Cleansing and consecrating your tools

Cleansing and consecrating your tools

We cleanse and consecrate our magical tools to clear them of any negative energy that might be residing in them from previous owners, from the store they came from or just from the surrounding air. Do you want to use a magical tool that some snotty child has picked up in the store without cleansing it first? Nope didn’t think so…ewwwww. We consecrate them to prepare them for magical work and to imbue them with our own energies and intent. You can work the cleansing and consecration of magical tools into a ritual to give them added oomph.

You don’t want to use a magical tool that is carrying negative energies or unknown energies within it, as it will affect your working.

I’m not talking about popping on your rubber gloves and washing up here (although in the case of pebbles from the beach and the like it can be advisable); I am talking about spiritual cleansing.

There are several ways to cleanse a magical item and it will depend on what you have to hand and what the actual tool is made from.

Incense – you can pass an item through incense smoke to purify it. It is preferable to use a specific purifying scent such as sage, lavender or rosemary, but go with what feels right for you.

Breath – you can also breathe on your tool, ground and centre yourself first and then really focus your breath on cleansing and purifying the item.

Weather – you can leave your tools outside, preferably on a windy day and let the air do the job for you. But keep an eye on them you don’t want the dog to run off with your new athame and bury it somewhere.

Flame – you can pass items over the flame of a candle, but be very careful and make sure the item will not be damaged. You will need some visualisation skills for this one, to visualise the flame getting larger and enveloping the item to cleanse it.

Sunshine and Moonlight – you can also leave the item out in the Sun or under the Moon, allow the sunshine or moonlight to cleanse and purify it.

Water – you can wash the item in running water, under the tap or in a stream. You can also place the item in a bowl of water that has had a pinch of salt or a couple of drops of cleansing essential oil to it. If you prefer you could use cooled herbal tea as the wash for your item. If the item is particularly delicate you can just sprinkle a few drops of salt water on it.

Burying – if the item is durable you can bury it either in the soil or in salt for a few hours (or days). The soil or the salt will absorb any negative energy. Oh and don’t forget where you buried it…

Visualisation – the easiest way I think is to use your inner spirit. Take the object in your hands, call upon deity and visualise a cleansing and purifying white light coming through your hands and into the object, flushing out any negative energies from it and filling it with pure, clean energy.

Icky Stuff – if you feel it is your calling…you can consecrate items with your blood or bodily fluids. This works especially well with a drop of your blood on an athame or for divination tools such as runes menstrual blood or semen will help make a connection between you and your divination tool.

Once you have cleansed your magical tools you can bless or consecrate them. (Different words, same meaning).

You can consecrate an item by using the visualisation method mentioned above, sending the bright white light into the item and asking the Goddess and the God to bless it for magical work. You can also say a blessing chant as well.

Tools and altar items, indeed your entire altar should be cleansed and consecrated fairly regularly, I like to do it with the turning of the seasons but if anything feels a bit hinky or you have used an item for specific spell work give it a cleanse.

Taken from The Art of Ritual book by Rachel Patterson