Smudging For Beginners: The Ultimate Guide to Smudge Your Home

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Smudging is something you’ve heard of but aren’t quite sure what it is? Then, read this smudge guide.

Recently, modern-day witches and crystal enthusiasts are learning the art of how to smudge. While this traditional therapeutic method has recently gained popularity through smudging for beginners, it has been around for a long.

Because of this, it makes logical that we all carry a little bit of other people’s energy with us wherever we go and into our homes every day. But unfortunately, this energy can build up and become stagnant over time.

Smudging, inhaling the smoke produced by burning plants, may appear to be a new-age fad, but it has its roots in an ancient Native American rite. Using a shell to represent water, dried herbs to represent earth, and the smoke from the fire represents air is standard in traditional rituals.

The best part? Smudging is a practice that can be adapted to fit your personal needs. Sage is the most commonly used smudging herb, but you can use any other herb or plant. As a result, each plant and animal has therapeutic properties that can best support your goal.

Table of Contents

What Is Smudging?

The goal of learning the art of smudging is to clear your energy field, both internally and externally.

You can use a wide variety of smudge herbs for this ritual. However, to honor the plants, it is essential to use herbs that have been grown sustainably and harvested ethically for your meaningful practice, regardless of the medium you select.

For centuries, people have used the process of smudging to cleanse a space or home of unwanted or stagnant energy. Smudging has been practiced for a long time by our ancestors and other indigenous groups to purify a space and make room for healing and positive energy.

Choosing the right herb for your ritual allows you to focus your energies in a specific direction. In addition, we get additional benefits from particular herbs because they thrill our senses.

Stagnant energy builds up during our daily activities, interactions with others, and transporting energy from place to place. There is a standstill in both vibes and energy levels. You’re likely depressed, uninspired, uninterested, or even confined in your current state of mind.

How Does Smudging Work?

It has long been known that burning white sage can help to purify the air, shift energy throughout a room, and get rid of potentially dangerous toxins in the atmosphere.

Smudging is an archaic ritual that has been used for thousands of years to rid one’s mind of the ill feelings it has toward a particular person, place, or thing. Many religions and societies worldwide employ medicinal or sacred plants to create sacred smoke as part of their rituals.

It is possible to tailor your smudging technique to function in tune with your energy field. White sage is the most prevalent herb for smudging; any plant or herb can be utilized.

A smudge is a ceremony that involves burning plant leaves or stems in a container. Then, using either a hand fanning technique or an eagle’s feather, the flames are extinguished, and then the healing smoke is blown over the person being treated.

Ashes, it is believed, have absorbed the negative thoughts and feelings; thus, they are usually returned to mother earth by scattering them on the desolate ground outdoors. In either case, smudging can be done alone or guided by someone else who directs the smoke over the other participants.

When Should You Smudge?

While you can smudge your home whenever you want, it is recommended that you do so at least four times a year to correspond with the seasons to remove stagnant energy.

In addition to cleaning your aura, smudging can also help purify the space you reside. Therefore, to prevent the energies in your immediate vicinity from getting foggy or inert, you should smudge yourself and your home regularly.

Smudging your living space is also a good idea if you believe it has been infiltrated by negative energy or the energy of strangers. When a new individual joins your home space, you may experience this.

If you smudge the area where a spirit has not been invited to spend time in your home, it may deter them from doing so. Is it your duty to help the soul shift? If not, you need to ask yourself if it is your job.

Ensure to smear the area once the plumber, locksmith, or other repair person has finished their work and departed the premises. The day after a party, you’ll want to smudge your house or apartment to get rid of any leftover “ickies,” such as overwhelming cologne, the concerned energies of your sister’s boyfriend, or your gloomy coworker’s outlook on life in general.

How Do You Smudge Your Home?

It’s best to open a door or a window before igniting anything. Make sure you have all the smudging materials you need before lighting anything. Because, after all, that negative energy needs a way to exit.
When smudging, the focus is on the individual’s intentions; therefore, it’s crucial to think about what you want to change about your surroundings before lighting the sage on fire. Once you’ve chosen prayer or mantra to chant while saging, you’re ready to move on to the next phase.
Allow the smoke to drift about you as you walk. Open a window or a door to let the smoke and the negative energy out. Particular focus should be placed on locations found in front of mirrors, corners, and entryways.
Light a candle and hold the sage at a 45-degree angle for about 20 seconds before extinguishing. Once the flame is extinguished, blow on it gently until you are left with orange embers at the end.
Smudge sticks can be extinguished by pressing the burning tip firmly into a fireproof container, earth, or sand until the smoke has dispersed. However, using water to extinguish hot embers will damage the tip of the stick and make relighting more difficult in the future.