Saging to Set Intentions

The New Year can be a wonderful time to create new beginnings for yourself.  Whether you want to go back to school, start a new career, write a book, or travel, whatever your dreams are, setting your intentions on how to get there is the best first step in any new journey for your life.

Saging or smudging with sage can help kick start that process for you.  The first step in this process is to use the saging as a cleansing tool to get mental and emotional cobwebs from your life.  Your home or office, or wherever you plan to spend the most time working on your new path for yourself, is the perfect place to start the process.  Having an environment free from the past trials and tribulations in your life is essential to starting fresh.  So the best way to begin that process is to do a cleansing of that space. 

Begin by getting a smudge stick of some kind. These are usually made of white sage or other cleansing herbs like lavender.  Beginning at the door from which you enter the space to be cleansed, light the smudge stick and then blow it out, smoke should continue to rise up from the bundle.  Wave the stick back and forth slowly, allowing the smoke to permeate the area all the way to the ceiling.  Go around the walls clockwise until you get back to where you started and then walk through the middle of the room to the next doorway.  If you are doing your entire home, repeat the process through each room, upstairs and down until you get to an exit. Open the door and motion for all the negative energy to exit by doing a sweeping motion with the bundle of herbs.

Now that your area is cleansed of old energy, go to a space where you will work on plans for your new adventure.  Sit at a comfortable table with the smudge stick resting on an ashtray or some other safe glass or ceramic dish for it to continue to smoke.   Clear your mind, take a few moments to calm your thoughts and meditate on the new path you want to take for your life.  Allow yourself to see you in the new situation, as if you have already accomplished your dream.  Focus on the feelings of happiness and see yourself going through the motions of the new way you want to live.

Set your mind with the intention of being determined to reach your dream and have that life.  Make a list of steps you would like to take to reach your goals for this next part of your life.  Take the list and hold it over the smoke from the smudge stick.  Allow the smoke from the sage to flow over the words on the paper, taking those intentions up and out into the universe to make your dreams a reality.