office. 

Cleansing with sound: 

Using sound to cleanse a space, an object or yourself is an ancient practice that is still used today all around the world. You can use sound on its own or you can use it in conjunction with another cleansing method to amp up your cleansing practice. 

To cleanse with sound you can use bells, sound bowls, or wind chimes, or simply use frequency (417 Hz solfeggio), you can even use breath work as the cleansing sound, or your voice as you chant an affirmation or mantra. 

• I cleanse this space of all negative energies, leaving only love and light remaining. 
• I call forth positivity and light to enter this space. Any negative energy is not welcome here.

Cleansing by burying in the earth:

Kind of sounds silly to say bury something in the dirt to clean it, but remember we're talking about cleansing energy, and dirt is one of the most abundant and magickal tools a witch can use. 

All you need to do, for this method, is to dig a hole, in your yard, a plant pot or even just a container of fresh soil. Place whatever it is that needs cleansing in, cover it up, leave it overnight and dig it up in the morning. Rinse them off and the earth has done everything for you. For a really deep clean leave the object in the earth for a full lunar cycle. 

 

Things like ritual tools, crystals, and amulets or talismans are perfect for this method of cleansing. When using this method don't forget where your items are buried maybe try placing a marker like a stone on top.