What’s the difference between lighting a smudge stick and not feeling a difference versus truly sensing & feeling a difference, whether slight or intense? Setting clear intentions. To just light it because someone said it would help or because you like it is lovely and it will do what it’s meant to do, but your investment – sort of mental-emotional power or push that you put in it – is going to determine what you can sense as the difference. Which is not to say that you must try, like lifting a heavy box to move it out.
It simply means you need to be conscious of why you’re lighting it, what you want it to do for you or your space. Keep it simple & straightforward. That is why some of us prefer to have a little mantra, or saying, or prayer when we smudge or burn an incense – it helps our minds & actions align with what we feel we want & our intent.
There are many other methods of clearing a space & cleansing your own energy as well. For example, in a hotel room when traveling where management frowns on lighting candles or burning incenses (understandably so), you may use a dish of sea salt to absorb & ground harmful or residual energies, or you may use a bell or singing bowl to clear the energies with resonant tones and higher vibrations. For yourself, you may add sea salt to a bath to cleanse your aura.
Regardless of how you decide to clear a space, begin by taking a few deep breaths to calm & relax. Make sure you have your smudge stick or incense, something to light it with, and a safe vessel to catch the ashes or hold it while it smolders. Think clearly about why you're smudging, why you need to clear & cleanse. What do you want to feel, or what result would you like?
If you are or were recently sick, perhaps you want to clear away unhealthy energy and restore balance or wellness. If you have been plagued by sleep disturbances or intense dreams, perhaps you want to clear harmful attachments and restore peaceful rest – or, gain the guidance & clarity your Higher Self could be communicating. These are just some examples, a place to start, but you get the idea. If you feel disturbed or blocked, you’re clarifying & stating the intention for clearing, releasing, or cleansing, and rounding it off with a blessing, affirmation, or desired result.
To do things without intention, perhaps just deliberately, is effective. If you add the investment of your mindful attention, setting a clear intent & focus, you add your personal power to whatever it is you are doing – and that is even more effective, a stronger tangible vibration on an energetic level. If something doesn’t work the way you like, or as you expected, then it is a learning moment for you – focus inward on your limiting beliefs, or your healing process, or the root emotion of your intention. There you will be able to cleanse your Spirit, your Inner Self, of excessive pressure and emotional baggage and mental debris.
Peace & Blessings,
Cynthia