Home Cleansing Tips and Tricks

We've heard it before: "A clean home is a happy home." The reality, however, is that sometimes no matter how physically clean a home is, something still feels off.

This "off" feeling may be perceived as the air feeling dense, the house seems "haunted" by emotions, or otherwise just something negative that drains away the peaceful, homey atmosphere.

Whether it's your whole house, apartment, or just a single room, learning how to cleanse the energy of your space is vital. How can you cleanse your space of negativity?

The following information provides techniques and tips for spiritually cleaning your home of negative energy to promote that happy, peaceful atmosphere you're seeking.

Smoke Cleansing

A common technique for cleansing energies in an area is called smoke cleansing or herbal cleansing, which is often incorrectly referred to as smudging.

The term "smudge" in this context derives from English meaning "make a smoky fire." However, the practice the term "smudging" was used for is a specific, cultural practice found within several indigenous tribes of the Americas and specific to cleansing the soul. (For a brief discussion on the cultural appropriation of smudging and negative environmental impacts that came with, see the Bustle article Is Burning Sage Cultural Appropriation? Here’s How To Smoke Cleanse In Sensitive Ways.)

Smoke cleansing, however, is a non-culturally specific practice that focuses on the cleansing of your home or other spaces.

Smoke cleansing can be done by lighting incense or herbal bundles such as sage, sweet-grass, lavender, or any other magickal herbs associated with cleansing, purification, and protection. The incense used can vary, with frankincense as a popular favorite.

Some herbs and incense mixtures are used specifically for their cleansing and protective qualities; however, the most important factor is your personal preference for the scent. Sage--perhaps the most commonly used for this purpose--is very effective for cleansing negative energies, but if you can't stand the smell of burning sage, you'll have trouble creating the peaceful atmosphere you want in your home.

Pick a scent you enjoy that gives you the sense of a clean and happy home. (Note: If you or someone in your home has an allergy to incense smoke, heated oils make an excellent alternative.)

To cleanse the home, you can simply light the incense and allow the aroma to fill the room. However, if you feel the house could use a little more attention, take the incense around room to room.

In each room, be sure to allow the smoke of the incense to touch all areas of the room. If you're doing a thorough cleansing, be sure to focus on corners, closets, and other areas that energy may be "trapped."

While you're taking the incense around, be sure to keep the intention of cleaning the energy in mind. You can visualize the incense smoke cleaning away "dirty" energy or "see" the energy being transformed into positive, peaceful energy.

When you're done, you can put the incense out or place it in a fire-safe dish and allow to burn out on its own.

Water and Salt

Similar to the technique for smoke cleansing, you can use water, salt, or both to cleanse the energies in your home. In some traditions, salt is considered naturally cleansed. Simply sprinkle (not pour!) salt around the inside of your home and the salt will cleanse the area.

If using water, the general consensus is it should be blessed first. This can be done by praying over the water or by infusing it with your own peaceful, loving energy. Some traditions advise leaving a bowl of water out to absorb the moonlight or sunlight as a way to natural bless it. Sprinkle the same as with the salt or use an asperger.

The third method is to combine the salt and water. According to some traditions, the addition of salt into the water will naturally bless it, or you can bless the mixture as you did with the water.

Just as you would do with smoke cleansing, as you're sprinkling your choice of salt, water, or a mixture around your home, be sure to keep your intention of cleaning out the negative energies in mind.

Sprays

The market today is filled with a plethora of different sprays you can use in place of "smudge sticks," herbal bundles, incense, and sprinkling salt and water. These sprays often contain the popular herbs--like sage, lavender, and frankincense--that are commonly used in cleansing and blessing physical spaces in smoke cleansing.

Most often in sprays, however, these herbs are in the form of oils and essences. These sprays often also contain essences of crystals and--depending on the traditions of the person crafting the sprays--may even include holy water, blessed waters, and waters from natural healing springs and wells from around the world.

When using sprays, be sure to find the one that matches your purpose. You can find a simple sage spray for a basic cleansing, or you can choose a spray with a specific intention such as increasing peaceful vibrations or enhancing wealth.

If you aren't making the spray yourself, you'll want to look into the ingredients and the company to ensure the ingredients and manufacture practices match your preferences and values.

Once you've found (or made) the spray that fits your intentions and preferences, simply spritz a little of the spray into each room of your home to help cleanse the energy and bless your space with the good intentions.

Affirmations or Spoken Blessings

Instead of carrying smoky or spritzy items around your home, you can also cleanse your home through the spoken word. Words carry vibrations and all energy is made of vibrations.

If the energy in your home is dense, change that energy by speaking positive words with good vibrations. This could be as simple as stating, "I cleanse this home of all negative energy and fill this room with peace, love, and health" in each room with a focused intent of clearing out the bad vibes.

If it helps, visualize all the negative or pent up energy as dust that instantly gets swept up and out of the house through the doors and windows with each spoken word. As you add your intentions for what you want in their place--peace, love, and health from the example or your personal preference--add to the visualization by seeing white, bright energy shining throughout all corners of each room.

You can also carry a candle as you move room through room to help with visualization or add to your intent. The key to this technique is that you have faith in the power of your words and you speak them with authority in your voice.

Music for Home Cleansing

Perhaps the simplest and surprisingly effective method of cleansing the energy in your home is through music. Like with the use of affirmations and spoken blessings, music works in altering the energy in a space through vibrations.

This may be music that you make yourself by singing, playing an instrument, or a combination of both, or music playing on the stereo. This method, of course, is only as effective as how loud you can play your music. If you must keep your volume to a very low level, this technique is not as effective as if you can have it loud enough for the sound waves to touch every inch of the room.

At a medium and low volume levels, it's best to take the music room through room. Give enough time for the music to move the energy in each room. Choose music that you resonate with.

"Angry" music may not seem like something you want to promote peaceful energy. However, if the negative energy is a build-up from a problem you have been facing, music that allows you to express those emotions will help move the energy out of your life, and subsequently out of your home.

Thus, the music you choose will depend upon your needs at the time of the cleansing.

Crystals

The use of stones and crystals in homes is more of a long-term technique for after you've already done the cleansing. They're most often used for providing blessings to a space than cleansing them. However, some stones and crystals are wonderful additions to helping clear and keep out negative vibrations and promoting peaceful energy in their place.

For example, black flourite is commonly thought of as a protective stone in that it helps draw away negative energy. Black tourmaline is another popular favorite for this purpose as the stone is recognized for its function of absorbing negative energies.

Placing some black flourite or tourmaline stones around the home, then, can be very effective in helping to get the negative energy localized to the stone. From there, you can cleanse the stones regularly to get the negative energy out of your space and prevent it from stagnating in your home.

A more in-depth look into crystals and their magickal uses will help you find the ones right for cleansing your home.

Combination

The most effective home and space cleansings involve the use of two or more of these methods. Healers, Shamans, Witches, and others who regularly perform house cleansings have a set combination of these elements in their rituals that they've found effective in neutralizing dense energy and promoting positive, uplifting vibrations in their homes.

Try combining these different house cleansing tips and tricks to find what works best for you and helps you feel safe, comfortable, and at home in your space. No matter what technique you choose to use, the key in how to spiritually cleanse is your intentions.

If your personal beliefs prevent you from using these and other forms of spiritual cleansing, you can always invite a spiritual leader of your faith into your home to bring blessings to it or simply hold your spiritual intentions during the physical cleaning. Either way, the most important aspect is to remember you are cleaning out pent-up and negative energies that are keeping your home from feeling as clean as you believe it should be.

Once the energies are cleared out, you can fill your home with wishes and blessings of positive energy to give your home the atmosphere you want it to have. A home that is clean both physically and spiritually can truly be a happy home.