Cleansing Rituals - How, When and Why

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Last week I did something I haven’t done in ages and it felt great!  I did a Cleansing Ritual.  Having been raised Catholic, and attending Catholic school for 12 years, rituals became a part of my psyche very early in life.  Some of my earliest childhood memories surround a small statue on my grandmother’s dresser, which she would pray to and kiss daily and often point towards a picture of someone she loved who needed protecting.  I also remember the trips to church to light candles for our “intentions”.  Really, that’s the word that was used.  You dropped some change in the poor box and lit a small votive candle before a particular saint or the Blessed Virgin or Jesus and said a prayer asking them to remember your “intention”.  We did this for sick people, pregnant people, people in trouble and especially for final exams!

To me rituals are an outward symbol of an inward desire.  They are not superstitious nonsense as many would eagerly say. They are a way to connect the spiritual to the physical, and I have always believed they have a very powerful place in our lives.  Those of you who have taken time to assemble vision boards as per The Secret have conducted a type of ritual.  Each day when you focus on that vision board, you are again conducting a ritual.  If you are carrying a rock in your pocket or a good-luck charm on your key-chain, you are carrying ritual objects.  You may not call them that, but that’s what they are.

So what is a Cleansing Ritual?  It is an outward symbol of an internal desire to cleanse your mind and your life.  In my case last week I had been doing some work on eradicating some limiting hidden beliefs about my day job.  After I dredged up all the muck from my mind, I felt very strongly that I needed to clean myself and my office of the negativity.  The rooms we inhabit and the objects we touch daily can be hold emotions that we throw off all day long.  Have you ever entered a house that just felt wrong or just felt really nice?  That’s a reflection of the emotions that have been experienced in that house.  As a former Realtor I can tell you that these impressions really do happen when people are house shopping.  I can’t count how many times I was told that a house just “didn’t feel right.”  I guess they needed a good cleaning!

When to do a Cleansing Ritual

Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt like you were carrying some kind of extra spiritual or emotional baggage with you that you just couldn’t shake?  That’s a great time to do a cleaning ritual.  Another great time to do this is after a very traumatic experience, especially in your home or workplace.  Relationship breakups are extremely ripe for some ritual cleansing action as well.  In my recent case, I had discovered some really negative stuff hiding in my mind and the process of digging it up and confronting it left me feeling, well, dirty.  I could feel that the residue of what I had uncovered was going to stay with me if I didn’t do something to symbolically send it on its way.

If you have been working very hard on your visualization and developing your positive thinking yet you feel like you are being held back, you may also be in need of some cleaning.  If you seem to be having a run of really bad luck, you may have some negativity floating around in your subconscious that is attracting these circumstances to you and you need to get them gone and fast!  While it helps to know exactly what it is you are cleaning yourself of, you can do this with a very general statement of just cleaning away negativity or cleansing yourself of the thoughts that are holding you back as well.

Why do a Cleansing Ritual?

You could be a Jew, Muslim Hindu, Christian, Wiccan or Shinto; it doesn’t matter.  This isn’t about religion, although all religions do have some kind of ritual activity.  Keep in mind that rituals are symbolic; they are a language in which our subconscious minds are very fluent.  Remember, there was a time, not really very long ago, when our people wrote in pictures on cave walls and believed that the gods brought the rain and the good harvest and the abundant herds.  Our ancestors lived lives rich in symbolism, and what we term today “superstition”.  While your conscious mind might not be in tune with its pagan origins, your unconscious is still filled with that symbolism and it will recognize what you are doing and act accordingly.

How to do a Cleansing Ritual

The actual “how” should be an individual choice, but I will give you some basic guidelines and ideas, which you can then adapt based on your own beliefs and comfort level.  The idea is not to feel ridiculous when you are doing this.  This ritual should have power over your subconscious, and if you feel silly that’s not as likely to happen.

Step One: Your Cleaning Supplies

As with any cleaning project, you are going to need some supplies.  First you will need a fluid that to you symbolizes cleaning.  For me that’s Windex.  Stop laughing!  Windex means clean to me.  It’s the stuff I have used since childhood to clean windows so they were clear, and wipe smudges off of metal and other shiny surfaces.  My mind associates Windex with clarity and cleanliness.  I know many people associate the smell of Pine Sol with cleaning as well.  For you this could be as simple as a bowl of warm water.

You will need a cloth or paper towels to clean with. Again for me this is about paper towels because that is how I was taught to clean as a child.  For you this might be a sponge or a clean rag or towel.

Next you need some salt.  Why salt?  Salt has very long been believed to remove negativity and even evil through absorption.  I think this dates back to the discovery that by curing meat with salt you could prevent decay.  So you will find many beliefs in the use of salt for spiritual cleansing.  You could substitute some other powder or solid here.  For instance if sand or earth seems cleansing to you go for it. Maybe you have a favorite bath salt or powder that you could use.  You’ll want this to be a finely ground substance as you are going to sprinkle this around when you are done.

Next you’ll want to find a bowl or glass of water.  You will be leaving this in place, so depending on where you are doing this you may want to choose something totally unobtrusive like a coffee mug or something really pretty like a vase.  Why the water?  The water in conjunction with the salt is going to work as a magnet for negativity, thus drawing it away from you.  Placing a glass of water in a window or by a bedside was long believed to ward off bad dreams.  Some cultures use olive oil for this purpose as well.  What you want here is something that symbolizes capture or drawing for you.  Maybe some tape laid out somewhere sticky-side up in your space could work too.  For me, the water has always held this symbol when used in this manner so that’s what I go for.

Don’t think you are going to be able to pull this off in five minutes.  Be sure to allow yourself at least an hour to do this.  For your first time you may want to allocate more time as you may get distracted by the process and have to refocus your intention several times while doing this ritual.

Step Two: Prepare Yourself

This should be obvious, but before you can clean anything, you must be clean yourself.  I remember when I was studying Wiccan rituals that they believed in taking a bath in salt water prior to commencing a ritual.  This was a symbol of purification, similar to the use of Holy Water for Catholics.  If you want to take a bath that would be awesome.  A nice hot bath with some salts can be a great way to mentally prepare yourself, because it can be very relaxing, and you can meditate on your intention while in the tub.  This isn’t very practical if you are needing to do this in your office, so you can opt for just a thorough hand washing.  That’s what I did when I did this for my office.

Step Three:  Focus Your Intention & Clean

In my case my intention was to remove the negative energy that I had accumulated about my sales abilities and statistics.  I focused very strongly in my mind  that, as I cleaned each surface of my office, I was cleaning away those negative thoughts and emotions.  I did not focus on replacing them at this time, just the cleansing.  So begin by wiping down all of the surfaces in the area you are cleaning just as you would if you were doing your regular housekeeping.  Only as you are doing this keep focused in your mind that you are cleansing out the negativity.  Speaking aloud can be a very powerful addition to this process, so say as you are cleaning “I cleanse you of all negativity” over and over again, almost as if you were chanting.  By doing this out loud, you are helping to build a new neural pathway in your subconscious that reinforces the cleansing of the negativity.  Again, this ritual is about reaching into your unconscious mind using the language of symbolism.

Make sure you wipe down as many objects as you can in your space.  While it is not necessary to clean the walls entirely, I do find it helpful to touch each wall with the cleansing rag and solution, and continue to say “I cleanse you of all negativity.”  Don’t forget your carpet or floor!  You can get out that vacuum or mop or you can do the wall trick I just told you, LOL.  Personally, I didn’t vacuum my office.  Remember to do all the chairs too!  You spend a ton of time sitting in your desk chair so it can gather up quite a bit of negative energy.  Oh and, don’t forget the phone!

Step Four:  Keeping it Clean

Now it is time to give yourself an outward symbol that you can see daily that will remind you that you have cleaned away the past, and you have the power to put your new future in place.  That is why I suggested a bowl, vase or mug of water.  Fill that item with water and sprinkle in a bit of that salt you have on hand.  Tell the water that it is going to catch any stray negativity that tries to return or make a first time visit. Keep this bowl where you can see it.  About once a week, empty it, clean it and refill it with water and salt to remind yourself that you are keeping your space clean.

Lightly sprinkle the salt on your floor and in your desk drawers, again, as a symbol of protection from, and the capture of, the negative thoughts.

Congratulations, you have just completed your first cleansing ritual!

Uh, This Sounds Like Witchcraft

That’s because the ancient practices of witchcraft in all cultures are based on reaching into your subconscious using symbols in order to manifest into the real world.  For me the bottom line, after years of studying world religions, is that, no matter what the faith, it seems that all religions tap into our subconscious either to bring about change or provide comfort.  Religion is as old as mankind and it touches that very primeval part of us that still rules behind the surface of our minds.  I consider myself multi-denominational, so I am very comfortable with this kind of ritual practice.  Still, if this does make you uncomfortable, because of the similarity to what you believe is witchcraft, then by all means don’t do it.  I would suggest that you find a method of cleaning out negativity in your mind and your surroundings that does resonate positively with you.  Perhaps very focused prayer while in those surroundings would have a profound effect for you?  Whatever you do, find a way to reach beyond your conscious thoughts to eradicate the negative thoughts and energy that is holding you back from your dreams.

I’m curious to know if anyone has any cleansing rituals of their own that they perform.  I’d love to hear about them!  Maybe I can add something new to my Windex, salt and water repertoire

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Tagged as: cleansing, cleansing ritual, negativity, ritual