Perception

In the photo below, what kind of bird is this?

Even though our perception says it may be a bird, it’s not a bird at all, it’s a cat.

How about this guy?

Sometime things aren’t what they appear to be.

How about this?

Then below we have this...

Here’s the fire illusion, all based on our perception...

Smudging Ideas

Raise Your Vibration

Smudging is another way to clear negative energy and raise vibrations. 

Burning sage with the intent of clearing old energy is a wonderful way to cleanse and move the stagnant energy out of our homes. 

As a result, we raise our personal vibrations and the vibration of our home.

1) Nature’s Antidepressant

Negative ions, a topic scientific circles are talking about.

It looks like negative ions have a profound and positive effect on the physiology of every human being. Ions are atoms or molecules with a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons. Negative ions are produced in natural settings (such as in nature) while positive ions are produced in more contemporary places such as in the house. Electronics, in particular, give off lots of positive ions.

It appears that the negative ions produced from smudging offer effective antidepressant effects.

Dr. Clarence Hansell, a research engineer who studied the effects of negative ions on humans in the 1930s, noticed that the mood of one of his colleagues changed when ions were being generated by nearby equipment. He noticed his colleague was more joyful when the machine created negative ions and more sullen when it produced positive ions. 

In a controlled study focused on Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD (an extension of Hansell’s work), researchers found fresh air charged with negative ions was an effective treatment for depression. 

This is in large part due to its effects on serotonin levels, similar to the way antidepressant drugs work.

2) Clearing Negative Energy

Because smudging actually destroys bacteria in the air, it also has a psychologically clearing effect. 

This can allow us to relax in environments that may be a little harder settle in. 

Thankfully smudging gives off plenty of negative ions!

3) Clearing the Air

Surprisingly, smudging can help clear the air of all kinds of bacteria and improve allergy symptoms. 

This was a study that corroborated this ancient practice. Here is the researcher’s take:

“We have observed that 1 hour treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs (havan sámagri=material used in oblation to fire all over India), on aerial bacterial population caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts by 60 min and the ability of the smoke to purify or disinfect the air and to make the environment cleaner was maintained up to 24 hour in the closed room.

4) Relaxing Effects

Just like incense, smudging can offer calming, relaxing effects that are known to help lower blood pressure, relieve stress and tension and normalize breathing rates, as the negative ions produced are absorbed directly into your bloodstream.

5) Increased Energy

Negative ions have the effect of helping to normalize serotonin (the feel-good hormone), boosting the mood and overall energy. This is great for depression.

6) Improved Sleep

So if we know that negative ions are more of a ‘natural’ thing, it would make sense we’d not only feel better but sleep better too, right? Absolutely! 

And in fact, studies show people do sleep better in negative ion environments.

Don’t Touch My Crystals

Those of us in the Pagan Kitchen regard our personal crystals as a part of who we are, with our energy and we prefer others not to handle them.

Our energy, our crystals.

While that may sound over protective, crystals can collect various forms of energy from emotions, thought, touch, and a host many other sources. 

When other people handle your crystals, they leave their energy imprint and all that come with it.

But this is something you must follow your intuition on.

We have some crystals that are meant to be touched and enjoyed by others who come and visit, giving them opportunity to experience the energy of crystals.

If someone visits us and are drawn to picking up our public crystals, it's fine with us, It’s obviously what they need. 

The crystals are calling to them to be held. 

We believe the crystals know what they are doing, they are far more evolved than we are.

The crystals do their work by attracting those who may need help in some way. 

By simply holding a crystal they are drawn too (consciously or unconsciously) they will receive the energy they may need.

These public crystals are frequently smudged, cleared and charged because of all the handling. 

It's  just like when you first get a crystal, or after you use it for any healing work, or whenever you feel that the crystal lacks light, luster, and energy.

Becsuse crystals can be easily cleared, the public crystals work great for us.

Sound is the most effective tool to use in clearing crystals and stones.

Using sound vibration to clear your crystals means that you can clear many stones in the same period of time that you can clear a single stone. 

If you produce an effective sound for a couple of  minutes, it will clear your stones. 

Once your crystals have been cleared, they will begin recharging themselves using their natural channel of attunement with the Earth. 

So, next time your stones are feeling “tired”, try clearing them for a few minutes with a strong sound vibration.

But when it comes to our own personal crystals, we keep them to ourselves.

We form bonds with our crystals. 

They are special, part of us.

When chose our personal crystals the attraction was far from random.

We are drawn to the crystal because there is a connection.

Even though stones and crystals aren't vocal like we are, they definitely have their own unique voices.

Someone compared it to choosing a puppy or kitten. 

You would spend time with several animals to determine which is most compatible with your energy, and yours with the puppy or kitten.

When choosing stones or crystals it's the same thing.

You spend time to feel the connection and see how the interaction feels.

Not only are you determining how you feel about the specific stone or crystal, you are also feeling the frequency of each and feeling how that frequency interacts with your energy fields. 

When a connection is made, you will feel a sense of ‘rightness’ that the stone or crystal has chosen you as well as you have chosen it.

As far as sharing your personal crystals, that's a decision only you can make.

You might feel comfortable with members in your circle, your family, close friends, it's all up to you.

There's no right or wrong here.

The simple solution is, keep your private crystal private and allow your public crystals to to touched and enjoyed by all.