After college, I delved deep into a year of spiritual work with an Enochian teacher. During this time I learned a lot about other religions, different types of magic, and rituals. The world of energy finally came alive, as before I had only dreamed of manipulating the reality around me. With the discovery of how energy worked came a huge learning curve on how to use it and how to take care of myself as a spiritual being, not just a physical one. We are not taught this by our parents. We are not taught this by our teachers. For a long time energy has only been talked about in scientific circles in the context of physics and any research into the astral or auras has been classified as pseudo-science and scoffed at.

Recently, Western society has started to embrace practices like yoga, meditation, Reiki, and Ayurveda which rely heavily on the energy component of the human experience. By the end of the year I had learned so many rituals they were taking me 4 hours a day to complete (2 in the morning and 2 at night). That’s when my intuition kicked in and I decided that there was indeed a little too much pseudo-science in my studies. I left my teacher and severely cut down on the rituals I was doing. I still use some of the rituals I like that worked for me and do them whenever I feel like it. Over the course of this blog, I’d like to share some of the energetic practices and rituals that I incorporate to live a healthier and more magical life.

Sage

The first component of a good clearing is the helping aid that you use. Some of the best things to clear with are sea salt, crystal wands, besom brooms, and sage. Humans have been using sage for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. In the cultures where every living being (plant or animal) has a spirit, sage is said to be the plant of cleansing, protection, and blessings. In the 2007 medical analysis, published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, it was discovered that smudging or cleansing an enclosed area with smoke also reduced airborne bacteria. I see this as an added bonus because our main priority is cleansing the energy of the home, but cleaning it the regular way prior to saging will increase the benefits. For example, cleaning your window panes on the inside and outside will automatically bring more light into your home and make it feel more cheery.

I want to add a reminder here that spiritual practice is about listening to our inner guidance which constantly leads us to new research that we can then use in our daily life and decide for ourselves whether it is valuable or not. So before you doubt, I humbly ask you to try saging your house and seeing how you feel after.

Ritual

If you imagine this in a different way from what I describe, that’s ok. The important thing is your intent which should be to gently and lovingly escort anything you no longer want in your space out with light. Darkness is always dispelled by light, it is the natural order of things, so as long as you hold light and spread light, everything else will leave. Clearing should be done at least once a week, but you can also decide to just clear after a big fight, a breakdown, a bout of the flu, or any time you feel like your home is not a happy and safe place.

1. Begin by getting a white sage smudge stick. You can find them in many Indian stores, spiritual/magic/gem shops, and online. Here is one of the shops I trust: Azure Green

2. Take a box of matches and light one by striking it away from your body. The entire time we are thinking of our intent: We want to clear our temple of negative energies. We want to dispel any darkness, disease, and negativity

3. Light the sage with the match. You don’t have to burn the whole stick; you just want to light it enough so that there is consistent smoke coming off of it.

4. Center yourself and put all of your focus into tuning into your home. Ground to the Earth (imagine a chord coming down from the central Sun of our universe through your chakras, down the center of your body, into the ground, and all the way into the core of the Earth). Focus on your happiest memories. Think of the love, peace, and joy that you felt in that moment and keep that in mind as you are clearing.

5. Walk around your house in a circle, room by room, and point the sage at the walls as you spread the smoke around. While you do this, imagine that there is light coming out of the sage stick and clearing everything in front of it. Any dark particles, bacteria, or negative bubbles of energy are all fleeing when the light from the sage hits them.

I also say a banishing and protection prayer as I walk around (you may use the latin or english):

If you are not Christian or don’t believe in God, you can also chant the mantra “Out with darkness, in with light!”. Remember, the most important part of any ritual is the energy and thoughts that you put into it. The stronger your belief in yourself is, the better your magic will work.

Once you are done with the ritual you can set the sage stick on a non-burning surface to fizzle out or just put it out (a plate you don’t care about will work). It is recommended that you do not use the same sage stick for multiple homes or multiple people. That's why I like to get the small ones, break them up into branches, and use each one accordingly. I hope this helps you guys incorporate a small magical ritual into your life. Let me know how it turns out.! I would like to keep adding articles about the rituals I use if you guys enjoyed this one.

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