smudging
Paranormal Activity, Or Energy Residue?
Clients sometimes ask me to do an energy clearing in their homes or businesses. In have even been asked to do a cleansing in stables, where the horses had been inexplicably out of sorts and acting out of character. The energy clearing methods I use vary from the more typical Western techniques to traditional African methods that I learned while living there.
One of the most memorable clearings I ever did was for a long-standing client who struggled with a deep sense of guilt over the suicide of her late husband. She had asked me to do an energy clearing ritual in her home, to see what I could pick up.
Her husband had ended his life sitting in a large, plush wingback chair in their home, where they were bringing up their two young children. Apparently, they had argued a lot in the weeks leading up to his death, particularly after he’d discovered her affair with another man.
Guilt overwhelmed her, and her late husband’s family made their judgment of her very clear. They felt his passing was her fault.
In a mediumship reading I did for her, her late husband had come through with messages that proved he had crossed over to the Other Side, that he was at peace, and that she was never to blame for him choosing to depart from this life. Instead, he spoke of his own life-long battle with depression, and his personal failures in their broken marriage.
The mediumship validations were however not enough to ease my client’s haunting feelings of guilt. She was convinced that her husband’s troubled spirit was haunting their home, and she insisted on me doing an energy cleansing. She was, however, not keen on some of the more typical Western clearing methods, nor the shamanic African approaches I offered, so I suggested we simply use some sage incense and prayer, and she was satisfied for me to do so.
She also consented to me having free access to every nook and cranny of the house, because it is often surprising where energy disturbances can reside. She believed there was a heavy, dark cloud of negative energy around that wingback chair, but to my surprise, there was nothing! In fact, the whole room was clear of any negative vibrations. Continue reading
Keep Your Home Safe From Toxic Energy
Your house is your sacred space. It is hallowed ground. It is the place where you and your loved ones regenerate, and find renewed strength and inner peace. For this reason, the energy in your home must be kept healthy and clean.
Some people believe it is okay to temporarily allow toxic people and other sources of negative energy into their homes, and then try to meditate, pray or smudge it away with sage later on, when it becomes a problem. I do not recommend this approach.
It is not always that simple or easy to get rid of negative energy. It tends to linger, especially when it is very aggressive, or has an extremely low, dark vibration. It may require a lot of repetitive spiritual cleansing work, and your firm intention, to be properly dealt with.
I used to take in people in need, who temporarily needed a refuge or safe haven. But I learned a difficult lesson. While I had the best intentions, and my heart was in the right place, I wasn’t actually helping them. Most of them only went on to damage my property, steal my belongings, or hurt my feelings in some way. All of them somehow took advantage of me. And they always left my house, and my heart, in a mess.
These days I will donate, advise, offer a ride, or even a shoulder to cry on. But no one comes into my home anymore, especially since I started having children. My home is now sacred, holy territory. And I keep the energy pure in every possible way.
Keeping Your Heart Chakra Open
My heart chakra is usually always open. I find that when I open my heart center, it helps me to have a clear mind and be of service to others.
It is very helpful to me in this day and age, because so many people come to me with questions about love, advice for marriages and friendships, really all areas of life. So, for me, to not have my heart chakra open would make it very difficult to do my work.
Every reader is different in the way the work. Personally, I have to constantly be mindful to take time to meditate, and to make time every morning to declutter my mind of useless thoughts.
The best way for me to have a decluttered mind, and be open to dialogue with spirit, is to do my daily heart chakra meditation. I do this by holding my rose quartz crystal, while I simply sit quietly. I then visualize myself with my heart open and connecting with all of humankind, and the planet. It is only after doing this that I will feel ready to do readings.
I was driving down the street the other day, and realized my heart chakra was not open. I was stressed, and worrying about various things, causing myself to have a negative domino effect in my energy flow. As soon as I realized this, I stopped the car. I literally pulled over to the side of the road, and thought about what was causing my heart chakra to be so blocked.
The Haunting That Still Haunts
Have you ever experienced something that was so scary you just couldn’t forget about it? No matter how many years have passed you still can’t get it out of your mind? I have had several such terrifying experiences in my life. Try as I might, I just simply can’t forget about those occurrences.
I can’t forget for example, about the time I experienced severe sleep paralysis. It was frightening beyond measure. I also can’t forget the feeling I got one time that I had to leave the place where I was living, and that I had to leave now. Later that week I discovered that the person I was sharing living space with, had been murdered. So, if your intuition tells to get out of an environment, listen to it!
Another experience that I will never forget had to do with a Ouija board. It was several decades ago. My friends and I were dabbling with one. We asked for a spirit entity to come through and we did make contact with someone… or something. It made the people I was with very scared, so they all left. But I continued to play with the board on my own, and when I asked what the spirit’s name was, and it spelled out the name Ralph.
I asked Ralph what he did in life and he said that he had owned a farm, which was on the land where I was living at the time. He also revealed that many animals had died on that land, because there had been a terrible plague and a shortage of medicine that could save them. After he lost his cattle, he built a home which ended up burning down to the ground. So, there had been a lot of suffering occurring on that piece of land.
I later did some research and found out that there had in fact been a farm on that property long ago. I also did a ritual to help the spirits of the farmer and his animals find peace. I blessed the land and burned lots of sage.
The Shaman’s Recipe For Energy Cleansing
A shaman in Colorado once taught me a wonderful recipe for energy cleansing or ‘space clearing’ in your home. I have been using it for years and find it a really good alternative to traditional smudging with sage or other herbs.
It requires a few more ingredients than smudging, but it is certainly worth it!
Ingredients
- 2 lemons
- Kosher salt
- Paper cups (1 for each room)
- Water (tap is fine)
- Wind chimes, or singing bowl
- Picture of a deity or angel, or something that symbolizes love and light to you
- Camphor essential oil in a spray bottle
- Jasmine incense, and incense holder
- Lighter
- Sturdy trash bag
Method
Slice the lemons into wedges, and place one wedge into each paper cup filled halfway with water. Place some Kosher salt into each cup and place one cup on the floor of each room, or in a larger space place a cup every 10 feet or so apart on the floor.
Smudging Your Home To Clear Negative Energy
It’s a good idea to cleanse the energy in your home once a week, in my opinion. I do this with smudging, going around the perimeters of my house asking the powers that be to bless and protect my home and those who dwell in it. It helps to keep negativity and toxic energy out.
Smudging is an ancient shamanic practice and a ceremony practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Americas, which involves the burning of sacred herbs and resins. The smoke is believed to neutralize negative energy – as it clears it takes the unwanted, toxic energy with it, releasing it into another realm where it can be regenerated into positive energy.
I have also attended Catholic church ceremonies several times in my lifetime. They always start with incense at the beginning of a service. I like to describe it as ‘cleaning the negativity and toxic cobwebs’ that have accumulated. Yes, homes collect all kinds of energy over time, just like dust on a lampshade. And it needs to be cleaned! Every home benefits from a frequent smudging.
I especially like to always smudge after any negative encounter that may have taken place in my space – literally anything negative, be it the presence of an actual person, a bad dream, or telephonic argument with a loved one, I like to clear out that energy, as it makes my home brighter and lighter. As a highly sensitive empath, I just love the feeling of fresh, peaceful energy in my home.
On smudging days, I first dust my home and clean it, always with the windows wide open. Then I smudge myself, before smudging my home. I cleanse my own aura from my feet up, then go back down in a swirling motion all around my entire body. I use both hands when doing this, to evenly move the smudging stick around me. I visualize my aura being cleansed completely.
How To Deal With Ghosts In Your Home
Do you suspect your home may be haunted? If so, don’t panic! The majority of hauntings are generally harmless. However, it is nevertheless imperative that you be able to recognize when spirits are around you, and to know how to engage correctly with them at all times. If you suspect that you are dealing with something more ominous, then it may be advisable to find professional help from paranormal experts in your area. But in most cases there is usually nothing to fear. The following guidelines may useful to you when dealing with typical ghosts in your home
Spirit Spotting
Spirits are often experienced by humans as orbs, flashing lights, shadows, blurs or mists. Complete, full-bodied apparitions, as are often portrayed in the movies, tend to be more rare and less frequently encountered. Yet, this is what most people expect to see, which impairs their very awareness to recognize spiritual contact when it actually happens.
Interestingly, paranormal research suggests that ghosts tend to be more active during the night, rather than the daytime, possibly because there is less electronic disturbance being emitted from household appliances at this time. In fact, electricity is a crucial factor in tracking down ghosts, as a lot of professional paranormal investigators use Electromagnetic Field (EMF) meters to measure spirit activity.
When an electromagnetic current changes or moves, it creates an EMF, and as ghosts are understood to be a form of energy, this energy current interferes with the EMF fields that surround them whenever they move, thus allowing any detecting equipment to ascertain both the spirit’s presence and whereabouts. How exciting is that?