by Paulette Kauffman Sherman, PsyD
(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)
Magic is making the everyday sacred. A bath is more than a physical cleansing; it's your emotional and spiritual purification. You can make your bathtub the altar in the temple of your bathroom. Think of it as your path to transformation. It is a sacred oasis, a time to connect to your Spirt, a playtime, a dreamtime.
Doreen Virtue has said that water increases guidance. The research on floatation shows that it increases creative ideas. I have found that my sacred baths increase wellness, peace, mental clarity, guidance, and creativity, and help me to attract my dreams.
To create a sacred bath, first create a sacred space by smudging your bathroom with Palo Santo wood, sage, or incense. De-clutter your bathroom so that it feels beautiful and peaceful. I usually clean the bath with Seventh Generation. Then, light a candle and start to run the bathwater. You'll put in Epsom salts, essential oils, and an appropriate crystal into your bath water, to match your intention. You will call in Spirit (whether that's your Higher Self, God, the Goddess, or your angels) for guidance in the sacred waters. Then you will make a prayer and state your intention. Afterwards, you'll relax in your bath in silence, do a specific meditation around your intention, pray, and listen for guidance. When your bath ritual is done, you will blow out the candle to close your bath ritual. Afterwards, you'll journal about any inspiration you received so that you remember it. You can drink some herbal tea while journaling. In my book (The Book of Sacred Baths), I suggest some herbal teas that match the energy and intention of your bath ritual. This whole process normally takes 25 minutes. The essential oils, crystal, tea, meditation, visualization, and prayer all match your intention for your bath ritual and strengthen it.
Looking for even more power from your bath? Below are twelve ways to make your everyday bath even more magical:
- Remember the Research: Dr. Masuru Emoto discovered that the structure of water responds to our thoughts, intentions, and words. He flash-froze water and captured the crystals in water after it was exposed to music, thoughts, words, and intentions. The frozen water crystals confirmed the healing power of beautiful music, positive thinking, uplifting speech, and prayer by forming beautiful, symmetrical crystals; they also revealed the destructive power of negative words and intentions by forming ugly, asymmetrical crystals. His pictures revealed that water responded to our consciousness and recorded it. Our thoughts and words also affect water and ourselves (since we are all 70% water). So use your sacred bath to bath in love and positivity and to notice the energy of your intentions and words.
- Essential Oils: Essential oils are the highest frequency known to man. Essential oils can cleanse your aura and raise your vibration. Many say that essential oils cross the blood-brain barrier, reaching the amygdala and limbic system. The amygdala influences the hypothalamus, our hormone center and where our emotions are controlled. They can shift your emotions and different essential oils match your intentions. For example, rose essential oil is great to attract love and lavender essential is helpful for relaxation.
- The Law of Attraction: The Law of Attractions means that we attract what we vibrate. This consists of aligning our thoughts, feelings, and actions around our intention. Your sacred bath is a great place to do this. You can relax and let go of any limiting beliefs or obstacles; just let them go right down the drain and imagine your goal or intention coming to fruition. Soak in those positive images, thoughts, and feelings for 25 minutes so it activates it in your vibration and makes you a magnet to attract it.
- Visualize It: Research shows that visualizing yourself doing something is almost as good as actually doing it; your brain and body often responds as if it is happening. This is a form of internal rehearsal. For example, you can imagine your date going really well or see your boss's smile as he grants you that raise and recites all the reasons that you deserve it. Each bath ritual is a great place to visualize what you most wish to attract in your life.
- Pray: Sacred baths are about connecting to Spirit and building your Divine team. You can get in touch with your Higher Self and you can also ask for guidance from different guides. You can call in your guardian angel, the Archangels, the Goddess, Ascended Masters, and more. Use this time in your sacred bath to connect to Divine Guidance, to get feedback on your intention, and to learn about your soul's purpose. When you regularly bathe with your guides you feel closer to Spirit and know that you are living your life in concert with your Divine team.
- Use a Crystal: Crystals are natural stones that have their own vibration, color, and healing properties. Crystals cleanse negative energies. Each has its own structure and frequency, and attracts different things. You can program your crystals with your prayers and intentions and put them into the bathwater. To cleanse your crystals, use a bowl of water and add sea salt. Hold the intention that all negativity be washed away. Then place your crystal (or crystals) between you and the drain in the tub. When you're done, rinse and dry your crystal with a towel and store it. You can choose a rose quartz to attract love or a lapis lazuli crystal to improve communication.
- Shift Your Emotions from Fear to Love: In our everyday lives there are many stressors. Taking a sacred bath allows anything bothering you, including lower emotions, to go down the drain so that you can bathe in unconditional love. Love is one of the highest vibrations there is, and this lets you refuel so you can give love to yourself and others again.
- Make It a Ritual: A ritual is something that lifts the veil between Heaven and Earth and bridges your inner and outer world. It's an altered state of consciousness that grants you access to Higher wisdom. Rituals speak to your unconscious and mark important transitions. Research shows that rituals affect people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Rituals help people value something more because they become personally involved with it. Elevating your bath to a ritual makes it sacred and helps you to connect with Spirit so you can then integrate that wisdom into your daily life.
- Create a Clear Intention and Personalize It: Before every sacred bath, you can choose an intention or life area to focus on. For example, you can do a bath ritual to open your heart to love or to achieve a particular goal. Then the essential oil and crystal you choose will support that intention, too. You would then call in the appropriate Spirit guide and ask for guidance on that issue. Your sacred bath is a compact time to focus just on that intention so that you can gain clarity around it and rid yourself of all other distractions. There are 52 rituals in The Book of Sacred Baths, but you may want to do a ritual for something specific that's important in your life right now. For example, maybe you want to do a bath ritual on attracting new friends or to increase your generosity. You would then take this sacred bathing process and customize a bath for your specific intent, matching the essential oils and crystals that have the same energy and writing a meditation and prayer to recite.
- Integrate the Guidance into Everyday Life: Your bath is your path to transformation, but you must integrate the wisdom that you receive into action in the outer world. You may get advice from your Guides or get an image about the next steps to take in a certain area; it is then up to you to follow through and to record this guidance and your progress in your journal.
- Learn About the History of Sacred Bathing: Sacred Bathing has a fascinating cross-cultural history. Egyptians used baths as a way to heal the Spirit. There are Russian baths called Banyas, Turkish baths called Hammams, Greco-Roman baths called Tepidariums, mikvehs in Judaism, and Japanese baths called Sentos. The Japanese bathing ceremony is about centering and cleansing the Spirit. In Shinto (indigenous Japanese spirituality), waterfalls are considered sacred and standing under them purifies. Mikvahs are Judaic baths for spiritual purification, and all throughout the Bible water is a symbol of God's presence and favor. Knowing this can remind you that you are not alone and that spiritual bathing is happening everywhere, so there must be something healing about it that stands the test of time.
- Be a Bath Priestess and Raise the Consciousness of Our Planet: We can all be modern Sacred Bath Priestesses aligning with the Divine to manifest our dreams. We have the power together to raise our own vibration regularly, which will also raise world consciousness! We are examples of making the time to shift from fear to love on a regular basis and we will then embody that energy and share it in the world. Please join me.
You can learn more about sacred bathing, including 52 bathing rituals, in my book ( The Book of Sacred Baths).
Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2016. All rights reserved.