How to Cleanse My Space?

[LC]

I am wanting to cleanse with sage. Can it be a candle, incense, or something else? I can’t find anything around my area that it says sage that is candles or incense?

[SpiritTalker]

I think when less expensive, commercial, votive candles or cone & stick incense are made they get their scent from synthetic oils that don't have the powerful effect like raw powdered leaf or an essential oil. Check the labels. Nippon Kodo brand stick incense is made from compressed, powdered sage plant and a bonding agent. Many New Age shops carry the brand.

Usually wild harvested sacred white sage is sold as bundled stems or loose leaves. Some drug stores and major variety chain stores offer essential oils. A room spray can be made from several drops of essential oil &'equal parts water & witch hazel. Approx cost of either incense, plant or oil is $7-$15. WH is about $3-$6.

[Siona]

Culinary sage is a different plant than white sage, which is what many smudge sticks tend to be made of, but it also has historical use as a purifying herb, and it can be found in many grocery stores if you don't have a lot of shopping options nearby. If you can find it fresh in the grocery store you can try drying it yourself. Or, if you can find it powdered in the spice section, you can burn it over incense charcoal - although that might be hard for you to find, as well. I order mine online, but I'm guessing you might not want to do that, otherwise you could easily find sage online, as well?

If you can't find any sage near you, you might also look into purification through other methods. There are tons and tons of ways to cleanse if you're not set on using sage for a specific reason. For example, salt, water with some salt in it, or otherwise blessed water, is hugely common throughout many old pagan practices, and it's of course very easy for most of us to get salt and water.

[LC]

This sounds silly but I am not sure what and how to use essential oils. I didn’t think about ordering it *hits head on desk* if I order I have to be careful of what it says on the box because of parents.

I was shocked when I learned that blessed water was water with salt.

[Siona]

Blessed water can be made in a few ways. In my tradition it is water that has had lit herbs extinguished in it. Sometimes it has salt, too, other times it doesn't. There are many ways to go about doing all sorts of things, so if you have issues getting one way to work don't be afraid to explore other options.

Not sure where you live, but if you're worried about your parents finding out you might want to be careful with sage, it has a strong smell - and some people think sage smudge sticks smell like marijuana.

[SpiritTalker]

The main thing with essential oils is to dilute them either by adding a few drops to a carrier oil that is unscented or a solvent like witch hazel. A teensy bit of EO goes a long ways.

Salted H2O is just the method favored by churches & some western occult based practices. Rose water makes a good smelling alternative, and herbs too, of course . And I know of nothing better than vinegar spritzing to clear the air borne reek of summer-time midnight skunk! Bless the stuff!!

[planewalker]

For the salt in the water I favor pink or black Himalayan Sea Salt. Either can be found on Amazon. You can just tell your parents it's better for you than table salt. It is. It's KCl. Table salt is NaCl.

[Shekinah]

Churches make "Holy Water" by storing spring water in a container marked with the Christian cross (Sigel). An interesting book on the subject is "The Hidden Messages in Water" by Dr. Masaru Emoto. The power of a thought seems to be carried by a Sigel or symbol much like the empowerment of a talisman or cygnet ring.

[LC]

I will look for that salt. To me vinegar smells bad but do you add something to the vinegar?

[Firebird]

Not sure where you live, but if you're worried about your parents finding out you might want to be careful with sage, it has a strong smell - and some people think sage smudge sticks smell like marijuana.

This cracked me up, but Siona has a point, to the untrained nose white sage can be interpreted as pot. White sage can be used sparingly because it is so powerful, one leaf at a time is sufficient for many applications.
I wouldn't use sage sented candle or incense as they are not likely to be of pure products. We have a good thread on ES oils that might explain it further.
I looked around your area to see if you had a native sage you might gather. I had only found 2 species neither of which I'm familiar with. But sages (salvias) in general are good for cleansing and purification.
Vinegar mixed with water is a good purification spritz, or a squeeze of lemon in water added to the spritzer bottle. I think SpiritTalker had a skunk to deal with and believe me vinegar smells much better than the skunk!
Bb, Firebird

[SpiritTalker]

I will look for that salt. To me vinegar smells bad but do you add something to the vinegar?

Re: vinegar to de-skunk the air

Just straight white vinegar in a a spray bottle. Spray until the vinegar slightly over powers the skunk scent in your nose. And shut the window on the skunkynside of the house about half and hour so the skunk has had time to move along and the breeze doesn't suck in more competition. I find the air is clear in about 10 mins, whereas left UN-spritzed the skunk smell would linger into the dawn.

I've found pink Himlayan salt & assorted sea salts at Target. Also at health food stores & black salt at cooking stores at the mall. Depends on the store's "prissiness".