This is all so ludicrous.

I worked for a women who was a real b****. When she left, everyone in our office of about 100 people was really happy. I was promoted to take her place, and moved into her office. I put a bowl of sage leaves and a box of matches on my desk as a joke. Some people got it.

Smudge my home every season! I learned it from my mother, she was part Indian and did it religiously!

bdeardoff2, I'm sorry your friend died and I understand why you blame the ritual. Had this involved a pot of hot oil in the kitchen would you blame cooking? The mistake was lighting the bowl first then trying to place it.

I’m an odd mix, including Native American, and on that side there are specific smudge stick cleansing ceremonies for certain things. However, I find removing (or adding items), cleaning out and refreshing a home, a room, or even a closet to be far more effective. Even more effective is getting out and getting involved, getting a hobby, do something for someone else. As JAN MOYER commented, cleanse one’s mind and surroundings... OTOH, given my ancestry, adding a cleansing ritual in your realm of belief doesn’t hurt.

Nope, not at all, never. I don't believe that kind of stuff works any more than a placebo works in a drug test. It's all in what you believe, rather than the activity actually having any kind of power.

My husband and I went through our home with oil and anointed each opening, doors and windows and quoted scripture. We also had our pastor bless our home. You never what or who lived there prior to you and it's always good to have a "cleansing".

I would never, ever perform any ceremony by myself; you don't know what you might be dealing with. Chanting? No way! I might ask a priest or a pastor for prayers and blessing, if desperate, though.

I moved many times, and my advice is, first of all, if the place doesn't feel right, doesn't feel welcoming - do not take it. Do not buy it, if you intend to live there for a long time, even if otherwise you like it. It's not about how the place looks, but about how do you feel in that space. I know not everyone is equally sensitive, so if you are not - take someone with you who is, to inspect the place. That applies to every room, no exceptions.

Then you clean, scrub, throw any junk away, repair if anything needs a repair, and paint. And you keep the house clean. There is a reason, why in Poland, where I come from, the whole house is cleaned at least twice a year - which is usually before Christmas and Easter, also often after summer, including moving the furniture from the walls, cleaning the closets, and cabinets, throwing/giving away what is not needed, etc., etc. Also washing or painting walls every second/third year, or every year, if needed. Fortunately, now the paints are wonderful and look great for a decade, so washing walls every second year is usually sufficient. And keep opening windows to air the place!

Before accepting a place, I always take long time, going to each room a few times, to feel the vibes. Once I didn't, which I realised much later. I was renting a beautiful apartment - big rooms, bright, lots of windows, high ceilings, real fireplace, nice woodwork including beams on the ceilings... I just missed one room, in which there was a strange behaving cat with his cat litter. I was pregnant and just run in and out of that room, because the smell bothered me so much.

Of course, after we moved in, the room was thoroughly washed and scrubbed, but not newly painted. Later on that was my and my baby's bedroom... There were nights when there was this unexplained coldness surrounding me, it was very creepy, overwhelming feeling, and some nights I was so scared that in the middle of the night I had to move to the living room., which was next to it. The longer I was there, the worse it got, and soon I was dragging also a crib (which fortunately had wheels) with me to the living room. My son saw one night a little girl there. We moved out within less than a year, and then my partner said: "yes, there was a very strange feeling in that room". (!!!) The only person who didn't feel and weirdness about that room was my older daughter. It seemed the baby was perfectly fine, also. :)

Later on, a person, who was involved with witchcraft, told me that there was probably someone there, who was very scared for some reason, and that feeling lasted in this room and transferred onto others, that's why I was scared and my family members felt uneasy. She also said, that cleaning and painting usually takes the old vibes away. But of course to each his own...

I don't like smoke and don't much care for walking around with something that's burning. When we moved into our new house, I stood in the center of each room, turned to each cardinal direction and invoked the "spirit" to come into the room with positive energy and cause any negative energy to exit. Once the room felt clean, I marked a small star above each window with blue chalk to prevent the re-entry of "negative" spirits/energy.

Does it work? Who knows? It just takes a little time and I felt better as a result. Rituals are performed to help you visualize what you want. I see no reason why a ritual has to be dangerous to work...but then, I'm not selling smudge sticks.

I smudge my house seasonally. Thanks for the reminder. My husband will be going away for a couple of days so having the windows open and the smoke won't bother his sensitive lungs. For those who have never done this before, you light the sage and the goal is to have it smoking not flaming. I still carry a small dish under it to catch any stray ashes for safety. I love the idea of adding lavender to the ritual. Extra calming.

Upon my return to my NYC apartment after my divorce (we had lived there together during our marriage), a friend came over and brought a smudge stick to rid it of any negative energy. I don't know whether I believe in it or not, but at the very least, it did signal the opening of a new chapter there. I wanted my home to be peaceful and free of negativity, and it has been thus far.

When we built our current home nine years ago, we used a local builder and got to know his small team quite well. We often worked alongside them, doing clean-up chores, etc. Shortly after we moved into our home, one of the building team, a man who had always been very polite and helpful to us, was arrested (and later convicted) for a number of assaults and attempted murders. That he had worked on our house so intimately, and at the same time was carrying out his crimes, shook me to the core, and made our house feel somehow ‘contaminated’. I asked friends for advice, and they suggested smudging with sage. I did carry out my own modified version of smudging, using local wild grasses, and did a lot of thinking about people’s ‘other sides’, which probably was of more help to me. Over time, the feeling of ‘contamination’ went away, and we have a lovely and much-loved home.

I'm Catholic, and our Priest has come to bless our homes in the past with incense. This time, I went around and smudged the house with white sage saying prayers myself. We're only the second owners of our home. The original owners are deceased, but they built this home and raised a family here. It has experienced a lot of love. Doing the blessing ritual wasn't to cleanse our home, but more to ask for continued blessings. Some might think it is silly, but I think these rituals are important, at least for me they are. And anything that makes you feel better about your home is worth the effort.

Nope, not at all, never. I don't believe that kind of stuff works any more than a placebo works in a drug test. It's all in what you believe, rather than the activity actually having any kind of power.

Yep, you're right. Burning sage (or whatever) has no power; however, a person who THINKS such rituals have power may behave differently, and the change in the person's behavior may bring changes.

The only cleansing I do is a deep cleanse from ceiling to floors, getting rid of OPD (other people's dirt).

fringedweller: OPD is exactly why I hate the demo part of remodeling. I like doing work on the house myself, but I hate the demo. Just knowing that there is dust settled behind those walls since before WW1 skeeves me out. I found animal bones above the ceiling in one of our bathrooms when I installed a new vent fan a few months ago. Ewwwww.

Placebo. If you believe very strongly in an outcome, ..........it often materializes. If you believe there are ghosts, my bet is you shall see them. If you believe they can be exorcised....you will "get rid of them" in whatever method you believe shall do that.

Me? I just don't want dirt, so "cleanse" to me is wash it, scrub it , sweep it, dust it, shine it, polish it, and la di da. Get Casper the Friendly Ghost to help: ) as believing dirt will go away minus some effort of either time , money, energy or all three is fairly futile in my experience. So much for placebos: )

Jan, your post reminds me of something I just heard recently and wish I'd learned sooner:

"Nothing takes care of itself."

When we moved into our home the previous owners were getting a divorce and there was "bad energy" from beginning to end with the couple, don't need to say more. I hired a feng shui person to come and cleanse our house. The one most important benefit of it was she asked my husband and I to do some Pre-smudge work. We were asked to set our intentions of how we would like our home to feel and what we wanted our home be. That set the stage for us wanting Love and connection always expressed and for others to feel welcome and at home in our home, for it to be a sanctuary and cozy secure place to share our life together and other similar intentions. When she did the cleanse she integrated moving the old energy out and the new energy of our intentions in. Maybe it was just a bunch of woo woo but it helped us be in harmony with what we not only wanted from our home but what we wanted from each other together. Still here after 15 years and crazy in love with each other. Irene, Parker CO

This explains so much. I grew up in a house that my parents owned from 1956 to 2017. When I walked into my bedroom I experienced wonderful feelings of calm and lightness - hard to explain. The house burned down when I was 9 years old. My new bedroom still felt special, even more so. As for the ritual...faith works. I don’t have to believe in cleansing 100% to have a nice feeling of going room to room and appreciating my home, and doing or saying something in each room that feels good to me.

When we were kids, every New Year's eve we went round every room in the house hollering & banging pans with wooden spoons and chased the old year out the back door. Then when that was done we graciously welcomed the new year in the front door. Not sure where it all came from but we loved doing it and continued the tradition with my kids...

I personally have cleansed houses with burning sage sticks to rid negative energy in homes. I've found it helps the homeowners feel better and "lighter"... real or imagined. So, no harm in "cleansing". But, I also personally feel better in a space that is cleansed. Think about it...one of life's instructions for happiness is to avoid negative people. When you're around negative people, you can feel the negative energy. So, it makes sense that if negative people have lived in the home for years, their negative energy is lingering. Sage the home....it couldn't hurt and quite possibly help. Let's face it. There are many, many things in our world and universe that we have no clue about or can be explained. Some things are intangible and unexplainable and for those people who "poo poo" the possible benefits of cleansing could be narrow minded.

Having said that....purging of "stuff", "clutter" and negative memories can also make you feel sooo much better! Purge...and cleanse.

@Jan Moyer....I would hope you can open your eyes and heart to the possibility that cleansing is not just "wash and scrub it". I do not think everything can be explained in "black and white". While I love your solid design advice (albiet somewhat black and white by the book pro advice), on a personal level, try delving into the unknown. It's fascinating.

Did smudging to remove negative energy created by a really bad contractor experience. Sounds "out there" but it seemed to help. Especially when we declined to mention his name. The bum became, he who shall remain nameless!

"Negative energy created by a really bad contractor experience" . . . That makes me laugh to read that here on Houzz. Not making fun of you at all by laughing, Maureen Hirsch, I totally get it, but I just thought it was funny given how many contractors out there will read that!

Huge negative energy can be caused by unforgiveness. Hanging on to anger and resentment doesn't help anything and only causes harm to the person who doesn't forgive. At some point in time you just have to let things go and be free from the resentment, try to fix things any way you can, and move on. I think that must have been part of your experience, helped by not bringing up his name and nursing the anger that way.

As a religious Jew we don't do smudging, but there is definitely the belief that a house can be affected by negative energies and other otherworldly spirits. That is actually one of the main reasons to have a mezuzah on every doorway, though that won't cure things if there is something majorly wrong with the house.

Everyone is welcome to believe what they want, but quantum physics - which is totally provable- is all about the power of thought. Being able to change the direction of a particle simply because you observed the particle might seem impossible too... but it's real. It's not hard to make the jump from there to "energies" in a house.

I'll quickly share a story that happened to us last year. My husband contracted necrotizing fasciitis, and nearly died from it. After he was admitted to intensive care (it took a few days until they realized what it was) they put him into an induced coma while they treated his leg, which was affected by the NF.

We had suspicions that there was a problem with the house, because the previous tenants had to move due to their father, who had problems with his legs and thus couldn't go up the stairs. He had also been in coma... and I had also been thinking that we would have to move if he survived because he would not be able to make it up 3 flights of steps.

We went to a well-known Rabbi, who said there are problems with the apartment... apparently a neighbor had a major grudge about the fact the apartment was built since she suffered a lot of damage to her house due to a bad contractor.

He told us that if we moved from the apartment, he would get better. So in the midst of everything, I started looking for a new apartment. To make things short, each step that I took he took a turn for the better. Right after I signed the lease, for example (I had literally finished signing the lease and was still talking with the owner), the hospital called me to tell me they were moving him out of intensive care and putting him into a regular unit.

The day we moved, they called me to tell me they were releasing him from the hospital. I had no warning beforehand about any of these events.

My husband didn't know either - he was in no shape to hear anything since his leg had basically been cut down to the muscle and he was on dialysis.

We left before our lease was up... the day our lease ended we got the news he would no longer need dialysis.

Call it what you want.. but he is completely healthy now, walking, and alive.

[Quantum Theory Demonstrated: Observation Affects Reality

](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/02/980227055013.htm)

Big sage smudge stick homemade. Metal pie tin to catch the ashes. Walking through the house.

I once was itching to smoke something after quitting the cigarette habit, so I tried inhaling sage and it felt great. I asked a doctor later why, and she said to not do it because it actually neutralizes the antidepressants. I would do it once in a while, but I'm on a new antidepressant that works better. Sage is a medicinal herb. I've also tried smudging but never included chanting or bells or chimes with it. I study feng shui and regularly follow flying star feng shui. Getting around the basics of it might be challenging intellectually for some people.

Everything is energy, even if you can't see it. Start with the Self. Be confident in who you are and let love be your guide in all things. Negative people in the house, arguing will affect how you feel when you are in it. If you HAVE to live with negative people, then you'll have to be extra diligent in keeping centred and love based. Giving our power over to others to do what we all can do is stating that you lack confidence in who you are. Priests don't have anything more that anyone else. Love your home, yourself, and the people in it and you have a solid foundation for a peaceful home. If you need help in doing this, call on your spirit helpers to help you, but not with fear, with confidence!

There are many religions where cleansing the home is part of the religion, a sacred ritual. For Jews, there is the Passover cleaning of the "chametz". Chametz is leavened products, so you clean the house of every minute crumb that is there--or perhaps might be there. This occurs in spring, and perhaps is one of the ways that the idea of "spring cleaning" got started.

But it is more than just cleaning up crumbs. It humbles the ego, and puts things in perspective, a fresh start for spring and getting rid of the ego's emotional baggage. The entire family always feels great during and after the Passover cleaning. I will re-print an excerpt from an article that explains:

"The cleaning itself -- getting down on hands and knees or climbing up on top of ladders -- is closely tied to the theme of the Passover holiday itself.

According to Chasidic philosophy, bread and chametz (leavening) symbolize the egotism and haughtiness within each of us. Chametz puffs up like a haughty person's chest, swells like an egotistical person's head. Matza, on the other hand, is flat, low, humble. Even the fact that its flavor is bland, nearly tasteless, attests to its modesty.

Before Passover, when we are checking cracks and corners, looking behind bookcases and inside briefcases for chametz, we are laboring at a job that doesn't require much thought. That gives us plenty of time to be introspective about whether we've been behaving like chametz or matza for the past year. And if we find that we are full of chametz, then pre-Passover cleaning time is the perfect opportunity to check the cracks and corners of our own personalities and dig out these dreadful traits."

I walked thru my new house and invited the good spirits to stay. I don't know if they heard me or not, but the vibe is good.

It was suggested to me that I burn sage in my winter quarters where a tragedy took place involving a summer tenant. I wasn't sure how I would feel about being in the home, but as the insurance company paid for every inch (literally) of the home to be painted (including the garage), the flooring in a quarter of the house replaced, all furniture upholstery cleaned, every inch of what was washable washed and the air ducts cleaned I felt no need for any sage. It's practically like a new home and I feel no negative energy although the person was obviously steeped in it. I'd say it went with him.

Years ago I (along with a group of people) rented an old funky house with water views from every room. We used it as a getaway on days off; no one lived there. I adored being in that house alone. At one point I learned the owners never returned to it after their son died of a drowning accident. Was interesting to me that a place that had such bad memories for some people became such a happy space for others. Maybe I'm just immune to bad juju.

No, not in this house. It got all new appliances and mfg wood floor in living room with ceramic time for rest of living space, so it didn't seem to need the kind of cleaning you're talking about. Probable needs it now though.

Yes!!, Every time I move. I've used the book "Creating Sacred Space" by Karen Kingston. She also has a network of professionals. I've used professionals to do the ceremony and I've done it myself when I was on a tighter budget.

It has changed my life every time it's done!

in every house. my husband is originally from Haiti and has herbal practices.......

Ha! Yes, I have "saged" my 102 yr old house several times. It was built by my ancestors and has only housed 'family', but I like to do it. Reminder to me to leave anything negative outside! Grow my own sage and probably sage it yearly. I have lavender also, and will add that next time.. Like tapping into good energy whenever possible!

Growing up my parents knew a blended family that was building their own home. The parents invited all their family and friends over one day to bless the house by writing Bible verses on the framing before the walls went up. I don't know how the family ended up but I know it meant a lot to them to have their friends and family bless them this way.

It's unfortunate that some people are so closed-minded about anything different. But that's why the world is in the state that it is in. I'll bet those same people believed a man walked on water 2000 years ago. I say that not to question or belittle anyone's faith but to point out that if you can have blind faith in that scenario why can't you have blind faith that burning a dried plant can also work a miracle? But I digress.......

I am the kind of person who always looks for the most rational logical, scientific explanation there is for anything. But even I, after increasing negative feelings in my newly built house probably similar to the bad contractor or be-grudging neighbor syndrome mentioned by posters above, started reading about smudging and feng shui almost to the exclusivity of anything else in my life because the bad vibes just had me so anxious, a state in which I was unused to being. I read somewhere that burning sage works because " The smoke from dried sage actually changes the ionic composition of the air, and can have a direct effect on reducing our stress response." (I am always amazed at how we forget that nature provides all that is does for a reason). So there is a scientific reason why it works. Again, some of us accept certain things on blind faith but things that have actually been scientifically proven we "poo poo", to steal someone else's phrase.

Anyway, I regularly burn incense and essential oils to clear my house. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't and things still feel slightly gloomy. But it felt a heck of a lot better in 2017 then it did in 2015 and 2016.

I live in the Middle East and they take these things seriously. We do something called Kaneh Takhaneh, it means Spring cleaning. So first, take out everything, literally room by room, closets cabinets, etc and throw away old stuff, wash everything and organize and put it away. Especially kitchen and bedrooms/closets. Then and most importantly, smudge using Esfand, which can be purchased in Mid east or Persian stores. Esfand is known to remove toxins in the air and according to belief here, bad spirits or negative energy. Anywho, I do it every month or when someone has a cold.

I noticed JAN MOYER 's comments above, and while I fully support (and practice) her methods of "cleaning" - aka Konmari style, however, her comment of--- "No smudge stick necessary...... the only reason it "works", is you believe it did, or will." That is contradictory and a little 'slighting' on those of us who do smudge. Jan Moyer, you're saying it only works because you believe it to-but another's way is not necessary, only yours? Please. That's more than condescending, it's plain-out not nice. If smudging works for someone as well as cleaning out your closet works for you, don't knock it. Especially when you yourself have just said it's all in your mind.

I'm all for cleansing a home, it is a comfort thing . It shouldn't be about " Magic " so much as it may bring peace of mind, and maybe some comfort to a soul . Some people have priests bless a house, basically the same thing . It's a blessing, just worded differently . I just lost both of my parents, six months apart, I sometimes think the house worked against us, not in a haunted way, but it took it's toll on us . It has always felt unlucky/ unhappy . New house, a bundle of issues .

I once worked for a company where I received a promotion and was given a corner office with windows. The prior two occupants of the office had passed away so one of my clients insisted on cleansing my new office. I’m still here:)

Donald, is that your pet rock from childhood?

Funny thing about pet rocks. My mom had a party for my dad, and everyone gave him a pet rock with a name on it . Because he got a fake boulder from my aunt . When it comes to cleansing/ blessing, I think it's a comfort thing. You can't make someone feel comfortable, it's personal . A calm soul, is a happy soul, and in the chaotic world, a calm soul is everything !

I haven't had a cleansing, but if and when I move, I think so. I need as much help and good wishes for a happy place I'll call home . I see the benefit of cleansing - peace of mind .