Design Your Home’s Vibration with Yerba Santa, Cedar, Lavender, and Rosemary smoke cleansing alternatives to sage and palo santo.
Celebrated Black interior designer Cecil Hayes was known for taking her craft seriously as “an art form—it wasn’t just decorating with colors and furniture. This was truly, truly art . . . creating living art for people to be in.”
Design is more than just aesthetic—it’s energetic.
Quantum physics has proven that everything we see (and don’t) is made up of energy particles, including our feelings and thoughts. This energy colors our spaces with a hue that reflects exactly where we are in that moment. Our intuition and intentions decorate our bedrooms, kitchens, and doorways with the possibilities of our desires. We are interior designers of the soul—creators (and co-creators) of how our spaces feel.
We’re experiencing a moment where we are living so much more of our lives at home, craving creative outlets and stimulation. The presence and pressures of external stressors are altering the ways we feel, and the energetic imprint we leave on our homes are just as alive as we are. At a time like this, developing space-cleansing practices is a healing way to honor your inner flow of creative energy and ensure your spirit truly feels at home in your home.
Historically, many different people, groups, and cultures have used space cleansing as a ritual to mark beginnings, endings, and major transitions. Whether you want to set the tone for a new apartment, honor the consciousness-shifting moment that our planet is in right now, lift the energetic burden of a quarantined family member, or just feel more at peace in your inner sanctum, space cleansing is a healing tool for peace.
So how can you set the energetic tone for your home? Yerba Santa is a sacred herb whose leaf has been used for its medicinal properties for generations. It aids in the alleviation of respiratory conditions such as cough and lung inflammation. When it is burned with intention in your home, it is said to promote the flow of psychic abilities associated with the third eye and cloak your space with a divine light of protection.
Cedar is another cleansing tool that the planet has graciously given us. It is a symbol of resilience, immortality, and eternal life. When used to cleanse your space, it invites a spirit of calm endurance, which can help in balancing the challenging energy of major transitions. (And as a bonus, it’s insect-repellant and pet-friendly.)
To take part in a healing tradition spanning 2,500 years, fill your space with the scent of lavender. Lavender’s strength lies in its simultaneous ability to stimulate and relax, and its presence in your home sets the intention for creative movement and peace.
Rosemary is traditionally used to prepare spaces for new beginnings. Did you just move? Start a new relationship? Close an important chapter in your life? Rosemary expresses your intention to honor the mystic beauty of change, and to relish in the comforting discomfort of that in-between state.
Designing our spaces with energy pays homage to the divine creative force within each and every one of us. No matter the chaos that occurs outside (or even inside) the home, we always have the power to set intentions of peace and harmony for the spaces we move through. When you draw upon the healing power of ethically and sustainably sourced healing tools, the energetic balance of your space is restored and transformed.
