Witch at the Crossroads
For most people, 2020 was a rough year and 2021’s launch was really little more than tearing a page off the calendar. Numerologically, we are in a different place. Energetically, new beginnings may be a welcome respite from the stress and strain. When we look at the news, however, we see more of the same. COVID numbers are climbing, there is political turmoil, we have incredible numbers on the unemployment rosters, and homelessness is growing. That is just the national pile of challenges. Personally, our nuanced individual issues can’t help but compound in the face of public fear, anger, and illness and we likely all need a good cleansing.
Why Soul Cleansing?
So how do we cleanse out our aura? Keep our vibe high and our emitting energy healthy? What can we do to keep from absorbing the mess or radiating out our own misery?
Just as we brush and floss our teeth, groom our toenails, and brush our hair, we must practice good spiritual hygiene. We all get spiritually messy just from being in the world. Our personal challenges, fears, and conditioning adds even more toxicity to the energy we put out into the world. Now more than ever it is essential that we purify ourselves and radiate the individual light that glows inside us rather than hiding it under layers of debilitating sludge.
Cleansing to Find Your Glow!
You don’t owe it to the world to glow and be perfect, but you owe it to yourself to feel as good as you possibly can within your specific circumstances. Spiritual cleansing and detoxification allows us to work with our organic, homeostatic energies without the necessity of processing outside stuff we empathically collected. It allows us to substantiate our choices and thoughts from our current genuine reactions rather than conditioned responses.
We cleanse our bodies and it is equally as important that we cleanse our spirits. Here are fifteen techniques for clearing out the psychic clutter and purifying your aura and your energetic systems.
1 – Sound
Singing bowls, chimes, drums, rattles and bells can all work to clear residual energy from a room or a person. Singing bowls are tuned to specific musical notes and those notes address the different chakra points in our energetic bodies. By playing the note associated with the chakra area, we can cleanse that location. Chimes work in a similar fashion. If your chime has three tones, you can chime in an ascending direction to build up energy and push negativity upward and out of your system and chime in a descending note direction to ground energy and push it into the earth. Strike a bell with a clear, beautiful tone to detoxify a room or a person. Drums are grounding and rattles are stimulating, so we can treat them as Earth energies and Fire energies to purge negativity.
2 – Spiritual Baths/Showers
Most folk magic practices use spiritual baths to change the energetic patterns in a person. This evolved into spiritual showers as many people transitioned from soaking in a tub to standing in a shower. Either is effective. In fact, if you are releasing energy, the shower has the best visual stimulation for cleansing off negative energy and letting the tension, fear, and frustration go right down the drain. Great herbs and oils to use are citrus (lime, lemon, lemongrass, bergamot, and orange), earthy scents (pine, fir balsam, sage), or healing (lavender, clary sage, eucalyptus, tea tree). Find the scent you most associate with cleansing and healing. Whether you use a prepared brew to sluice over you as you shower or a commercial body wash with the appropriate scents, let it flow over you and down the drain.
3 – Meditation
You hear it all the time and it is true. Take the time to learn to meditate (if you believe you can’t do it, it likely is not exactly what you think it is) and the benefits are almost immediate. Clear your mind and your energy follows. Meditation teaches you to immediately recognize your own energy and to separate it out from the energetic overflow of others. It also helps you to gain perspective over your challenges by giving your Higher Self time to rule over your Conscious Self.
4 – Black Stones
Holding palm stones or worry stones and getting into the smooth aesthetic of them is both calming and grounding. The best stones to use are black ones of any type, such as obsidian, tourmaline, or onyx. Black absorbs and white reflects. By holding black stones, you can allow the receptivity of the black rock to receive your stress, tension, and toxic emotions. In addition to the soothing sensation of touching rock, the release of tension into the darkness helps to purify your soul.
5 – Sweat it Out
If you are in sufficient good health to do so, a hard sweat can help to purify both your energetic and your physical body. Hydrate well and then spend some time in a sauna. If you are invited to do so or are culturally in line for it, participate in a sweat lodge ceremony. Sit in a bathroom with the door closed and the hot water running in the shower. Work out in a way that assures a long, strong sweat. Let your integumentary system purge out the toxins and clear out your energy.
6 – Cleansing Your Digestive System
I never thought I would choose to fast, but I recently underwent a 5 day fast where I ate no food at all. I had pure water, unsweetened electrolyte water, and chicken broth. It was rough, but the effects on the mind, body, and spirit were profound. I also recommend talking with your health care provider about supplements that can clear your colon and intestines to rid your body of old, undigested food that lingers. Products such as Apple Cider Vinegar and natural cleansing agents can help your body to release the retained wastes it holds. Again, be sure to check with your health care provider and make certain any of these strategies are within your place of health safety.
7 – Florida Water
Florida Water is a Hoodoo product used to bless, purify, and empower people, tools, places, and the air in general. Each practitioner will have their own version of Florida Water. Some are more floral scented and others are more citrus. I spray mine into the air and let it fall over me for an instant purification strategy.
8 – Spiritual Cleansing
I am of the mind that just as we go to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned even though we brush and floss, we should also go to a professional healer to have a spiritual cleansing as needed. Some people need professional intervention more often than others, especially if they are frequently in the line of fire. Energy workers, social service workers, teachers, health care professionals and many other vocations often carry the risk of encountering people in high levels of emotion. Even those who are not especially empathic will pick up infiltrates from those experiences. A spiritual cleansing is a time to relax, release, and let a pro detoxify your energy. There are many different kinds of aura and energetic cleansing techniques and most are as effective as the others.
9 – Tree Hugging, Dirt Worshipping
Hugging a tree, sitting with one for a while, or getting your feet into some dirt helps to ground negative or excess energy and purify your vibe. Imagine that you are joining with the bark of the tree, pushing your roots far down into the earth and letting all the tension, strain, and stress drain away.
10 – Sweeping
Many cultures consider the act of sweeping as sacred and have rituals to support that belief. Sweeping the way to victory before a battle or sweeping your footprints away as you leave a place to sever ties are both examples of this. Hoodoo suggests that if you want to draw something to you (money, health, love), sweep the appropriate powder, salt, or treated rice over your threshold and into your home. If you want to banish something (poverty, curses, freeloaders), sweep the appropriate powder, salt, or treated rice over your threshold and out of your home. Sweeping with the visualization of clearing away the frustrating clutter in your life is a sacred and effective magical practice.
11 – Black Candles
Just as black stones absorb and ground negative energy, black candles banish and neutralize bad juju and icky vibes. Burn a black candle and imagine that it is drawing everything harmful, disruptive, and toxic out of your life and your home, pulling it down to the Mother Earth for her to heal and transmute into goodness. It can become spiritual compost for the good things you want to grow, just like manure and spoilage can fertilize and compost your garden.
12 – Negative Ions
If you don’t have an ionizer, spend some time at the beach or in the mountains where negative ions naturally occur. Get out into the forest. Wade in a creek. Sit by a fountain. Stand in the rain.
13 – Himalayan Salt Lamps
You have no doubt seen these illuminated orange wonders. Whether they are lit by tea light candles or electrical bulbs, they seem to offset depression and emit a soothing, calming energy. Salt itself is detoxifying and we do not have to drink it to feel the effects. Just don’t get the lamps wet because, you know, salt.
14 – Essential Oils
Aromatherapy works wonders to change how we feel and react. Lavender calms, citrus excites, and eucalyptus heals. My favorite purifying blend is lavender and lemongrass together. You can anoint yourself with oils, put them into a diffuser to scent the air, or wear them in a diffuser locket.
15 – Herb Smoke
The smoldering smoke of certain herbs has a marked effect on our immediate environment. In my practice, I use them to clear away dense or blocked energies in a person’s system during a spiritual cleansing. My favorites to use are white sage, black sage, sage brush, Shasta sage, palo santo wood, juniper, cedar, and sweetgrass. These are used similarly to incense, sometimes directing the smoke toward a specific area of the body or room using a feather or fan.
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