aromatherapy
Cleansing Rituals Are A Vital Spiritual Practice
Energy cleansing should be a key component in our regular spiritual practice. To achieve and maintain a state of higher consciousness and enhanced spiritual awareness, we must constantly aim to purify and rebalance ourselves mind, body and soul.
Purification rituals are traditionally practiced in many world religions and various spiritual traditions embrace tangible cleansing rituals as a way of communing with and manifesting the Divine energy. Water-based rituals of purification are practiced, for example, in the Baháʼí faith, Christianity, Hinduism, Indigenous American religion, traditional African spirituality, Islam, Judaism, Mandaeism, Neopaganism, Shinto, Western esotericism, and Wicca.
It is no accident that animals also clean themselves regularly by grooming their fur or feathers. Nature instinctively understands that ‘cleanliness is next to godliness.’ Mother Nature also cleanses herself throughout the year with changes in the weather and the succession of the seasons.
I’ve never been much or a ritual or ceremony person myself, but I have come to embrace the need for a regular energy cleansing routine as I have grown in my own spiritual and psychic awareness.
For many years now, one of my go-to rituals is a simple spiritual cleansing bath with Epsom salt. I find it is a wonderful practice to realign my energy flow and restore inner peace and harmony. Nothing beats a proper ‘soul detox’ every few days.
Another practice I’ve adopted of late is chakra candle work. I often use these scented candles to jumpstart a client’s cleansing process, or cleanse and rebalance my own energy. The candle for each chakra is infused with its own combination of essential oils. The heart chakra candle is my personal favorite. It’s laced with sandalwood, jasmine, and rose essential oils and really packs a punch!
Developing Your Herbal Intuition
Herbal medicine is becoming increasingly popular, and many people are increasingly turning to herbalism as a healthcare supplement, or even a substitute to conventional pharmaceutical medicine. Plants, flowers, and herbs all have unique energetic qualities that make them suitable for various purposes. They are alive and respond to their environment and how they are treated in the same way humans do.
When we think of herbs, we tend to narrowly categorize them according to the medical conditions they can be used for, or what aspect of our health and wellness they can improve. However, like people, herbs are much more complex and multi-faceted, and have many uses and applications, alone or in combination with other herbs.
To obtain the most benefit from any herb, we need to take the time and have patience to truly get to know the herb. When you meet someone for the first time at a social event, would you diminish the other person’s true worth by instantly deciding they have only one useful trait or redeeming quality, and leave it at that? Taking the time to get acquainted with a particular herb is much like getting to know someone in an intimate friendship.
Selecting herbs to work with or draw upon for healing is a highly intuitive process. The appearance, aroma, taste, texture, and energy vibration of the ideal herb for a specific purpose must speak to us mind, body, and soul. They convey a distinct energy signature and frequency of healing that the intuitively aware user will innately know is best to use at that time.
Stay Spiritually Uplifted This Winter Holiday Season
For some people, the approach of winter is a fantastic time of the year. They love to walk amongst the golden autumn leaves, breathing in the crisp air that enlivens the soul, while looking forward to the festive holiday season.
For others, the holiday season is a time of fear and dread. It is for some that time of the year when they feel more bored, lonely, depressed and lacking in enthusiasm. I used to be one of those people. I could not wait for it all to be over, so the brighter days of spring could arrive. But these days I have a very different outlook. I have learned ways to lift my spirits during this time of the year. Yes, winter holiday period does not have to be a ‘dark night of the soul!’
If you are currently also dreading the fast-approaching holiday season, the following self-care strategies can help you turn this time of the year into a period of true joy and upliftment. It will assist you in navigating the winter through to the spring effectively and happily, while maintaining emotional well-being and keeping your spirits high.
Intentions & Goalsetting
It is always great to have something uplifting to look forward to, especially when the nights are cold, long, and lonely. This time of the year is the perfect opportunity to set new goals or personal targets that will add value and excitement to your life. No need to for New Year’s Eve to make your resolutions. Start setting those intentions
Once you have set your goals, begin to meditate on and visualize those intentions. Once you get your intentional energy rolling, the Universe will assist you in manifesting your endeavours by cosmically aligning you to the desired end result.
Anger Release Empowers The Empath
As an empath, I’ve been personally and professionally targeted by others many times in my life. But I am not the only one. These challenges are common among the highly sensitive. Why do sensitives tend to experience so much bullying? I believe we tend to attract it because we are called to support others in balancing their emotions. We are meant to use our gift of empathy to help heal others.
But at times the empath becomes overwhelmed. She is only human and sometimes also needs to vent. Most of all the empath must learn to release anger and other negative emotion she may experience as a result of the injustice, callousness and even cruelty she often tends to suffer.
Unresolved anger is one of the underlying causes for many addictions and dysfunctional behaviors. Anger that leads to a sense of entitlement, and from entitlement comes dissolved hopes and dreams.
If we learn to surrender our egos and release entitlement, then we find the hopes and dreams we’ve lost return to us. Peace is the ultimate foundation of prosperity and well-being. Having peaceful thoughts and kind intentions for everyone invites abundance into our lives.
This doesn’t mean we have to be a ‘doormat’ for others. If we are truly at peace, our higher vibration commands a natural boundary and the Universe fills in the energetic gaps.
For example, while dealing with a difficult person, someone else may come along to interrupt the conversation with some humor. The Universal Spirit naturally intercedes on our behalf once we set good intentions for everyone by releasing our anger and resentment.
Practical Ways To Cleanse And Protect Your Energy
We often blame other people or circumstances for feeling tired, burdened, overwhelmed, or depressed, while in truth it is due to our own choices and actions.
When we do not take care to maintain a raised energy vibration, lower or ‘dense’ energies begin to affect us in a negative way. It typically manifests as general physical and emotional exhaustion, or feeling drained. There may also be recurring episodes of ‘bad luck.’
How do we cause this lowered energy frequency? The main cause is negative thoughts and limiting, false beliefs. Our daily reality experience is the result of our thoughts and beliefs. We are personally responsible for the vibes we exchange with our surroundings and the rest of the world.
No matter what belief system or religion you subscribe to, energy protection is always necessary. Every day we are exposed to etheric energies imbued with despair, conflict, hatred, and anger, but nothing can get into our energy field if we do not allow it to enter. So, always protect yourself and shield your energy.
True spiritual protection and energy shielding is however never about fear, insecurity, or paranoia, nor is it about focusing on the negative. On the contrary, it is a way to keep our lives open to the blessings available to us every day. By protecting our energy, we make sure that we are open to every good thing that moves around us and to every soul that wants to vibrate in a key of joy with us.
There are many spiritual and metaphysical practices for achieving and maintaining energetic security and a raised vibration, such as prayer, meditation, visualization, cleansing rituals, and invoking guides, saints, or a particular deity. The following practices are also useful to incorporate in your everyday lifestyle.
Finding The Light Within
When we rely on codependent, toxic relationships, materialism and possessions, and other superficial sources of ‘fulfillment,’ it creates a weariness within us. It weighs down the soul. It drowns out the inner light.
Material things and human beings by nature cannot be perfectly reliable all of the time. Material items deteriorate and lose their luster. Friendships and relationships come and go. All that ever truly remains is spirit, and what we do to take care of ourselves. As the world is in dismay in the wake of a pandemic, we can choose to turn to spirit and to take better care of ourselves instead.
While others may choose to descend into lack consciousness, greed or an attitude of entitlement, we can choose an attitude of gratitude, inner peace and joyful living instead.
We have a tremendous opportunity right now to expand our spiritual growth and to empower ourselves with self-care. Many folks don’t realize how useful taking just a few minutes out of their busy day can be!
Adopting a new daily spiritual practice, or simply reading an inspiring book, taking a soothing bath, or buying an aromatherapy diffuser can be uplift the spirit and heal the soul.
There is also crystal energy work, nature walks, prayer, and meditation by a body of water to enhance our joy and connect with the Creator who envisioned all this and brought it all into being.
What we can’t control, we can simply turn over to a Higher Power of our understanding. We can surrender to hope and joy, and let go of our fears. We can say, “This does not have to happen on my timeline, let Your will be done in my life.”
Clear And Ground Your Energy Before You Shield
Psychics, mediums and healers often mention the importance of shielding your energy. I have learned the hard way as an empath that it is equally important to clear and ground your energy and this should always be done first.
Shielding implies psychic defense. This is wonderful and necessary, but along with a strong shield one also needs good armor. My angels told me that for me to serve most effectively it was critical that my energy be clear, grounded and shielded daily. Early in my career as an empath, I made a practice of shielding at the beginning of every day. It worked very well initially. However, after a few weeks I noticed that in spite of this I was feeling drained at times, even slightly irritable and frustrated. Then I discovered the important of clearing and grounding.
Being shielded without first clearing any negative residual energy is akin to not showering or bathing, or letting garbage pile up in your home. Additionally, shielding without being grounded causes our energy and our purpose to be untethered, distracted and easily blown off course. Incorporating these practices allows for a much stronger shield for body, mind and spirit.
If you always clear and ground before you shield, your mind will be clearer, your emotions more balanced and your body stronger. You’ll find yourself better equipped to deal with chaos at work or at home. Decisions and appropriate courses of action will flow more easily. You will be in essence more effectively linked to your natural intuition and inner guidance, without confusion or uncertainty.
I clear my energy every evening. I am a huge advocate of massage, acupuncture and energy work, such as Reiki, but it isn’t practical for me to incorporate that on a daily basis. Meditation, prayer and the visualization of cutting cords, are fabulous tools available to us daily.
