With all of us trying to deal with the ongoing pandemic and the orders to stay at home, it makes sense that we want to make our abodes as comfy and safe as possible. While you probably already have stockpiles of soap, disinfecting wipes and maybe even toilet paper, there’s another way to make our temporary offices/living spaces/classrooms as tranquil as possible. Now’s the time to sage your home. Also called smudging, the process not only kills bad energy, it banishes bacteria as well.
“Smudging is a process that allows us to release negative energy from our environments, homes and bodies by using sage sticks,” says Cristin Smith, CEO and founder of Saffron & Sage. “It’s helpful to eliminate harmful pathogens as sage has antimicrobial properties, meaning it helps keep infectious bacteria, viruses and fungi at bay. This is why it makes a great ritual during our current crisis.”
Smith suggests smudging before or after leaving the house daily. You should also smudge any packages after leaving them in the sun for six to eight hours before opening them and bringing the products into your house.
When it comes to picking the sage, you want to ensure it has been harvested at the proper time and has been dried and bound properly. “You can always tell by the way that it burns. I would recommend purchasing it from those who hold to these strict cultivation practices, like we do at Saffron & Sage, or a boutique that is curating sage from businesses or farmers who adhere to these practices.”
Once you have your supplies, there are specific steps to follow to sage your home.
- Open the doors and windows of your house. Take your sage bundle and hold it over a bowl. Traditionally an abalone shell would be used, but a bowl also works.
- Light the sage stick and once it begins to catch fire, blow it out as you would incense. This allows it to produce smoke from the embers.
- You can pray or recite mantras about what you need to let go of or hope to receive from the cleansing ritual. If you’re in a new home, pray for blessings over it. If you’re releasing negative energy, you can pray for peace and positivity.
- Walk around the room and let the smoke spread and settle throughout until the entire room has absorbed the sage.
- You can shower yourself in the sage after you’ve cleansed the room. Cup your hands over the stick so they receive the smoke and wave it over your skin and body to rid yourself of any toxicity.
- After you’ve completed your cleansing ritual, extinguish the stick using a cup of water or tap it out using your bowl. Once it is completely extinguished, you can bury the stick in your garden to symbolize burying the negativity or place it on display in your home as a symbol of healing until your next cleansing ritual. Afterward, you can observe a minute or two of silence before going about your next activity.
Here’s to all of us updating our cleaning routines with some much needed cleansing.
