Along with spring cleaning, I usually do a sage smudging around this time to drive out all the negative energy and bad spirits. This year I found a sage and lavender smudge stick – there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be as pleasant an experience as possible, and lavender makes everything better.
It is most definitely a therapeutic exercise, done as much for superstitious peace of mind as it is for spreading some scented smoke throughout the house. It’s almost scientific, the way I plan and execute a proper household smudging. Starting at one end of the attic, I work my way through the house, leaving windows open at integral positions, allowing for the bad juju to escape, waving my sage and lavender wand like some enchanted wizard, driving the darkness away. By the time I reach the basement, the house is filled with the sharp incense of the sage, and a silence that somehow feels more peaceful than before the smudging began. It’s all in my head, or maybe it’s something more. Regardless, there’s power in ritual. Strength in tradition. Peace in the tried and true practices that force us to pause in the ever-quickening tick-tock of the calendar clock.
We are setting the stage for spring.
It is my favorite production.
