Day 2

I was going to make another batch of body wash, but it would have to stay in the jar it cools in (as I'm out of 8 oz. applicator bottles atm). Which means, I *might* do that tomorrow.... We shall see!

Today I performed a spiritual cleansing ritual, for my friend (later tonight I'll be cleansing the house). Rituals don't have to be big and complicated, they can be rather low key and simplistic. It all comes down to intent. My friend, J, has her spiritual roots in earthly energies, and has had a bit of a rough time as of late. So, when she saw I was going to be doing a house cleansing, she spoke up about wanting to participate in a cleansing ritual for her spirit. We talked a bit and I found out that she's alot like me in that winter is just so dark and dreary that it's hard to stay positive. Spring is her favorite season, and as the Spring Equinox is right around the corner. Actually, according to The Farmers Almanac, "Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, 2012, at 1:14 A.M. (EDT)". 12 days away is more or less around the corner, in my mind.

To get back on track, I thought I'd share how I did the ritual and what components I used *just in case* you might be interested to do a bit of your own spiritual cleansing! If you're a bit uncomfortable with the idea that this is a spiritual ritual, no worries! It's still effective when done as an aromatherapy treatment with no spirituality involved. Anyway, back to the cleansing!

First, we'll take a look at the different ingredients:

 Hrmmm... sorry it's a bit fuzzy. Also, please pay no attention to my Oogie Boogie slippers... Actually, that's a bit too fuzzy for my taste. Let's see... Ah! This one is a *bit* better (I suppose):

Either way, what you're looking at here is the green box of a cheap cedarwood incense I just happened to have picked up (remember, quality ingredients are always best, but nothing beats intent when working rituals...). Why cedar? This is why. So, we have our cedar element for spiritual and emotional harmony. I've been burning cedar incense all day long, as the cleansing is going to take a while (we have a rather big and open floor plan... I wanted to smell the cedar no matter where I was in the house. Next up, the oils:

I used the lemon oil as the base for the oil mixture. I added a bit of sandalwood, and finally a dash of lavender. I had J smell the oil while it was in my soapstone oil warmer (seen below), but before I put it to heat as I wanted to make sure the mixture I was using would work for her. Luckily enough for me, it did. If it hadn't, it would have just been a matter of adding a bit more here and there until it smelled right to her. Remember, intent. I wanted to help J invigorate her own inner strength to assist the breaking up of the bad, icky, stale winter stress she felt she was carrying. I went with lemon oil because it's a clean, uplifting scent that helps us let go and accept change. The sandalwood oil was used because it is a sacred scent that has crossed several nations and been used in many spiritual practices around the world. Sandalwood is great when you need to center your mind, body and spirit. I used it for it's calming effects as well as it's spiritual properties. And finally, the lavender. I find that I really less than three using lavender. I've been making "sweet dream" aromatherapy sachets to help folks fall asleep at night... So, right. Lavender. I used the lavender oil to help ease any seasonal depression she may have picked up over the season as well as to assist in the calming of her energies.

 *pssst..... This is my soapstone oil burner!

Once I had the mix right (according to J's nose), I put the burner next to us and closed the "cage" underneath once I had put a lit candle inside. Now, we had the cedar incense going as well as the oil heating up to add it's scent to the air. I put a small dab of oil on each of J's wrists and a bit at her temples. I was, more or less annointing her with the oils. I was letting her pulse carry the scents. By doing so, I was employing (if you will) her own body to assist with the relaxation that was necessary for a spiritual cleansing. Which brings me to the final element of this small ritual. The herbs:

Ingredients: Sage, Marshmallow, Rosemary and Queen of Meadow/Meadowsweet, and a pinch of Lavender.
In general, I chose these herbs because:
1) I already had them and 2) they each added a bit of calmness, self-assurance, emotional flexibility, protection, strength and I could go on. It boiled down to intuition and intent. I've only started using herbs in the last year, so much of what I do with them is more gut instinct than anything else. So, I filled my tiny cauldron (that I bought specifically for smoldering herbs) with some purple sand and lit my charcoal disc. Once it had started to turn white/grey around the edges, I used my altar broom to "sweep" away the "ick on the surface" and to imbue her with the herbal properties she needed to start the cleansing process. Here's a pic of my tiny cauldron and broom that I use for smoldering:

I had her lay on the floor with her head cradled on my thighs as I symbolically took the broom through the smoke and made sweeping gestures over her head and body. This was a lot of visualization as my go-go gadget arms aren't *that* long! After the ritual (I just used three or four pinches of the herbal mix total... Fyi, don't put too much on top of the charcoal disc, or you may snuff the charcoal before you can get any good smoke off of it!) I made a small vial of her oil mix and gave it to her to dab on her pulse points and temples three times a day! Her 2 year old daughter watched us nearby, and gave me a cuddle when her mom and I were done with the ritual. I've always done my rituals on the fly (with a *bit* of research before hand, of course. I'd hate to accidentally use an herb for smoldering that could be poisonous), so having her little one didn't detract from the ritual at all. I believe in everyday magic and the amazing power of positive thinking. I could have done the ritual for her without the items I used, but it's a bit awkward to silently go through a ritual for someone else. Participants should be able to do just that, participate if they feel so inclined.

All in all, it's been a wonderful day so far (even though it's taken me about three hours to get this blog post written)! I'm looking forward to tomorrow....