I decided to do this post on ritual bathing, and apparently
the thought was going around because I see that Rowan posted something about it
in the newsletter and so I wondered whether to continue with the topic or not
but decided since I had it all planned out to just go for it, so here it is.
We often hear a lot about ritual bathing, especially in
Wicca 101 books etc. These often go into
elaborate detail about setting up the bath just right with candles and herbs
and music etc, but let’s face it a lot of us don’t have the time, facilities or
inclination to partake in an elaborate bathing routine before we begin ritual,
it’s a nice concept in theory but in practice we have to modify it for the real
world. (As I find we do for most of the things involved in adapting our craft). I’m not discarding the rich history around
ritual bathing – I am a historian after all, but rather I acknowledge that we
can and should adapt our beliefs to reflect our times and ourselves as well as their
own traditions.
Many modern homes do not even include a bath tub in their
structure, or those they do are so shallow or small that the thought of trying
to relax into one is hard to summon. We
also have various climates during the year that make the thought of soaking
one’s body in a steaming tub of water when it is already 100+ out highly
unappealing. But that doesn’t mean that
we can’t ritually bathe ourselves before we begin out work. Here are a few ideas.
Firstly, and perhaps obviously – use your shower. It the water that comes out of the shower
head any different than that which comes out of the tap below? Ritual acts like this are all about intent,
as long as you’re going in with the intent of having the water wash away the
negativity of the day and cleansing you of any unwanted energies etc than even
a wash cloth and a bucket will work. Of
course you can add certain oils, herbs, soaps etc to your shower to help with
the cleansing aspect. I have used
satchels of herbs and salt before to scrub my body with while showering, I’ve
also used aromatherapy oils burning while I’m in the shower, or just nothing
but my visualization skills.
Secondly, bathe in fragrance – use aromatherapy spritzers,
incense etc to give yourself a fragrance bath using the properties of the herbs
and essences to cleanse your body. Much
like the idea of smudging an area you can bathe your body in their fragrance as
a cleansing ritual.
Thirdly, bathe in the moon or the sun. I don’t know about others but I always find
that a few minutes out under the sun or the moon leaves my body feeling
renewed, cleansed and ready for anything.
So why not harness this, especially if you are doing ritual outside. Take a few moments before everything begins
to stand under the moon or the sun and allow its energies to bathe your body
and cleanse it of all negativity and unwanted emotions.
The act of pre-ritual bathing is the beginning of the intent
of the work. It is a way to start
cleansing and balancing yourself and to get your mind focused on the work you
are to perform, so there is no need to take it as a literal bath if you should
not wish. Find and adapt ways that work
with your conditions.
