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Let me preface this with a couple of statements. First, I am a non-traditional Christian. I prefer to worship in the manner of Jesus.........solitude and prayer, and let my life be, as much as possible, the witness of my faith. Second, I am of mixed heritage. In my ancestry I have Western European, Polynesian, and Native American. I celebrate them all. Third, what I am saying here is a combination of beliefs that some may find pagan, some may find offensive and some may find silly. Too bad. It reminds me of the Biblical injunction......."As for me and my house we shall".......and if you don't, fine. But don't try to tell me I am full of whatever it is you think I am full of. In matters of faith, other peoples opinions mean less than nothing to me.
My European ancestors found the creator in all things and discovered that all things had spirituality. And they named many of the spirits in many of the places. My NA ancestors found the creator in all things, discovered that all things had spirituality and they too gave many of them names. My Polynesian ancestors found the creator in all things discovering spirituality in everything around them.....they too gave those spirits names.
The Bible talks of the spirits of the earth. Jesus used spit and dirt to heal a mans eyes when he could have spoken a word and done it even easier. Throughout the Bible the phrases such as "the earth cried out" "the rocks themselves" are used. Chief Seattle talks of the rocks and dirt celebrating when his children play by the river. Throughout the history of Man, in all cultures, in all faiths, a recognition of the spiritual worth of the earth is obvious. A patron saint of the Roman church is the saint of the farmer. It has only been over the past few centuries that the Protestants have denied the spirituality of the world around us (makes it easier to abuse and consume if you don't have to concern yourself with the spirituality of something). Prior to that the recognition of the spirituality of our planet was recognized. Many people consider the spiritual aspects of a place to be a form of energy, and sometimes it is good to look at it in that manner, but that denies the concept of awareness that spirits have.....makes it seem that the spirituality of earth is nothing more than some sort of energy that can be manipulated.
Throughout this discussion, I will use phrases like "negative energy" to mean "hostile spirituality," "positive energy" to mean "helpful spirituality," and "spirit" to refer to "neutral" aspects of spirituality. I use the word "energy" as it is something that can grow, can be neutralized, can be stored, can interact with us.......and most important it is something we can help create. Positive affirmative people draw positive energy/friendly spirits to them. Negative people draw hostile spirits/negative energy to them. Positive action attracts positive spirits/energy, negative action attracts negative spirits/energy.
Homes or offices have the ability to capture and hold negative energy. Negative energy manifests through low vibration thoughts and ideas and is expressed mentally, physically or verbally. Anger, sadness, resentment, fights and arguments, bad thoughts or memories of events or people, hateful or harsh words spoken, etc in the home or office place can gather in the corner and collect dust, grow mold and become a kind of biohazard. Ok, so maybe that explanation is a little over the edge, but this type of energy when trapped can cause discomfort, disharmony, arguments, illnesses, physical symptoms, mental symptoms, emotional symptoms, etc. Once this energy is trapped in this way, all which live or work within this space can be affected by it, creating an endless cycle that continually emits and regenerates this negative energy.
Colleen mentioned her husband not liking his job, and when he finished what needed to be done, he was laid off. Obviously a hostile environment. Had he stayed there, he would have become increasingly stressed, leading to illness, anger, disharmony. He would have brought those spirits home with him. They would have infected the entire house. The fact that he took his family across the country to find a better life for them shows that he has a lot of good spirits around him. If money were the only focus of his life, he would have stayed in Jersey. Because the spirits around him were positive, and the spirits at his work place are negative, the battle between them was fierce and ended with him getting laid off. Hopefully on his next job he will listen to the spirits around him and go to work only when they are harmonious with the position.
Houses and buildings inherit energy from previous occupants so it’s always a good idea to cleanse the home or building of unwanted energy before even moving the first piece of furniture in.
So, how do we cleanse this energy? Our first goal is to get rid of the old, stale negative energy, clear it, kick it out the door and replace it with good, clean clear loving happy energy. You can do this yourself, or you can request it done by a professional. The technique I am going to describe here will sort out the atmosphere where bad things have happened or where people simply haven’t cleared out their junk for a long time, you know, the ole packrat syndrome. It will work wonders in homes that have become cluttered, clogged up, tired, sad and where the people in them are bored, tired, angry, depressed, frustrated or simply just can’t think straight.
Preparing to smoke a place takes some focus. You’ll need to focus your mind on what your aim is and confirm your intentions.
For this you’ll need incense or herbs such as sage or a sage smudge stick, sweet grass smudge stick, or a tobacco smoke pot (tobacco is a VERY powerful and spiritual plant. You should be very careful using it.) and a prayer or affirmation. You may use something like: “I bless this house with the energy of love and light” or “I banish all negative energy from this home and I bless this house with the energy of love and light” or whatever feels best to you. I use a prayer based on the Blood of the Lamb and call for not only the banishment of the spirits of anger, lust, greed, sloth, disharmony, etc, and I call on the Blood to place a hedge of faith around my home. You can recite a prayer, or make up any affirmation that resonates with you.
Next light your sage/smudge stick. As the smoke begins to rise from the incense/sage begin moving the incense or sage over your body starting at the top of the head, letting the smoke swirl around you. Move down the front of your body letting yourself be surrounded in the smoke. When you get down to the bottom of your legs, lift each foot and allow the smoke to swirl under the sole of each foot. Start back at the top of the head and now go down your back all the way down. The point here is to let the smoke touch or accumulate around every part of your body.
Once this is done, you’ll now move to the first corner closest to the right side of the front door. Allow the smoke to rise and fill this corner of the room as you motion and direct the smoke with your hand. This is simply done by waving your hand through the smoke up and out from the incense/sage. As you are doing this, recite your affirmation or prayer over and over. Then, begin moving to the right, letting the smoke move up the wall and along the wall down to the next corner. Do this in every corner, on every wall, over every doorway and window and in every room of the house. (Yes even the basement and the garage). Be sure and move the sage over, around and under furniture, as these things can hold energy as well.
You should work your way in this clockwise motion until you end up back at the front door. Once you come back to the front door, open the door, and with a sweeping motion of your hand and arm, sweep the energy out the front door stating, “ all negative energy Be Gone!”. Now shut the front door. End this ritual by smudging your entire body one more time.
Fragrant smoke has been used by peoples all over the world for thousands of years. Sweet grass, sage, cedar, etc. are forms of incense found in many First Nations cultures. It is used as a way of honoring the Creator, as a sign of prayer rising to God, and of the sweetness of prayer. It is a sign of humility (the humbleness of plants) and purity (the purifying effect of fire). Also for Christians, smoke is a reminder of the shining cloud that veils the glory of God. In the Old Testament God commands that incense be offered to him every day. (Ex 30:1-8) David, the great Hebrew king, compares his own prayer to this fragrance. "Let my prayer rise like incense before you. The lifting of my hands like the evening offering." (Ps 141:1,2) God, through the prophet Malachi (who lived centuries before Jesus), foretold what would happen when the Christ would come: "From the rising to the setting of the sun my name shall be honored among the Nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering too, since my name shall be honored among the Nations." (Ml 1:11,12)
This is a tradition in my home. It is spring time and it is time to perform it again......a different "spring cleaning." In keeping tornadoes away, it is tradition in my family that this will help. Whether it does or not, I guess we will see. If we ever get hit, I'll let you know.
Let me preface this with a couple of statements. First, I am a non-traditional Christian. I prefer to worship in the manner of Jesus.........solitude and prayer, and let my life be, as much as possible, the witness of my faith. Second, I am of mixed heritage. In my ancestry I have Western European, Polynesian, and Native American. I celebrate them all. Third, what I am saying here is a combination of beliefs that some may find pagan, some may find offensive and some may find silly. Too bad. It reminds me of the Biblical injunction......."As for me and my house we shall".......and if you don't, fine. But don't try to tell me I am full of whatever it is you think I am full of. In matters of faith, other peoples opinions mean less than nothing to me.
My European ancestors found the creator in all things and discovered that all things had spirituality. And they named many of the spirits in many of the places. My NA ancestors found the creator in all things, discovered that all things had spirituality and they too gave many of them names. My Polynesian ancestors found the creator in all things discovering spirituality in everything around them.....they too gave those spirits names.
The Bible talks of the spirits of the earth. Jesus used spit and dirt to heal a mans eyes when he could have spoken a word and done it even easier. Throughout the Bible the phrases such as "the earth cried out" "the rocks themselves" are used. Chief Seattle talks of the rocks and dirt celebrating when his children play by the river. Throughout the history of Man, in all cultures, in all faiths, a recognition of the spiritual worth of the earth is obvious. A patron saint of the Roman church is the saint of the farmer. It has only been over the past few centuries that the Protestants have denied the spirituality of the world around us (makes it easier to abuse and consume if you don't have to concern yourself with the spirituality of something). Prior to that the recognition of the spirituality of our planet was recognized. Many people consider the spiritual aspects of a place to be a form of energy, and sometimes it is good to look at it in that manner, but that denies the concept of awareness that spirits have.....makes it seem that the spirituality of earth is nothing more than some sort of energy that can be manipulated.
Throughout this discussion, I will use phrases like "negative energy" to mean "hostile spirituality," "positive energy" to mean "helpful spirituality," and "spirit" to refer to "neutral" aspects of spirituality. I use the word "energy" as it is something that can grow, can be neutralized, can be stored, can interact with us.......and most important it is something we can help create. Positive affirmative people draw positive energy/friendly spirits to them. Negative people draw hostile spirits/negative energy to them. Positive action attracts positive spirits/energy, negative action attracts negative spirits/energy.
Homes or offices have the ability to capture and hold negative energy. Negative energy manifests through low vibration thoughts and ideas and is expressed mentally, physically or verbally. Anger, sadness, resentment, fights and arguments, bad thoughts or memories of events or people, hateful or harsh words spoken, etc in the home or office place can gather in the corner and collect dust, grow mold and become a kind of biohazard. Ok, so maybe that explanation is a little over the edge, but this type of energy when trapped can cause discomfort, disharmony, arguments, illnesses, physical symptoms, mental symptoms, emotional symptoms, etc. Once this energy is trapped in this way, all which live or work within this space can be affected by it, creating an endless cycle that continually emits and regenerates this negative energy.
Colleen mentioned her husband not liking his job, and when he finished what needed to be done, he was laid off. Obviously a hostile environment. Had he stayed there, he would have become increasingly stressed, leading to illness, anger, disharmony. He would have brought those spirits home with him. They would have infected the entire house. The fact that he took his family across the country to find a better life for them shows that he has a lot of good spirits around him. If money were the only focus of his life, he would have stayed in Jersey. Because the spirits around him were positive, and the spirits at his work place are negative, the battle between them was fierce and ended with him getting laid off. Hopefully on his next job he will listen to the spirits around him and go to work only when they are harmonious with the position.
Houses and buildings inherit energy from previous occupants so it’s always a good idea to cleanse the home or building of unwanted energy before even moving the first piece of furniture in.
So, how do we cleanse this energy? Our first goal is to get rid of the old, stale negative energy, clear it, kick it out the door and replace it with good, clean clear loving happy energy. You can do this yourself, or you can request it done by a professional. The technique I am going to describe here will sort out the atmosphere where bad things have happened or where people simply haven’t cleared out their junk for a long time, you know, the ole packrat syndrome. It will work wonders in homes that have become cluttered, clogged up, tired, sad and where the people in them are bored, tired, angry, depressed, frustrated or simply just can’t think straight.
Preparing to smoke a place takes some focus. You’ll need to focus your mind on what your aim is and confirm your intentions.
For this you’ll need incense or herbs such as sage or a sage smudge stick, sweet grass smudge stick, or a tobacco smoke pot (tobacco is a VERY powerful and spiritual plant. You should be very careful using it.) and a prayer or affirmation. You may use something like: “I bless this house with the energy of love and light” or “I banish all negative energy from this home and I bless this house with the energy of love and light” or whatever feels best to you. I use a prayer based on the Blood of the Lamb and call for not only the banishment of the spirits of anger, lust, greed, sloth, disharmony, etc, and I call on the Blood to place a hedge of faith around my home. You can recite a prayer, or make up any affirmation that resonates with you.
Next light your sage/smudge stick. As the smoke begins to rise from the incense/sage begin moving the incense or sage over your body starting at the top of the head, letting the smoke swirl around you. Move down the front of your body letting yourself be surrounded in the smoke. When you get down to the bottom of your legs, lift each foot and allow the smoke to swirl under the sole of each foot. Start back at the top of the head and now go down your back all the way down. The point here is to let the smoke touch or accumulate around every part of your body.
Once this is done, you’ll now move to the first corner closest to the right side of the front door. Allow the smoke to rise and fill this corner of the room as you motion and direct the smoke with your hand. This is simply done by waving your hand through the smoke up and out from the incense/sage. As you are doing this, recite your affirmation or prayer over and over. Then, begin moving to the right, letting the smoke move up the wall and along the wall down to the next corner. Do this in every corner, on every wall, over every doorway and window and in every room of the house. (Yes even the basement and the garage). Be sure and move the sage over, around and under furniture, as these things can hold energy as well.
You should work your way in this clockwise motion until you end up back at the front door. Once you come back to the front door, open the door, and with a sweeping motion of your hand and arm, sweep the energy out the front door stating, “ all negative energy Be Gone!”. Now shut the front door. End this ritual by smudging your entire body one more time.
Fragrant smoke has been used by peoples all over the world for thousands of years. Sweet grass, sage, cedar, etc. are forms of incense found in many First Nations cultures. It is used as a way of honoring the Creator, as a sign of prayer rising to God, and of the sweetness of prayer. It is a sign of humility (the humbleness of plants) and purity (the purifying effect of fire). Also for Christians, smoke is a reminder of the shining cloud that veils the glory of God. In the Old Testament God commands that incense be offered to him every day. (Ex 30:1-8) David, the great Hebrew king, compares his own prayer to this fragrance. "Let my prayer rise like incense before you. The lifting of my hands like the evening offering." (Ps 141:1,2) God, through the prophet Malachi (who lived centuries before Jesus), foretold what would happen when the Christ would come: "From the rising to the setting of the sun my name shall be honored among the Nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering too, since my name shall be honored among the Nations." (Ml 1:11,12)
This is a tradition in my home. It is spring time and it is time to perform it again......a different "spring cleaning." In keeping tornadoes away, it is tradition in my family that this will help. Whether it does or not, I guess we will see. If we ever get hit, I'll let you know.
Goodpasture, I can't tell you how moved I was reading your post. So much of what you said are things I've believed for years. I even once lived in a place (in Phoenix) that had so much negative energy in it that we were forced to move after a couple of months.
Of course my teenagers will probably roll around the floor in laughter, but I do plan to "smoke" the house. They're too young to appreciate the complexity of life.
Thanks again.
Last edited by colleeng47; 03-31-2008 at 07:43 AM..
Reason: spelling
Thank you Goodpasture. I have some sage that we brought back from Montana. I didn't want to burn it until I found out the proper way to use it. This is wonderful....thanks again.
Blessings to you my brother GP, and sister, Schousse. Funny I have not stopped in at this thread until today.
Our native brothers incarcerated always have a spiritual leader. And today, he came and spent some time with me. It was good to find such a good soul inside the fence. And I am sure his presence will have an affect on the young warriors . We have been having some rough times inside prison lately. The violence seems to spike every so often.
Say a prayer for those inside prison who are looking to reconnect to Grandfather. Ah-HO, GP for posting those wise words.
This is interesting. It's always good to learn something new.
Some thoughts on your observation that Protestants moved away from the idea of ubiquitous spirituality, not to dispute, but just to get as many thoughts as possible out there. I was raised in a mainstream Protestant denomination (Methodist), and never heard any advocacy of the notion that all things cannot be spirtual. Never heard anything that would go against my own theological view that there is one God, but he is everywhere and all around us.
I was very interested in your discussion of the spriitual interconnectedness of everything. Makes me think of a time quite a few years ago when several events involving agitation or upheaval all happened around the same time. This was back at the time Mt. St. Helens erupted. At around the same time, a national news story centered around a racial incident in Florida that caused major riots in Miami, and heightened racial tension across the country. At the time, I lived in central Ohio. In that area, we had some local upheavals as well. There was a race riot at the local college in the town where I lived, and we had a stretch of seven days in a row of tornado warnings, this in an area that typically gets two or three watches each spring, and probably averages a warning only about once every couple of years. I remember wondering about possible interconnectedness between all the agitation in different locations happening all around that same period of a couple of weeks.
Interesting thoughts you've presented here, GP. Thanks for posting this.
Goodpasture, I can't tell you how moved I was reading your post. So much of what you said are things I've believed for years. I even once lived in a place (in Phoenix) that had so much negative energy in it that we were forced to move after a couple of months.
Of course my teenagers will probably roll around the floor in laughter, but I do plan to "smoke" the house. They're too young to appreciate the complexity of life.
Thanks again.
Go ahead and let 'em laugh. After all, you're the mother. That has to count for something.
Bjb123 and have always tried to seperate our selves from people that we feel put-out bad energy (negetive energy). We have alway felt that people like that are like having a festering wound that eventually will affect the body (others) around them. Even in my own family, if we feel that the tempers are about to cut loose, we leave ahead of time. I just refuse to be around people that are like that, even if its family.
Now bjb123 and I know what we can do with the sage, Thanks.
What an interesting post. I'm so glad I read it. I love to learn about culturally based traditions.
It does remind me of something our church (nondenominational Christian) did several years ago. It was to anoint your house with oil. Specifically, the door frame on your front door. It was for protection from negative spiritual things and to "segregate" your home from the world's unspiritual or negative energy. When we moved into the home we have now, we did it again.
As far as people, my Dad used to say, "Well, if you sleep on the porch with the dogs, you're going to end up with fleas sooner or later." I think this could apply!
Some thoughts on your observation that Protestants moved away from the idea of ubiquitous spirituality, not to dispute, but just to get as many thoughts as possible out there. I was raised in a mainstream Protestant denomination (Methodist), and never heard any advocacy of the notion that all things cannot be spirtual.
Back when I was preaching/pastoring I attended a conference where there was a small town pastor who stated, flatly, that the ecology movement was not Biblical.
Although I presented evidence that that was not so, we ended up agreeing to disagree, as I feel that when God gave us "dominion" over the earth, he meant we were to manage it, not squander it.
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What a great post..
