The newness of the Gregorian calendar year has passed us and we are now in the midst of celebrating the Lunar New Year.  Many of us are looking forward to the newness of the Spring Equinox and astrological new year, but there is still time between the Lunar New Year and the Spring Equinox to look at the areas where you would like to create change, cleanse, or stimulate new beginnings in your life.

The winter provides ample opportunities to get your soup fix on, sweater snuggling, and slow down as the natural world is sleeping. This means it’s is also a great time to take advantage of the slow winter pace and plan that new beginning and foundation for what you would like to bring forth in your life over the coming year.

This Lunar New Years is special in that it is a Metal Rat year which means  we are at the beginning of the  Chinese zodiac wheel. This corresponds heavily with 2020 being a brand-new decade as well. A Rat year will usher in new beginnings in love, wealth, and according to tradition is often a very good year for health for all the signs.

Walking into any new cycle, it’s common practice to go through a process of cleansing, releasing, and showing gratitude for what you have.

“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” – C. S. Lewis

Just like in Cleansing & Programming a New Crystal Most of these spiritual cleansing tools can be helpful for cleansing yourself and your space as well.

In this blog post we will be discussing

• White Sage
• Palo Santo
• Salt
• Florida Water
• Holy Water
• Crystal Grids
• Sound
• Candles
• Resins & Powders

As with any spiritual tool, it’s advised to ground, center, and speak an intention over it before beginning.

White Sage

By far, the most popular cleansing tool and the tool most people have heard of. White Sage can be found in its leaf form loose, wrapped in bundles, and in incense cones and sticks. White sage (Salvia apiana) is not the same as cooking sage ( Salvia officinalis). Both are in the salvia family but grow in wildly different climates with white sage being a predominately desert plant that is associated with ritual purposes among the first peoples of North America.

To use this tool, you can either light your stick or loose sage in a traditional Abalone Shell or a fireproof container. Walk around your space wafting the smoke into each of the corners with a turkey feather, paying special attention to any areas that don’t see a lot of light as this is where negative energy likes to collect in a space. Make sure your space is physically clean and it’s often suggested to open all the doors, drawers, and cabinets and at least one window to prevent the negative energy from hiding and allowing it to leave your space. For you visual folks, check out this video from a Native American traditional healer on how to smudge your property.

Here is a video demonstrating how to smudge yourself or a family member.

Palo Santo

Palo Santo, also known as holy wood, is a spiritual tool that is often used among the Inca peoples and has been deeply ingrained in their culture since ancient times. Used to purify and cleanse, this wood was often burned to specifically purify the spirit and clear negative energy, but it is also known to stimulate creativity, physical healing, and aide in creating an atmosphere to more deeply connect with the divine.

To use this tool, use a lighter, match, or candle flame to light the wood on the end. Keep in mind that this is a piece of wood so it may take a little longer for it to catch the flame long enough to create and ember.  Once your Palo Santo has a good ember, walk around your space wafting the smoke in all corners. For a visual example, check out this video.

Salt

Salt has been known for eons as the universal purifier. In ancient times, salt was worth more than gold because of its ability to preserve and season foods as well as its ability to spiritually purify. One of the most common ways that salt is used is in a salt bath, sometimes known as a spiritual bath.  In the mineral kingdom, the stones of Halite and selenite contain salt so these can be used as well. These can be carried on you to help purify your energy.

To use salt for cleansing and purification you can place salt in each of the corners of  your living space, some people will sprinkle salt over the entire floor and let sit to absorb negative energies and vacuum it up to dispose in the trash a day or two later. It’s common to also use black salt or even sea salt to achieve the same result.

To cleanse yourself by taking a spiritual bath, use 1 pound of salt, 1 cup of Epsom salt, and a couple tablespoons of vinegar (to prevent skin drying) into your bath and soak 15-20 minutes concentrating on the release of negative energy.

Florida Water

Florida Water has been around since 1808, manufactured by the company now known as Murray & Lanman. Ironically, Florida water is not water, nor is it from Florida, given that Murray & Lanman are located in New York. Florida water is a unisex cologne with a fresh citrus-spice sent that appealed to both men and women during the Victorian era.

Over time it has taken on the use of spiritual cleansing. Florida water can be used in a multitude of ways, this video explains a little further on how you can use Florida Water.

Holy Water

Holy water is water that has been prayed over and blessed and is connected to the Christian tradition of Baptism. Most often this water can be found at your local catholic church and sometimes can be found bottled in metaphysical stores. If choosing to source from a church, Inquire with the church of you choice about getting holy water but keep in mind that it is considered disrespectful and extremely bad form in some circles to stick an empty bottle in the bowl or under the spigot and help yourself without asking.

Another frame of thought is that holy water is holy because it is prayed over, not because a specific type of person ( i.e. Priest, pastor, nun) is praying over it with the argument being that words carry energy and your words help to set intention.  Those that subscribe to this belief will often pray over water themselves to make it holy.

Regardless to what belief you subscribe to, holy water is an excellent source for cleansing yourself and your space. Check out this video and this video discussing how to use holy water.

Crystal Grids

Crystal Grids are one of our favorites to clear and set intention for energy here at Crystal Spirit Spiritual Center. Crystals being a conductor of energy can be directed towards anything specific you desire with the use of intention. Some people prefer to use a physical symbol or “grid” to base their design on when getting started, other times, you can do so based on a drawing or just placing the stones where it feels right.

Check out our video on how to make a crystal grid!

Sound

The idea that sound can be used as a means to cleanse anything sometimes will leave a person scratching their head until you mention a Tibetan Singing Bowl. While this is the most common form of using sound to clear a space, it is by no means the only type of sound that can be used to do so. For the purposes of this post, we’ll stick to Tibetan Singing bowls.

Singing bowls can be played throughout each room to clear it of negative energy or you can use one throughout your meditation practice to clear yourself. Simply tapping the bowl with the striker is enough to produce sound and running the striker around the outside edge of the bowl will keep it singing. As always, when using any tool, it is always helpful to set an intention.

There are videos that can be found online showing you how to play a singing bowl, but we have found that hands on learning is best. Stop by the store anytime and we’ll be happy to teach you how to play one!

Candles

Candles are often used in Ceremonial Magick, spells for house blessings, or cleansing but you don’t have to do any sort of spell to take advantage of the cleansing properties of using candles. This said, if not using as a part of a fuller ritual, candles are usually an accent to traditional forms of cleansing, such as burning Palo Santo & White Sage.

A candle can be lit at the beginning or end of your cleansing practice and is great for those who resonate with Fire energy as fire purifies. Some people choose to pray over their candle and set an intention before lighting or lighting at a specific point during the cleansing. Go with what feels more comfortable for you.

There are dozens of videos and articles out there that discuss how to use candles to do a cleansing, we always encourage you to follow your intuition and do what feels comfortable and resonates with you.

Resins & Powders

There are a multitude of powders and resins that can be used for spiritual cleansing. Many people are most familiar with Frankincense, Myrrh, and Copal however there are many many more out there. Most resins are sourced from trees and it is this reason that plant resins and powders tend to resonate with those that have a nature based spiritual practice or don’t resonate with Sage or Palo Santo.

To burn resins, you need a fireproof container, and a charcoal disc. You light the charcoal disk until it’s glowing red and use a fireproof utensil to put into your fireproof container. Then place a piece of the resin of your choice on the charcoal; smoke will be produced as the resin burns. It doesn’t take much resin to produce a good amount of smoke so remember a little goes a long way.

Paying Respects

We would like to take a moment to acknowledge the history of the use of the cleansing materials White Sage, Palo Santo, and Singing Bowls specifically.

These are all spiritual cleansing agents that come from indigenous cultures and cultures that originated outside of the United States. We are in no way trying to appropriate the cultures associated with or diminish the sacredness of these spiritual cleansing agents. We here at Crystal Spirit hold these tools in ultimate gratitude and reverence.

We are so thankful that we’re able to share some of the history and uses of these tools in the manner and intention they are supposed to be used and encourage you to do your own research on each to further educate yourself on their history, and appropriate use.

Apart from holy water, we carry each one of these tools at Crystal Spirit Spiritual Center and we would be delighted to help you choose the correct cleansing agent for your needs. It’s a new year after all, making no time better than the present to wipe the slate clean and start creating the life you desire.

Be sure to bookmark our blog and check back next week for more cool insights and info on rocks and crystals!