Seven Ways to Cleanse Yourself of Nasty Energies

You’ve had a trying day. You may have had an argument with a loved one, a bad work shift, a stressful commute—or something worse, like a mugging. Whatever the case, you have come home feeling dirty, exhausted and unbalanced. Just relaxing isn’t going to make the feeling go away—if you can relax at all. What do you do? Here are seven methods of spiritual cleansing that will help get you feeling better, stronger and more focused.

Smudging: many herbs and resins, when burned, produce a smoke which helps cleanse and re-energize the aura. These include copal, sage, frankincense, myrrh, cedar, sweetgrass, benzoin, dragon’s blood, pine needles or resin, and lavender. If you have a relationship with one of the above plant spirits, or your guardian has a preference, that should be your first resort. Whatever you use, first take several deep breaths and speak to the spirit of the plant, asking them for help cleansing yourself. Light the herb bundle or charcoal and get your herb smoking. Then, with your hands, a fan or feather, guide the smoke over yourself and through your aura. Imagine the smoke is flowing through you, dislodging the spiritual “dirt”, diluting it, and pushing it out of you to dissipate harmlessly in the air. Depending on the strength of your relationship with the plant, your experience with smudging and how “dirty” you are feeling, you may need to repeat the process a few times.

Benzoin--an excellent smudge for purifying and energizing.

Salt Bath: Run yourself a nice hot bath—as hot as you can stand to soak in. While it is still running, throw in a cup of salt (and half a cup of baking soda if you have it available). You can also add cleansing and energizing herbs or oils such as lemon, clary, or bay. Soak for at least twenty minutes. The hot water and salt will help you sweat out and release toxins into the water; the salt will absorb the bad energy and carry it down the drain once you pull the plug. Follow up with a brief, cooler shower to get the salt off of you and “wake up” your body. Anoint with a protection oil or water afterward for a little extra “oomph” and to leave you feeling clean longer.

Crystals and Stones: Certain crystals and stones can be used as “cleansing stones”, rubbed over the body and passed through the aura to loosen and suck up “heavy” energies. I tend to use hematite, brown jasper or another heavy duty grounding stone for this purpose. Approach the crystal’s spirit and ask it to take on this soul-burden temporarily, promising to cleanse it afterward. Pass the stone over yourself, going on for at least fifteen minutes while you visualize the unhealthy energy being pulled out of you. Then cleanse the stone using salt or smoke. For some people the stone meditation seems to work better for them than smudging directly. After the cleansing process, I take up another stone (quartz, especially rose quartz or amethyst, works well for this) that has been approached and empowered to give me an energetic boost, and pass it over myself as well, then keep it in my hand or pocket for a while. The second stone can later be placed on your altar or in the sun to “recharge”.

Hematite--a useful stone for cleansing, grounding and protection.

Other Objects: Depending on one’s spiritual tradition and cultural background, various objects have been used to cleanse the aura and can be useful to your practice. The classic example of this is the Limpia or egg cleansing. To perform an egg cleansing, write blessings on the egg in the form of your god or guardian’s name. Run the egg over as much of yourself as you can reach (it is easiest to get another person’s help with this to be thorough), while visualizing the egg slurping up all the unpleasant energy caught in your aura and body. Continue for at least fifteen minutes. Then break the egg into a white or clear bowl; the contents will likely be messy or rotten looking. Flush the results and wash the bowl thoroughly before using it again. Follow up with a brush-down with cleansing herbs such as sage, bay leaves or cilantro and a sprinkling of pure or blessed water to re-energize your aura. A similar egg cleansing is practiced in northern Italy. The advantage of cleansing using disposable objects is that you do not have to purify them afterward.

Rattling, Drumming, Singing Bowl: Ritual music of any type can help purify and energize. If at all possible, use live music, and have someone perform for you, either rattling around your body or filling the room with drum, bell or bowl work. This will provide a “flush” of clean, healthy energy which will loosen and take away any ickiness while recharging you psychically. Fifteen to twenty minutes of sound work is generally enough. Note: If you have a headache from all the stress sound work should not be your first choice as it may aggravate your physical symptoms.

Breath Work and Visualization: This is one of the harder self purification methods since it has no physical focus, but on the other hand you can do it anywhere and it requires no materials. Find a comfortable spot. Breathe deeply and slowly (inhale, hold, exhale all to the count of five, for example), and spend a little while just focusing on your breath. Then begin to visualize: the air entering your lungs, the oxygen and clean energy entering your body and circulating throughout, the carbon dioxide and heavy energy being exhaled to dissipate harmlessly with each breath. Depending on your level of practice you may need up to fifteen minutes in order to reach a state of relaxed focus.

Asperging and Anointment: This method is good for when you just don't have time or opportunity for a full bath, or are in a place like a hotel room where you cannot burn incense. Take a handful of fresh herbs, an asperger or fingertips and use them to apply (or have applied to you) a sprinkling of pure or consecrated water, Florida water, or water shaken up with a bit of alcohol and a purifiying/energizing oil such as lemon, clary, orange, or rosemary. Continue sprinkling as you visualize the asperging as a cleansing rain that washes out impurities and replaces them with a soothing, protective energy.

Everyone has crappy days. But you don't have to feel crappy once it's over. Find the method or methods that work best for you, then experiment with combining them, such as following up a soothing bath with a round of drumming. When you find something that works for you, give yourself a good cleansing when things get bad--or at least once a week just as "maintenance". You'll feel cleaner, more focused, and more relaxed. And we could all use a bit more of that in our lives.