Pagan Blog Project: Germs

Early on in my education I read an analogy that has stuck with me all these years later. It was talking about "spiritual germs" and how they are just as damaging to us as physical ones are. It's something that many of use tend to overlook, but it's something that is in fact extremely important for us to focus on.

Now, for the most part we all understand the dangers of germs on our hands and throughout our homes (although there are benefits as well - but that's a different subject) and we all understand the importance of and how to keep our homes and bodies as germ free as possible. Unfortunately, we ted to forget about the importance keeping our home and bodies just as free of spiritual germs.

First it's important to understand what "spiritual germs" are...  Of course there are no actual, germs made of spirit, nothing you can slide under a microscope and nothing you can simply wash off your hands before you eat. But, there is just as much danger in forgetting to clean away spiritual germs as there is to the physical ones.

So what are "Spiritual Germs"?  Well, just like physical ones are tiny "pieces" of bacterial or illness that can affect your physical health, spiritual ones are tiny "pieces" of negative energy that can affect your spiritual - and even mental and physical - health. These pieces of energy can be left over from our day to day lives, magickal workings and even the energies of fae or other "beings" who may encroach upon our personal space.

Just like it's important to clean your home and self from physical germs, it's highly important to clean your home and self from spiritual germs as well. But ti's also important to maintain that cleanliness to the best of your ability as well. To be honest, it's no harder to be spiritually germ free than it is to be physically germ free. Because spiritual germs can come from numerous places it's important to remember that maintenance cleaning can not be skipped.

Negative thoughts & emotions created by you, your family and even non-family visitors, can leave behind germs in your home that can affect you long term. Unfortunately, if they aren't cleaned out, they will compile over time and begin to affect your emotions and even your mental state - which in turn affects your spiritual state.  So, the first step to being germ free is to do your best to limit negativity in your home. Work on how you think, and learn to speak in a positive manor, even when you don't feel like your in a positive place. I know that isn't always the easiest of steps, positive thinking tends to be something that people today overlook. From the time we are small we are taught to think negatively - "No, you can't have that." or "I don't want that." - when in reality we should be making a point to think positively. - "You can have this one instead." or "This option is best." It's a simple change in wording, but it's a HUGE change in attitude and energy output. Remember, negative thoughts create negative energy and negative energy attracts negative energy. So just by thinking in negative terms, you're not only creating negative energy that will affect you now, you're attracting negative energy that will affect you in the future.

Beyond changing how you think and speak, it's important to remember to focus on the positive aspect of life as a whole. When your bills come in, it's easy to think "UGH, More Bills!" but without those bills, you wouldn't have heat or running water! So rather than focusing on how the money has to go out, why not make a point to focus on the positive aspects of your life that those bills allow you to have - I don't know about you, but a hot shower is heaven to me!

Second, it's important to go beyond attempting to prevent germs from accumulating and start clearing them out. We all think of cleaning our homes as an important part of our physical health, but we tend to forget about cleaning them on a spiritual level. Most people rely on White Sage for spiritual cleaning, and although there are other options, sage is by far my favorite option as well.

Two main options exist, and I feel they work best when used together:

• Burning Sage throughout your space is the "deep cleaning" method. Native Americans tend to use burning white sage in a large shell fanned with a large eagle feather as a way to include all the elements in to the process. You simply want to ensure that the smoke from smoldering sage reaches all parts of your home - this takes some time, but it's worth it - make sure to include corners and doorways!
• Powdered Sage or Sage Essential Oils can be added to blessed water and then sprayed throughout your home as needed. It can also be added to the laundry when it's time to wash your ritual clothing (or any clothing) to remove any remaining energy. 

Now, for my taste, burning sage through my house every time I clean is just to much work... But, I do keep a spritzer bottle of sage water around for when I am in need of a quick option. Usually, after a physically clean a room, I go through quickly with a spritz or two... Then, I do deeper cleanings throughout the year - usually right around the Sabbats (it's an easy way to remember).

In addition to keeping up with cleansing your home, you really need to remember to keep up with yourself as well. There are quite a few methods for this, I'm only going to cover them briefly here, but you can obviously do some quick research and find the ones that work for you...

•  Cleansing Meditation is just what it sounds like. It's a deep meditation where you focus on cleaning your energy. Chakra Cleansing Meditations are done by focusing on each chakra individually and visualizing it glowing bright while pushing all negative energy out and absorbing positivity.
• Self Smudging is done much in the same way as smudging your home is, you simply do it to yourself. 
• Cleansing Baths are a very relaxing way to clear both your physical and spiritual germs. There are many ways to do cleansing baths, many use these before ritual or spell work as a way to cleanse away any energy which could affect their workings poorly.  Again, there are lots of ways to go about doing these -  herbal satchels, essential oils, candles, incense and/or bath salts/bombs can all be beneficial for this purpose. 

It's also important to remember to completely release your circle and any energy raised during spell work and rituals. Grounding yourself and insuring that all energy is expelled is extremely important not only because you want that energy to work for you rather than simply hang around, but because when energy is simply left to hang, it can easily "sour" and become an attractant for negative energy.

For most of us, cleaning away physical germs is simply a part of life... And we need to remember how important spiritual cleaning is as well... Germs are germs, and they need to be treated as such, regardless of their makeup!