How to Maintain the Spirit in the Home

Maintaining the spirit in the home can be as simple as maintaining a good attitude so that dark spirits are not attracted to your home. People often receive the same energy back that they are emitting, so hate, envy and fear will attract negative spirits into the home, while confidence, love and compassion will keep the spirit in your home lighthearted and peaceful. Sweetgrass and sage are commonly used to ban negative spirits and invite positive spirits into the home, according to Adrienne Borden, a decendent of the Chippewas, and Steve Coyote, a decendent of the Cheyennes. The process of cleansing the home is known as a smudging ceremony.

Using Sage

• 1

  Go to a local natural food store or a nearby farmer's market. Go to where herbs are sold and look for a bundle of sage. It should be thin enough that you can bind the sage with twine and thick enough that it will burn slowly.

• 2

  Using the twine, take a bundle of the sage leaves and bind them together to form what looks like a stick.

• 3

  Burn the end of the sage leaves and walk around your home, letting the smoke cover every corner of the house. According to Borden and Coyote, this will provoke bad spirits in the house to leave before you invite positive spirits in using the sweet grass.

Using Sweetgrass

• 1

  Find an all-natural food store or a local farmer's market and find a bundle of sweetgrass. You will need enough to make the same type of bunch that you made with the sage.

• 2

  Use some twine to bind the sweetgrass together in preparation for the smudging.

• 3

  Burn the edge of the bunch and fan the smoke throughout the house.