Cleansing, Consecrating & Charging
Cleansing
To cleanse an object is just as the word implies—you are cleaning it. The difference is, you’re not cleaning it on a physical level (though you can certainly do that first). What you’re attempting to do is ‘clean’ it on a spiritual level—on an energy level.
Cleansing disassociates items with their past vibrations. Sitting in a factory or store, people handling it, being transported, sitting on a shelf in your room gathering dust—items pick up various bits of energy. You want to wipe the vibrational slate clean to attune it with your own energies, or those conducive to your goal.
There are several ways to cleanse an object:
Burn a cleansing incense like sage, and run the object through the smoke
Bury it in the earth for a while, or in a bowl of salt/dirt/cornmeal
Soak it in salt water, or sprinkle/spray it
Hold it for a while under running water
Wave it over a candle flame, or actually put it into the fire
Sweep away negativity with a besom (blessed broom)
Be practical about it— you don’t want to soak metal in salt water overnight or you’ll rust it; you don’t want to put a fabric pouch of herbs anywhere near fire. Use your judgment. But it’s a good practice to get into to cleanse new things before using them for spiritual purposes, or to occasionally cleanse things like your jewelry, crystals, divination or altar tools, especially if they’ve been used a lot, or sitting unused for a while.
Consecrating
Consecrating an object is to make it sacred through some minor rite or act of blessing. I only do it to my main ritual tools used in the circle. For almost everything else, just cleansing is enough. Some ways to consecrate an item include:
simply say a prayer over it and dedicate the use of the tool to your Gods
If you keep oils that are cleansed, charged and consecrated, you can anoint an object with those oils and blessing symbols.
If you work a lot with the four elements you may wish to consecrate it by Air, Earth, Fire and Water in ritual: run it through incense smoke, sprinkle some salt on it, pass it over a fire flame and sprinkle some water on it.
You can consecrate anything—you can consecrate all your tools, your jewelry, even the ground on which you hold your rituals, but do remember this: once consecrated, the item is sacred, and should be treated as such.
Charging
Charging something is empowering it with energy. You might just imbue it with positive energy, or charge it so its energies are aligned with some specific purpose. For example, in candle magic, I always charge the candle to align it with the purpose of the spell.
Charging requires raising a bit of energy and directing it into the object. Once again, the method you choose can largely depend on your preferences or on the item you’re charging.
Rub candles with oil repeatedly
Dance, chant, meditate, etc. to raise power then pour that energy in
Put the object out under the sun all day to charge it with solar power*
Put the object out under the full moon all night to charge it with lunar power*
Use the energy you have accumulated in your tools**
Lay the item on a healthy crystal for a day or a few days so it will absorb energy
Like consecrating, charging isn’t always necessary. For example, I wouldn’t charge all my jewelry just because I’m wearing it; most I would just cleanse. If I primarily use a piece for ritual, I’d cleanse and consecrate it. If I wanted to use it as an amulet or talisman, I’d charge it.
*The sun, moon and crystals can both cleanse and charge the item at once.
**When you finish a ritual and draw up the circle, ground, etc., it’s a good idea to pour most of that residual energy into your tools—your athame, your pentacle, wand and such. This keeps them charged and ready to use, and empowers them enough so that they can charge other items.
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