Cleansing
Spiritual/energetic cleansing is the act of purifying or banishing energy from the mind, body, spirit, environment, or tools, but what are you cleansing away and why is it important? This world is full of different energies and we are all susceptible to picking them up anywhere and everywhere. This becomes even more true if you participate in any sort of energetic/psychic work or if you are more energetically sensitive like those who are empathic or open psychically. It’s common to refer to the energy being cleared as negative, but after learning more about how energy works, I believe it’s less about “negative” and more about helpful vs. harmful energies. Without an effective spiritual hygiene routine, we are vulnerable to soaking all the energies around us like sponges which can have a harmful or generally unwanted impact on our energy. Cleansing practices allow you to reclaim your power from unwanted energies and allows you to have a say over what energies you will and will not allow in your energetic field and safe space like your home, car, work space, etc..
WHEN TO CLEANSE
Cleansing needs will vary depending on what you do, where you go, and who you tend to be around. All of these factors can affect our energy in different ways which affects how often we would need to cleanse. Those who go out more, tend to be in highly populated areas, or spend time in more energetically active places like hospitals, nursing homes, and cemeteries would benefit from cleansing more often as well as placing the proper protections around yourself and your home. It’s also important to cleanse after having visitors in the home or after being around people who don’t necessarily have your best interest at heart. Those who connect with different energies or spirits like those who do psychic work, energy healing, spell work, etc. would benefit from cleansing them and their space more regularly, as well as before and after any of those practices. Most practices benefit from you cleansing first, but you’ll want to cleanse the space afterwards to ensure that none of that energy bleeds into other spaces. Regardless of who you are or what you do, everyone is an inherently energetic being and would benefit from a regular cleansing routine, whether that be weekly, every other week, or monthly.
SIGNS OF NEEDING TO CLEANSE
Low Energy/Exhausted
Sleep Changes (to much or to little)
Unexplained deep sadness/depression
Unmotivated/uninspired
Feeling disconnected from intuition/guides
Insecurities/fears heightened (Anxiety/Paranoia)
Unexplained anger/irritability
After having visitors or having been in a highly populated space - especially after being around those who don’t have your best interest at heart
Disclaimer: Spiritual health practices are intended to be in addition to standard mental/physical health care. Please tend to your physical/mental health first and foremost.
CLEANSING PRACTICES + RECOMMENDATIONS
For each of these practices, you’ll want to start off by calling back your energy and ground your energy into the present moment so you can focus it on cleansing and ensure all of your energy is restored. You can do this by connecting with your heart space and taking a few clearing breaths and focus your awareness back to the present moment. Call your energy back to you and feel it being pulled back from anything you’ve given it to, voluntarily or involuntarily.
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Water is naturally associated with purification so an intentional shower or bath is a perfect space to cleanse and refresh your energy. This practice can be quick and simple, using the best time already being spent in the shower, or can be made into a more relaxing, luxurious experience with the use of different types of materials like candles, music, incenses, etc.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SHOWER CLEANSING
For a bath, you’ll wan to prep the space the same way as the shower and fill it with cleansing materials like salts, oils, herbs, etc. I always follow up my healing baths with a cleansing shower just to rinse all of the energy off of me and down the drain.
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Smoke cleansing is a common cleansing practice because it is very simple and to the point. If you have pets or children in the home, smoke cleansing might be a little strong for them, but if you open the windows and doors beforehand, it shouldn't be to harsh. You can also use sound cleansing in replacement for smoke cleansing.
You can use this practice to cleanse yourself, your tools, and your space with each having a different set of instructions but most of it is down to personal preference so instead of giving you step by step instructions for each, I'm going to give you a tip for each and you can go from there.
When cleansing yourself, work from the top down and don't forget your hands and your feet. I also like to make sure to really get my hair as well.
When cleansing your space, be sure to around the entire perimeter of the space and spend extra time around spaces you tend to spend a lot of time or express a lot of your emotions - ex. bed, shower, altar spaces.
When cleansing your tools or an object, I do like to go in a counterclockwise motion around the object until I feel it's been cleansed - I tend to hear it as something being broken but it can come to each of us differently. Also don't forget to cleanse your devices!
I do not recommend white sage. If you'd like to learn more about why check out my blog post on white sage. I do have some other suggestions to use for cleansing though:
Frankincense
Rosemary
Lavender
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I love a candle working for most things, but especially for a deeper cleanse and refresh of the home or person. This can be as simple or as complex as you'd like. You'll want to cleanse whatever you're working with, including yourself, set your intention or carve the target of the energy into the candle, use whatever oils and herbs you'd like, or none at all and then light it. The kind of candle you use for this will determine whether or not you will burn this to completion or not. You could dress a large pillar candle or 7 day candle to light for a set amount of time ( ex. 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) to refresh the energy, either once a week on a certain day or for the times you feel like you need to cleanse. You can also use a 7 day candle to do a deeper refresh by burning it daily until it’s burned completely down. You could use a smaller chime candle or tea light and burn it to completion the same day as well. Regardless of your choice, I do suggest connecting with your working as it's burning holding your intention in mind for a little while as well.
Recommendations:
cleansed black or white candle
a mixture of cleansing/banishing and protection herbs (to ensure the energy doesn’t come back)
cleansing/banishing oils (I have options for this in my online store)
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Some other tools for cleansing are:
Crystals
Clear Quartz
Selenite
Waters
Florida Water
Homemade Cleansing Sprays
Brewed Cleansing Herbs (can be added to baths)
Sound
Sound Bowls
Bells
