Smudging for you and your Home

Smudging can totally transform your life and luck.  If you feel as though life is an uphill battle, as if fate is never on your side then smudging might just be the answer.  Smudging is the art of cleansing your self and your environment using simple ritual and ceremony.  For thousands of years it has been a part of Native American tradition but now the power of Smudging is available to everyone.

Native American tradition dates back millennia and most traditional cultures, from the Zulus to the Maoris, from the Chinese to the Balinese, have age-old forms of cleansing and blessing ritual.  Even the West retains relics of it, although we have long forgotten the true purpose behind many of our rituals and ceremonies.  The incense wafting through a church is cleansing the atmosphere just as surely as the medicine man’s bowl of sacred smoke, or smudge.

The effects of smudging can be swift and dramatic.  It can help you banish stress and attract love, soothe you or give you energy.  It can bring your family closer together and let you adjust to the healing seasonal rhythms of the year.  Above all, it can turn any space; however humble, into a soothing sanctuary, a place of renewal.

How can smudging be so powerful?  The answer lies in the sub-atomic world of subtle or spiritual energy.  Homes and bodies are not just made of purely physical matter; they also vibrate with subtle, invisible energy.  Cleansing a space or our bodies with techniques such as smudging clears away all the emotional and psychic “garbage” that may have gathered over years or even hundreds of years.  It is like spiritual spring-cleaning.

You should clean the house throrughly before you start a smudging ceremony. Clean under and behind everything, get rid of all the dust and cobwebs.

Light the Smudge Stick.  Let it burn until it begins to smoulder, then extinguish the flame so your stick smokes.  Call on the spirits of the smudge to cleanse and protect your home – saying, “Sacred Sage, drive away all negativity from my home; take away everything unworthy and impure”.  Then move from room to room making sure that you get the smoke into all the corners.  Imagine the smoke lifting away all the negative thoughts, emotions and energies that have become attached to you and your home.

You can use the words above or just focus on clearing out the old stale energy and bringing in new, fresh, positive energy. Your intent is the most important aspect. Smudging works particularly well if you have thrown away all the junk we accumulate as well as spring cleaning.

Smudging can work really fast and in my experience almost instantly …… last time i cleansed my house i was clearing negativity from a difficult relationship – he had moved out and i thought it was over although i didnt want it to be. By 4pm the man in question had called me and agreed to go to relate (which went better than i could have imagined.) Whatever the reason, even if its not specific you should smudge your house at least once a year.

So get smudging and spring clean your body and your home for a brand new start.

© 2002 Sarah Marsden