Smudging is a way to energetically cleanse a space to invite positive energy.  When smudging a space, you burn plant material. The smoke fills and purifies the environment.

Smudging can be performed before creating art, studying, working, practicing yoga, meditation, saying prayers or affirmations, chanting mantras, pulling tarot or oracle cards, gathering in circle, and engaging in any type of sacred ceremony.

Smudging a being –

Always start from the bottom of your body and gently waft the smoke onto your body as you move upwards. If someone is helping you to smudge yourself, turn around in a clockwise direction and ask them to waft the smoke onto your body as you move around in circles. Next, offer your friend a smudge too!

Smudging an Object –

While smudging an object, always hold the object in your hand is its small or stand in front of it if it’s something large and waft the smoke onto it. As with others, start wafting from the bottom till the top. Smudging sage on objects help cleanse them for negative energies, and it needs to be performed periodically. 

Smudging a House -

Start at the front door of the home and light your smudge stick. Then, begin to move around the home. Move mindfully and with care, walking clockwise around the entire perimeter of the home. Be sure to allow the smoke to drift into even the hidden spaces, like inside closets, basements and dark corners. If there are stairs, just go up or down when you encounter them. Then keep moving clockwise until you meet the stairs again. Then continue to go down or up the stairs and resume the main floor.

Moving around a space like this is called “circumambulation”. It’s a practice that’s been done for centuries in ancient cultures to make a space more sacred. It is helpful to chant a mantra or a prayer that you’re connected to.  This is a way to fill the space with more cleansing vibrations.

When you arrive back at the front door, chant your final mantra or prayer. Visualize the entire home is filled with bright white sunlight. Then speak your intention one last time to close the smudging ceremony.  Smudging rituals are a beautiful technique to clear a space. It’s especially powerful to perform a space clearing when you first move into a home, or on the lunar new year.