Smudging & Crystals
While palo santo sticks, sage, sweetgrass, bay leaves and similar herbs can almost always be found in spiritual and metaphysical shops and have become some of the ‘must haves’ in many’s spiritual toolkits, not lot of people know much about the history of this sacred ancient practice and how should it be properly performed.
Smudging is thousand years old indigenous American tradition referring to a powerful spiritual cleansing technique which uses different sacred plants in order to honour and cleanse individual, space, group and anything else held sacred - which is, basically, Mother Earth and all that lives on Her and of Her. While the sole ritual of smudging is not that complicated and you don’t need any special equipment other than a chosen plant, what counts is the intention and focus you put into the act of smudging.
Otherwise knows as Sacred Smoke Bowl Blessing, smudging has entered Western consciousness only few decades ago, but as already mentioned, it forms a part of indigenous American culture for thousands years and it is considered to be an effective way to cast away all the negative energy or so called ‘bad medicine’ that accumulates around a person, group or a space on a subtle level. After the smudging ritual is performed, participants say they feel ‘lighter, refreshed, happier and cleansed on all levels’. In shamanism, plants are usually put in a bowl and lit up and special feather is used to sparse the smoke around the person, place and objects, but nowadays you can buy sticks and leaves of those plants and light them up right away obtaining the same effect. The important factor is, of course, to hold the right intention in mind and focus on the benefits you want to get from this sacred ritual.
Some may see it as a new age-y trend, but smudging is way, way more than that. It is honouring the Mother Earth, plant kingdom, sacred medicine and our personal and collective connection with all of it. In a way, it is creating the bond between the material and spiritual realm and calling in help of Mother Gaia in our everyday lives and struggles we may encounter in them, whether those manifest on physical, mental, emotional or spiritual level. Indeed, not only indigenous Americans, but peoples from other parts of the world and cultures have been using smoke of plants to produce beneficial effects, being it of purely practical and medical reasons, such as to prevent disease and drive off bugs and insects, or rather symbolically, as smoke is seen as a direct way to communicating with the higher, spiritual realms.
How can we use smudging in a simple way in our everyday lives to keep our energy fields clean and radiant, our spaces refreshed and filled with positive energy rather than heavy, negative vibes? And what are other creative ways to introduce the sacred plants smoke in our spiritual practice? Here we bring three easy rituals to cleanse one’s energetic field, space and…. yes, crystals!
Smudging one’s energy field
Light up the plant stick or leaf and start passing on the safe distance in front of person’s head, face, neck, shoulders. Disperse the smoke either with you hand or a feather. While doing so, focus on the intentions of the ritual. Either inside your mind or out loud say something along the lines: “I am using this sacred plant’s smoke to cleanse, purify and dust off any negative energy, mental and emotional debris, bad medicine and unwanted spirits for the Highest Benefits of All.” Continue smudging downwards, around and under person’s arms, around torso, hips, legs and finally, feet. Then ask the person to turn backwards and repeat the process behind their back. Once you are done, give thanks, either silently with nod of your head or otherwise guided, to the person you finished cleansing, to the plant and to the Mother Earth that provided the gift of this magical tool.
Smudging a space or a room
Before starting to smudge your house or any closed space, it is best to open up all the windows beforehand to let the fresh air in and start off the cleansing, in a sense. Then you can take your smudging tool of a choice, light it up and walk around the space, dispersing the smoke either by a feather or a hand, and saying your intentions, such as “I am cleansing this space of all the stale, negative, unwanted energies. I am casting away all the bad spirits and creating space for positive, uplifting and radiant fresh energy to come in. I am now blessing this space with the sacred medicine of the Mother Gaia.” You can say your intentions either out loud or in your mind and you can be as creative with them as you wish. It is good to focus the most on any corners, dark, hidden places of a room and doors and windows as low vibe energies tend to stuck in there and you also want to cleanse all the entrances to your home for a logical reason of keeping the bad stuff out and inviting fresh and new in.
Smudging crystals
Last, but not least, one of the ways you can cleanse your crystals is by smudging them with a leaf or a stick of a sacred plant. Hold a crystal in your hand, light up the smudging tool and go around it, making sure it is enveloped by the smoke from all the side, while reciting your intentions either out loud or in your head, just like in the previous two examples.
Smudging rituals are not set in stone and even though there are ways to go about them in order to honour the plants and Mother Nature that provided us with them, you should try to make it easy, fun and enjoyable, ‘cause that’s what they are for: to uplift your spirits and make you feel lighter, fresher and more positive!
These Orgonite Pyramids are ideal for practicing smudging and enhancing their properties through the holy smoke of purification - try it out!