Smudging and cleansing of physical and/or personal space is an ancient art that has been used in ceremony for thousands of years. It is a symbolic way of clearing spirits, entities, ghosts or just heavy stale and negative energy from buildings and spaces.
Smudging is also used to clear a participant’s field in many kinds of ceremony and services. It cleanses the personal aura before entering sacred space. Tools used are: an abalone shell to hold the ashes then a sage wand or Palo Santo wood are lit on fire to create smoke. A feather is used to direct the smoke around the person, building or area of ceremony. It is important to be respectful and to honour Native and Shamanic practices and prayers when using their traditions.
Sometimes people moving into a new home or an older home like to have the building and surrounding areas cleansed and cleared of questionable energy. This was the case with a friend of mine. She had bought a house that was built in the 1920’s. It was a great house with lots of room and character but - it also carried a history of some family deaths - and that was a bit unsettling to my friend. Due to her concern about the age of the house and the associated deaths she asked me to do a cleansing.
We decided to use sacred smudging, candles and sound and to complete the cleanse before any furniture was moved in. I gave my friend and her daughter smudging equipment to use and I used my crystal bowl. After about half an hour the 4 year old granddaughter and her father arrived. I gave the little girl a small bell and asked her to join in and help us clear the energy. She was very intent and took her job seriously. Then, from different parts of the house, without notice, we all stopped the work simultaneously and felt a total completion. Within minutes the rest of the family arrived with all the furniture and it became a happy hub of activity.
A couple of years later my husband and I went to their home for a visit. The granddaughter, went off to her room for a while then returned with a picture she had painted for me. It was a house with fairies waving in the windows. Her mother asked her what it meant. The little girl told her, I was the lady who did magic. Now the fairies wanted to live there and she wanted to thank me. A beautiful story about how children see and remember things.
To this day it remains a most happy home for the family. We all could benefit from a simple smudging ceremony to cleanse our personal body and space. It is a symbolic and powerful tool to shed and release what does not serve us. Learn from it - Through the eyes of a child