Spiritual Cleansing: Your Guide to Cleansing Rituals and Methods
When we first come to the spiritual path of a witch, pagan or enlightened soul we hear the term “cleansing” repeatedly. Why is cleansing such a big deal? Why is everyone talking about it in the spiritual community? Here we provide you with the ULTIMATE guide to cleansing rituals and methods and WHY it’s crucial to purify oneself and one’s space on a regular basis. Don’t feel overwhelmed – it’s actually not that hard. And once you get your own routine down, it’ll come naturally!
What is Spiritual Cleansing?
Before we explain the importance of cleansing, first we should explain what spiritual cleansing actually is. Cleansing, according to the dictionary, is a method of “cleaning something thoroughly” or completely. Then it goes on to reference “cleansing the skin” with soaps or creams. While this gives us an idea as to what cleansing is, it’s not particularly clear how one can cleanse the spirit or aura. I explain spiritual cleansing like this – it is any method that seeks to remove negative energy, illness, or spirits from a person’s body, soul, aura, or even from their space. A person’s space that may need spiritual cleansing includes one’s home, vehicle, property, and workplace.
Why is Spiritual Cleansing Important?
Spiritual cleansing is important for many reasons. The first being that it purifies you and your sacred space of negative energy. Negative energy can build up and wreak havoc on our lives. In addition to getting rid of negative energy, spiritual cleansing also purifies your aura and space of harmful spirits and sometimes wards off illness. Lastly, there are certain gods and goddesses who prefer a clean space in which to visit.
Negative Energy and the Importance of Self Cleansing Rituals
We go about our day coming into contact with many people, which means we are coming into contact with many different energies. The emotions, trauma, illness, misfortune, and even spirit attachments that cling to other people have the ability to affect us. If you are particularly a connected person, or have empathic tendencies, you’ll be even more susceptible to picking up energy throughout the day. Sometimes we can see a person with negative energy coming. Sometimes we can even see a person with a spirit attachment coming.
I’ll tell you a story. Once, my daughter and I were driving to school. We were driving the speed limit on a road that wasn’t too busy when something terrifying happened. A man ran up so close behind us at such a speed, we didn’t see him until he was literally right on our bumper. He almost caused a terrible accident going 60mph that day. But that wasn’t the scariest part. As he passed us at a higher speed, cursing and yelling out of his window, a dark black cloud came from his vehicle and passed over top of ours. My daughter and I had never seen anything like it. But, essentially, I felt that it was an evil spirit or perhaps even death that was literally following this man. You can bet I cleansed myself and vehicle that day!
The Land, Heavens, and Technology Affects Us
Witches tend to cue into energies naturally, with or without realizing it. And it isn’t always a good thing. In addition to people’s energy, we also come in contact with energy from the land, wildlife, weather, heavenly bodies and even technology. The land itself carries its own impressions of the past and of current events. It holds onto the good and bad, particularly when those energies are strong. For example, a meadow that was the site of a bloody battle will carry that energy for years to come. And when we step onto that meadow, we might even pick up on that energy.
The same goes for wildlife. Have you ever been to the zoo and truly felt depressed afterward? It’s not just the idea of animals being caged their entire lives, you’re also feeling their unhappiness. We absorb our pets’ energies too. In addition, if you’re tuned into the earth and the Universe, you will feel the impact of the heavenly bodies: the sun, moon, planets, etc.
Computers, phones, TVs, and cars all emit their own energy waves – both physical and spiritual. All of which can also affect our energy. So how do we counteract some of the negative effects of ALL this outside energy? We CLEANSE.
Different Ways to Self-Cleanse
There are many different ways to spiritually cleanse oneself of negative energies. Most use one or more of the main elements (earth, air, fire, water) in a purifying manner:
- Spiritual Cleansing Ritual Baths: bathing in water that’s infused with salts, flowers, herbs, teas, crystal vibrations, etc. Also bathing in the ocean or river does the trick.
- Smoke-cleansing Rituals: using smoke from herbs and woods including sage, cedar, rosemary, sweetgrass, rose, lavender, juniper, rabbit tobacco, Palo Santo, etc.
- Crystal Rituals: using a high-vibrational crystal wand such as selenite to pass over one’s body to rid it of negative energies. Or placing energy-absorbing crystals like black tourmaline around your space
- Fire Cleansing Rituals: passing through two bonfires or leaping over a bonfire to cleanse oneself (CAUTION! We don’t recommend this method although it’s an ancient one. You can catch on fire or get severely hurt!) It’s safer to roll an unlit candle all over one’s body to pick up negative energy. Then burning it.
- Blessing/Asperging with Magical Waters: spritzing/spraying blessed water over a person’s body from head to foot. Holy water, moon water, rose water, etc.
- Drinking cleansing teas: drink detoxifying teas, kombucha, energy-infused waters, etc.
- Energetic Cleansing: some individuals use Reiki or other divine healing energies
- Sound cleansing with singing bowls, high vibrational music, etc.
- Egg cleansings: a ritual in which an egg is rolled over the entire body to rid one of negative energy. Then cracked into a bowl of water and “read” for attachments, etc.
Try each of these and see which self cleansing ritual you prefer. If you can’t take a bath, a cleansing shower also works! Visualization with white light is also effective if you need a quickie-cleanser and you can’t perform the other methods.
Spiritual Cleansing Rituals of Sacred Space
In addition to spiritual cleansing of oneself, cleansing rituals of sacred space are JUST as crucial. Just like our auras get muddied with negative energy, our homes do too! Think of all the traffic going in and out, the other people that live and visit, and even the energies you bring into the house. I find it’s extra-necessary after service and repairmen come to my house. Also consider the land your home sits on, any cell phone towers, warehouses and manufacturing plants nearby. All of these can negatively impact the energy in your home.
Before performing any intense spiritual workings in your home or sacred space, a CLEANSING is necessary. Routine cleansing rituals are recommended on a monthly basis to keep negative vibrations, illness, and spirits out of your home. But, if you can’t get to it monthly, do it when you can!
Sacred Space & Home Cleansing Rituals:
- Smoke-cleansing rituals: “smudging” one’s sacred space and home with sacred herbs can rid one’s space of negative energies and spirits. Don’t forget to open a few windows to allow that negative energy to escape! It has to go somewhere!
- Asperging/Blessing: take a sprig or branch of rosemary or rue, dip it in holy or blessed water and sprinkle about the house to rid of negative energy
- Floor washes and sweeps: this method cleanses the floor of negative vibrations by infusing purifying herbs into the mop water OR by sprinkling purifying herbs onto the floor and then sweeping/vacuuming up.
- Sprays and spritzes: similar to an asperging, sprays made of infused holy water or combined herbal oils can be sprayed around the house to quickly cleanse the space
- Cleansing with Sound: Tibetan singing bowls, chanting, ringing bells, clapping, banging on pots/pans, and music of an ancient kind (Native American, Buddhist, Celtic, etc.) all work to cleanse one’s space using the power of sound
- Essential Oil Diffusers: modern witches often use essential oil diffusers to cleanse the air with purifying aromas like lavender, lemongrass, rosemary, etc.
- Cleansing with Light: are you the kind of person who sits in the dark when the sun’s shining just outside the window? OPEN THE CURTAINS and let the sun shine in! The sun’s cleansing power is strong and sends low-level negative entities running!
- Sweeping: many witches use a spiritual besom (broom) crafted specifically to “sweep” out the negative energy in a space. (A separate smaller besom can be used to “sweep” one’s aura from head to foot, as well!)
- Simmer pots: this is a method of cleansing in which the individual adds water and other items like herbs and fruit to a large pot. Then allows the pot to simmer on the stove, releasing a cleansing steam into the home
- Houseplants and crystals: maintaining houseplants in the home purifies the air naturally and brings good vibes. The same goes with certain crystals like black tourmaline, selenite, and obsidian.
- Himalayan salt lamps: no, they’re not just a silly gimmick! They’re known to purify the air and bring good vibes to your space
Crafting Your Own Personal Cleansing Ritual
Once you’ve tried a few different cleansing rituals with various cleansing tools, you’ll find something that feels right for you. For example, my go-to cleansing ritual involves a spiritual bath with purifying herbs, then I use Reiki and smudging to cleanse my personal space. This is the ritual I use before any large magical working, including intense divination and esbat workings. But you will find one that feels best for you and it’ll come naturally in time, to where you barely have to think about it!
When to Perform Cleansings
We’ve covered why it’s important to cleanse one’s self and space, but not exactly when to perform them. Here’s a basic guide:
- Once a month on the Waning or New Moon, cleanse your space
- After illness, injury, death or misfortune in the home, cleanse your space and yourself
- At the start of a new season, cleansing rituals are traditionally performed to bring in new, fresh energy
- BEFORE any major magical workings – sabbats, esbats, intense divination, potent spells, contacting new deities or spirits
- AFTER workings that involve new deities or spirits
- After visitors have left the home or upon new residents moving in (including new babies)
- Cleanse yourself for routine spiritual maintenance once a week+
- Whenever you feel the atmosphere in the home is “heavy” or emotions are running super-charged, cleanse yourself and your space
- After serious arguments or fights, divorce, discord
- Before and following renovations in your home
- If you haven’t done a cleansing in a long time
- If you’re just feeling off, depressed, or yucky
22 Comments
Brooke
July 16, 2022 at 11:26 amI live out in the mountains, I recently moved here to this property. My animals have suddenly fallen ill with terminal illnesses since living here. My Sheep died of liver failure, and now my goat is suffering from a sort of psuedo-pregnancy, and possibly cancer. A friend told me it’s this place where we live. He said we were on American Indian land that had been violently taken. I did some research and found that the native people who lived here said this area was the home of “mythical people” who the natives feared and stayed away from mostly until one day they tried to kill one of the giants and they failed and didn’t kill him. So now I live here and my animals are really suffering. Is there anything I can do to protect my animals from a possible mythical person attack? What can I do in this situation?
Azra
November 17, 2022 at 11:38 amDo you still have this problem? The land needs an offering of peace, I see that the home is not protected at the entrances of your home. You must protect your whole home with Salt and allow the good energies to have access only to your domain, put 9 bells at each door knob, burn incense overnight and white candles. Salt your doorways and window seals. Use lavender at every entrance. If you are a hunter, spill the blood as a peace offering. and we wear a protective stone called obsidian.
ANONYMOUS
July 1, 2021 at 1:13 amWhat is it’s an Incubus or Sucubus? How do I get rid of it? and how do I cleanse myself of the negative energies that come from the spirits/demons
Anonymous
March 10, 2021 at 3:43 amSee a Catholic priest exorcist. God works,
Anonymous
April 9, 2021 at 5:14 amI don’t think God needs to go to everyone’s room. 😀 He’s too busy saving people’s lives.
Save me from the curse
January 10, 2021 at 12:54 amI was cursed in 2010 at a farm called Angelic Organics. My “so called friends” told me to go there. Well, before you start working they make you watch this movie about the farm. Part of the movie says a neighbor destroyed the farm because they were doing satanic magic there. So the name was changed to Angelic Organics so no one would destroy the farm again. Well they had one day where they had us stir two metal cauldrons with a bull horn in each one. After I stirred it, everyone at the farm kept coming up to me saying “45 stalker.” Then my boyfriend broke up with me and I was fired from the job. Then everywhere I went for 4 years (the grocery store, the movies, work, etc.) people would come up to me and say “45 stalker.” I lost about 100 jobs because after I stirred the cauldron , they fired me. I went to a church and I felt the voice of God, bouncing off the walls of the church saying, “curses, curses, curses.” I then wrote a letter to the farm telling them to stop their with craft. The next day, the boyfriend who broke up with me after I stirred the cauldron called me saying his car broke down and he needed a ride. We started seeing each other again for about a month, but then the curse came back. Next day his house went up for sale and everyone vanished without saying goodbye. I went to look for him and his ex girlfriend said to me, “We just want to see how desperate you are.” The curse is still active today. I was at work and on the radio a song called “Big Shot” came on. Then a man walked up to me and asked where oil for guns was. Then 3 more people came up to me with guns on their shirts. Then I got off work and the engine in my car fell out! The curse has turned more into death threats by gunfire at this point. This started in 2010 and it’s 2021 and the curse is still active. I have tried to call psychics to remove it from me, but no one is a true witch. No one truly understands the curse. One witch told me to get the same bull horn they used and put it in a cauldron and stir the opposite way to reverse the curse back on the farm. I’m not a witch so I do not know how to reverse it. All I know, is this seems like a death curse. And I am the target. My apartments were haunted after the curse, there is a demon who stamps on the ceiling of every apartment. I would have company over and they would ask, “What is that stamping sound?” Like oh you know, just a demon from a curse, no big deal. It got so bad I had to buy a house, which has kept me safe. I hope one day this curse goes away. Where is the love?
Gabrielle Jensen
May 11, 2021 at 11:11 pmPerhaps you’re haunted by a negative spirit(s) who thrives off of fear. If this is the case, every time you feel even a twinge of fear or dread, it is feeding it and keeping it around. Kind of like feeding a stray cat. Stop the food, and after awhile it goes away. Just a thought. Perhaps you could couple that with daily cleansing rituals? You may have heard all this before, so I’m sorry if it doesn’t help. I’ve had a similar experience, so I feel for you.
Bill
May 20, 2021 at 7:01 pmFirst thing, do a witch’s jar. You don’t have to be a witch to do one. Very early America and before, non-witches did witch’s jars. I gather, though, it was their intent to use them to protect them FROM witches. Ironic to me but I digress. The witches jar with the proper intention set forth will draw some if not all of the negative energy out of its intended path–and that would be the path towards you–and into the jar. It will make sense as to how it works once you find a ritual/spell that resonates within you. I’m more than certain the website’s author has one or two of those rituals lying around she can share with you. This also sounds like an element of psychic attack built in. Was there someone at the farm that knew you but maybe you didn’t know her? You could have cut the wrong witch off in traffic and he or she could have decided that you were going to take the brunt of all their pent-up rage. Kind of like a drive-by shooting but instead it’s a drive-by witching–sorry, trying to keep it light-hearted a little. There was a suggestion to do cleansing rituals on yourself. I second that. Cleanse your house–constantly. If this spell/psychic attack has done all of this then it sounds to be quite powerful. Imagine a tough stain on a favorite article of clothing. Just running it under water won’t work. A simple one-wash probably won’t either. It’s going to take some work to get rid of that stain. Think of this attack as an ‘invisible’ tough stain on your life energy. Work tirelessly to clean it away. Do simple protection spells. Also, recommend if you do any type of magic to be sure it is Light Magic. The best way it was described to me was this: Light Magic does not interfere with the free will of another and comes from a place of love and light, meaning God’s/Goddess’s/Universe’s Sacred Light. Gray Magic is positive and uplifting and sent with the intent of good, white light energy but still interferes, on an offensive stance, with the free will of another (i.e, casting a spell for someone else to get a high-paying job far, far away when they aren’t sure if it’s what they want to do or not). The person wasn’t trying to harm the other but may have inadvertently done so by interfering with their divine right to choose. Dark, or Black, Magic intends to interfere with the free will of another and cause some type of harm or damage, is sent with a low-vibration emotion such as hatred, or anger, or fear, and will start you don’t a path that you hopefully don’t want to go down. Just keep in mind that two critical components of any spell are the Power of Intention and Emotion. I’ve tried to provide some action for you to take with a little bit of background, as well as some research topics for you to pursue. I wish you all the love, light and healing energy — oh wait, that reminds me–another tip to help you is to see a Reiki Practitioner. Having light-healing work done is never a bad thing. Reiki can never harm, it will only bring healing that is for your highest good. Plus, you might be able to gain some more insight into the background of this attack. I get some intense psychic imagery when I do healings on others. One woman I knew was being treated badly by her spouse–wandering eye, verbal abuse, etc. My spirit guide advised me to acknowledge her pain but don’t call it out. So, I told her that God loves her more than anyone else could and will always treat you right. And will support you through what she’s going through. Hopefully, your practitioner will be able to offer some type of insight as well. Ok, so back to my closing. I wish you all the love, light and healing energy you could possibly need–and then some–on your journey to reclaim what is divinely and rightfully yours–your power. Go get your groove back, Stella!
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Lonell
June 18, 2020 at 10:38 amI ask any GOD fearing good hearted person pray for me and my family. Please
David
July 12, 2020 at 3:53 amI will pray for you! God is singing over you. You are the apple of his eye!
Anonymous
May 3, 2021 at 4:27 amI don’t follow any GOD who want’s me to fear them.
Gabrielle Jensen
May 11, 2021 at 11:15 pmI hear you. But all Gods require respect. You get get what you give, you know?
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