Us witches have an almost compulsive thing for cleansing. Feeling bad? Cleanse. New tool? Clense. Long trip? Cleanse. Buying herbs? Cleanse. Finished ritual? Cleanse. New moon? Cleanse.
And, I mean. I’m not one to speak. I’ve done two major posts talking about alternative cleansing (that you can see here and here), but after seeing some people talking about when to cleanse, I thought I’d say something about it.
Here’s the thing: You don’t need to cleanse *all* the time.
Cleansing gets rid of accumulated energy in a certain object, place, or person. It restores it to its original state, to a point of neutrality.
This also means that cleansing anything you’ve charged will get rid of that extra energetic boost. Sun charged crystals become simple crystals, moon water becomes simple water, etc.
I sun charged my Art Nouveau tarot deck before I started using it.
So it’s important to note that while cleansing is fundamental and useful, sometimes it’s not necessary and even not recommendable.
Instances in which you should definitely not cleanse are:
When acquiring an antique: cleansing it will make it as if it where brand new (energy wise). So there’s no point on in being an antique. TRUST YOUR INTUITION. If you bought/found/got the thing because it called to you, believe you can handle its energy. Don’t cleanse “just to be sure”.
I found this old dagger/letter opener and didn’t cleanse it. Instead, I bound it to me and now I use it as my athame.
When something gets passed down to you: Inherited objects carry a history. Like in the previous case, you should try to hold onto that energy. However, in this scenario you already have an idea of what the item’s past was like, so you can choose to let go of it or not.
This ink bottle and calligraphy pen belonged to my grandmother when she was in elementary school back in the 1940s. Cleansing them would get rid of her influence and they’d just be old writing instruments.
Divination tools: sometimes divination tools have their own energy, and unless someone else has touched them, cleaning the slate is unnecessary. Arguably, our tools grow with experience, like us. By cleansing them, they go back to the beginning. This is why some witches never allow anyone to touch their tools.
I found this old, rusty key, and I use it during my bone readings. I don’t cleanse it since I don’t let anyone else touch it. I feel it has a history, and a personality that cleansing will simply erase.
Working with body parts and even plants: when the past of the dead object is relevant, cleansing it defeats the purpose. A cleansed cat skull doesn’t carry the essence of that cat, it’s just generic, a random cat skull. No history, no story. This is especially important to remember when doing bone readings. Cleansing (not the same as cleaning) the bones strips away the portion of the soul they belonged to. We DON’T cleanse bones for this reason. In fact, some witches believe that bones are the only divination tools that are safe to be handled by others because they’re not ours to begin with. Every bone reading is a favor asked to a long gone life. If the soul has an issue with whomever is handling it, then the bones simply won’t answer their questions.
Pieces of my bones collection.
Ask yourself if cleansing is necessary before doing it. What do you expect will come out of a cleanse? Will it improve the status of the item?
This also applies to places, including haunted places. Is the entity doing any harm? Why are you kicking it out?
Sometimes, preexisting energies will bring a lot to the table. Let yourself trust the influence of the ones that came before you. Instead of cleansing the item, try re-purposing or transforming the energy.
Summarizing: Cleansing, good. Cleansing too much, missing opportunities.
There is definitely such a thing as over cleansing. Make sure you’re not doing it to your spells, too, and sapping away all the energy before it can do its job!
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