- Ethics, Rituals
Energy cleansing in your space
Why should you cleanse your space?
We no longer live out in nature where Mother Earth naturally takes care of this cleansing business for us. And our manmade spaces can get heavy, yucky and stagnant energy if we don’t do something about it.
Energy cleansing is an ancient practice, often called smudging, that clears negative energies/brings in positive energies to a space. While there are many ways to purify a space, two of the most popular methods use sage and palo santo.
Palo Santo or “holy wood”, is a fragrant sacred tree that grows on the coast of South America.
For centuries it has been burnt by Shamans in smudging rituals to purify and cleanse their space, as well as to ward off negative energies and promote healing.
Palo santo is said to cleanse the negative energy away from your space and bring in good, positive energy. It doesn’t burn as easily as sage, so it may be best used for smaller spaces. It can also be used as a natural mosquito repellent and can relieve pain and stress.
Sage
Sage is made up of the sage plant’s leaves and has a stronger, more plant-like smell when burned. There are a number of different kinds of sage, and all of them are just fine for smudging. However, the most common sages for smudging are Desert Sage and White Sage.
It is a powerful plant, as it can be used to clear out all energy in a space, leaving room for positive and new vibes instead. If you have really heavy energy to move out, such as a divorce, a new space with heavy energy, bad roommates moving out, fighting with your spouse, bad tenants, etc… you always want to reach for some sage to clear out all of the toxic energy.
The ritual
Before burning, you want to make sure a window is open to release all negativity from the home, this step is critical otherwise you will trap the negativity in the home. Before you begin, you will, again, want to set your intentions for the ceremony.
For Palo Santo, light it for at least 30 seconds and then blow out. Let the smoke circulate for 1-2 minutes to clear your space of negative energy.
For Sage, remove any ribbons, let it burn for about 20 seconds and then blow it out by waving it in the air. While the smoke is still lingering, you can walk around the space from corner to corner letting the smoke hit all walls and corners of the space.
Have a great smudge!
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