Smudge, Exhale, Meditate: Incorporating Cannabis to Clear Negativity
Cleaning the energy in my home is just as important to me as cleaning the physical elements of my home. I am a social person, so I like to have a lot of family and friends over. The drawback from that (especially for a creative type) is that they can drop off some metaphysical baggage that I don’t want around. When my home starts to feel a little unsettled, I get out my smudge stick, crystals and marijuana for the deep clean my home needs. Here are the steps I take to do so.
Photo by Brittany Colette
1) Set the mood.
I typically turn on the sound of gongs or Tibetan singing bowls to start shifting the energy in my home and within me as I set up. This helps me to find and set my intention for the cleansing. I open all my windows and doors to make sure any negative energy has a place to go to get out. This is an incredibly important step. If the negative energy has nowhere to go it will just get agitated in the space and get worse. As I gather my smudge stick, white candle (white for cleansing negativity, healing and peace), lighter, crystals and marijuana, I can begin infusing that intention in each item. I take this time to also either roll a joint or prepare my pipe. As I am grinding the marijuana, I bless it and usually set a separate intention for when I smoke. Since, I am using marijuana for an internal purpose, the intention is sometimes slightly different from the intention I set for smudging.
2) Smudge
While I still have a sound bath washing through my home, I sit at the center-most point in my home and light my white candle. With the candle I light my smudge stick and begin cleansing my home. I start at the front door and work my way around the house clockwise getting into every corner of every room, closet and hallway. If certain areas feel extra heavy, I may stay there and let the smoke linger a little longer. When I have finished traveling to every corner of my home, I go back to where I started. I take this opportunity to cleanse my aura with the smudge stick. I start wafting the smoke toward me starting at the crown of my head, working down to my toes and then back up. I focus on any chakras that are blocked by letting the smoke waft there a little longer. I also cleanse my crystals by smudging them as well. Just let each crystal bathe in the smoke to help release any negative energy that has been absorbed by them.
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3) Exhale
In order to clear my headspace to prepare for meditation, I incorporate smoking marijuana into my cleansing ceremony. I am naturally very anxious, so in order to get to a deeper level of meditation for cleansing, marijuana helps me to be able to let go and let my thoughts flow. I smoke outside and with each exhale I release any pent-up negativity in my mind. Usually, I start to fixate on different aspects of the elements. I’ll notice something new about the trees and plants growing around me. I’ll find new appreciation for the wind. I thank the fire used throughout the ceremony for its healing versus destructive capabilities. When these thoughts start to flow, I’ll stop smoking and bathe in my newly awakened appreciation of the elements. The use of marijuana helps me to be open to what the universe is trying to teach me.
4) Meditate
Now that my mind and body are in a state of openness, I am ready to meditate. I usually take about 15-20 minutes to bathe in the ongoing sound bath of the gongs or Tibetan singing bowls and let my mind soak up the fresh energy in the household. The clear, elevated state of mind brought on by the use of marijuana, helps me to find new ideas, solutions to nagging problems and courage to take on new tasks. By dislodging old negative thoughts, positive change can happen. Of course, it doesn’t all happen in those 15-20 minutes of meditation, sometimes it takes days or weeks. It’s like hitting a reset button.
This is just a snap shot of what my ritual looks like. Feel free to switch things up so your ceremony can cater to your specific needs. Most of what I have read about cleansing does not incorporate the use of marijuana and, for me, it is a very important aspect. Hopefully, by sharing my process, I can bring new age to the new age of legalization.