Hello Again
I’ve been very busy with my fall cleaning. Yep, I said FALL cleaning.
Everyone knows about spring cleaning but if you think about it, you
also do a fall cleaning every year. Summers get busy, especially at
the end when you try to cram every last bit of warm weather fun into
each day. The housecleaning gets neglected, “it’s too nice
to stay inside” or “it’s too hot to do housework”.
Then the cooler weather hits and you want to decorate. That’s when
you notice that somehow the house has gotten a bit dustier and the piles
of papers have gotten a bit taller. Some people do not notice this until
they decorate for the Holiday Season but I believe everyone does a good
thorough cleaning at this time as we prepare to stay inside more.
Ok, we all know how to clean our houses. And hopefully we are clearing
out the clutter and either donating the items or selling them on Ebay
or Craig’s List (which I just discovered and am amazed at how fast
some things sell when listed). We bring the change of seasons into our
houses as we decorate with leaves, dried ears of corn & other harvest
symbols, and change the linens to from bright summer yellows & greens
to fall’s orange, brown, and deep red. And of course, the fun Halloween/Samhain
stuff like black cats, bats, skeletons, and other spooky stuff. This
is the Season of the Witch and we can display our decorated cauldrons
with pride.
But have you remembered to cleanse your space thoroughly? I’m
sure many of you already cleanse your space often, this is just a reminder
in case life has been hectic and it has been put off. I am guilty of
that, I used to cleanse my house several times a month. Now I have let
it go a month in-between a good negative-clearing cleanse. If you do
not cleanse your space, see the next section for instructions. For those
that do, I also mention several ways to do it and maybe you’ll
find one that sounds intriguing.
Why cleanse your space? Well, have you ever felt restless, nervous,
or uneasy in your own home? Have the occupants been arguing more or
avoiding each other? Do you feel so tired and/or stressed that the littlest
chore seems gigantic? These are signs that negative energy is cluttering
up your home. It’s time to get rid of them and luckily, this is
quite easy to do.
Cleansing 101
You have several options. The most common way is by using a smuge
stick or incense (sticks work great but you could
use a sensor with your own loose blend). The smoke clears out the negative
and turns it into positive. Most use a sage smuge stick but I
prefer incense. I do not like the way a smuge stick burns as little
lit pieces sometimes drop from it and I have had them go out half way
through. (I use smuge sticks when cleansing myself and an area right
before a ritual and sometimes for cleansing magickal tools). I used
to use an incense of frankincense and myrrh for cleansing (Airs
brand). At the time, I just liked the smell better than the sage incense
but I later learned that that blend is especially purifying for extreme
cases of negative energy and evil forces so I guess my instinct was
right on. For some reason I cannot remember, maybe they were out of
it, I switched to sandalwood incense and that became my favorite
whenever I had to cleanse anything. Now I use sage incense as I got
some wonderful sticks that I now sell at shows. Any of the above scents
work wonderfully to clear the air in your home.
The great thing about using smoke to cleanse, especially for beginners,
is that seeing the smoke fill the room helps them to “see”
the change in the energy. The more they do it, the more they “feel”
the change. If it is the first time you are doing this, plan out how
you will walk through your house so that every room will be cleansed
without having to double back. If you have more than one level, start
at either the top or the bottom and do each level in order. You can
plan to move clockwise through your home, or counter clockwise if that
makes more sense to you for removing negativity. I feel that the negative
energy is being pushed out of each room by the incense and that the
smoke is positive energy that replaces it. Since the last room I cleanse
is a bathroom, I turn on the fan so that all the negative energy is
sucked out but an open window would work too. There are others who feel
that the negative energy is not pushed out but changed into positive
by the smoke so no need for an open window or fan. Both ways are correct
and both work equally well.
Here’s how I use incense to cleanse my house:
I stand in the room in the farthest back corner of my house and center
and ground myself. I light the incense and hold it as I would a wand.
This room is the bedroom and because of the bed I cannot walk around
the room so I extend my arm and point the incense out towards the
walls while turning around three times clockwise, each time saying
(forcibly) “I cleanse this room of all negative energy”
(softer)”I fill this room with positive energy”.
I say these words in every room with every turn. As I walk out of
this room into the next, I draw an equal arm cross with incense in
the doorway to keep the negative from entering again, I do this at
every doorway. In the next two rooms I also have to turn in a circle
three times but then I do the kitchen, which is also where I do my
magic circles. I walk three times around the table. Then into the
living room where again I walk the room three times. I then do the
spare bedroom and lastly the bathroom where the fan pulls out all
the negative. I leave the stick to burn out in the spare room or in
the center of the house.
Some people cannot use incense or smuge sticks, either because of others
in the house or their own sensitivity to smoke. In that case, you can
use salt water. Just mix a small amount of sea salt with water
and with your fingers, flick it around every room in the house to keep
the negative energy away. Or you can put it in a spray bottle and spray
it but remember this is salt water, you do not want a lot of it on some
surfaces. A bowl of sea salt set out in a room will keep negative energy
away between cleansings.
You can also make a sage essential oil and water mixture for
flicking around a room. Sandalwood or lavender would work
too. Putting the essential oil and water in an oil burner would clear
the room of negativity. This would work to cleanse one room at a time
as moving a hot burner would not be a good idea, or if you had an oil
burner in each room for whole house cleanse.
If you want to be more dramatic or just like a good fire, try
this. In your cast iron cauldron or other high heat proof dish put 1/4
cup Epsom salts and enough rubbing alcohol to cover the
salt. Place on a heat proof surface like a trivet, tile or even a rock
if you have a big flat one laying around. When you light it, the flame
should be blue, or mostly blue, and it will burn very hot so let it
burn out and cool before moving the cauldron or dish. There is no odor
or smoke so it will not set off a fire alarm. This is more of a cleansing
of the vibrations of the room and would work well before and/or after
a ritual to cleanse the energy of the space.
All these scents and tools work very well to cleanse your space, leaving
a pleasant smell behind in most cases. And if you enjoy working with
tools and the dramatics of ritual this can be fun to do. But here’s
the secret that can spoil any excuse for buying more supplies....your
own energy is really all you need . Your will and your thoughts
can clear the negative out of your space just as well as any smoke or
spray. Granted this works better if you are healthy and able to focus
completely on the task. In other words, if you are ill and/or very depressed,
stressed, or tired then you should not drain yourself further by using
your own energy to cleanse your space. In those cases then use the tools
available to assist your energy when you cleanse.
But if all is well with you physically and you have been cleansing
your house regularly, then give this a try. Start where you normally
start when you cleanse, ground and center. Focus your mind on clearing
out all negativity in your house and replacing it with positive energy.
Keep this focus as you walk through your house and do not let your mind
waver. Best to do this when no one else is home to distract you. You
can speak or not speak, whatever works for you. When I did this I found
it best to walk forward the whole time, no back tracking so if you walk
into a small room do not walk out backward but turn around and walk
forward of it. Go through each room once, if you normally do as I do
and walk the room three times then change it to once around. The reason
for this is because keeping this strong focus is draining and you do
not want to drag it out as you may lose too much energy by the end of
the house. If you have more than one level then you may want to stop
as you reach each level and give yourself a minute to refocus.
When you reach the end of your house you can state something like “My
home is now cleansed of all negativity and is filled with only positive
energy”. Take a minute to ground any excess energy you have, maybe
have a hematite or some other grounding stone waiting for you. If you
have a big house and feel drained at the end, have an energizing stone
like citrine or sunstone waiting for you. Or whatever you use to ground
or energize should be in this room. I found this to be the coolest experience
and very satisfying, but I still like to use incense most of the time
: )
Cleansing Herbs
Even tho most people use sage to cleanse their space, there are many
others that work just as well. Below is a list of these. Use whatever
you prefer or have on hand. If you always have used the same herb/scent,
try a new one to see if you notice anything different.
