The Purification Portal
A reset? For Spring? Groundbreaking. Step inside and be redeemed by the power of the Earth
When we stand like this, on the threshold of a new cycle, winter in its death throes and spring still just a promise, there’s always this question in the air: who do I want to be this year?
Aries season asks us to fill in the blank: I am ___________.
The answer matters, because action follows identity, and now is the time for bold and decisive action. The world as we knew it has ended or is ending, depending on who you ask. Institutions fail us daily, governments are run by dysregulated egomaniacs, insane wars rage on with no end in sight. Earth is a paradise, but who has time to enjoy it, or even defend it, when we’re run down trying to keep up with the demands of our ragged individualism? We need a new model.
This place could be beautiful, right? We could make this place beautiful.
However, before we move ahead into brave new world-building mode, it might be wise to allow for an internal settling, a quiet but profound shift. To clear away the stains of the past and return to the beauty within so that we might make some beauty without.
It’s time for a blessing. A baptism. A cleansing of the aura so that we might be more true to what we really are and from that unique place, create the world we want for ourselves and everyone else. The time is now.
In Bali, over three days, they gather in great number by the sea, wearing white and preparing themselves for Nyepi (the Balinese new year, marked by a day of silence, happening Saturday) by cleansing themselves of impurities, tossing old karma into the ocean and bathing in holy water. They do this not just for themselves but for us all — the ritual is meant to cleanse the body and the entire cosmos of stagnant, discordant energy so that a new cycle may begin from a pure place.
The portal is open now. Come inside.
We don’t have to conjure up the old puritanical ideas of purity. We’re not cleansing ourselves to prove to some sky-god that we are good and worthy. That worthiness is inherent. As for good or bad, depends on who you ask. Instead, we can embrace a process of purification as a way of returning to our own unique essence, to get close to our pure source, and remember ourselves as innocent beings, alive only for a short while on Earth and called to leave it better than we found it.
That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to
“Innocence = in your essence,” says philosopher-poet Sigh Swoon. “That’s it. It’s not about being a baby or a virgin or a delicate lamb or having a clean record. It’s the sensation of pure being, A playful, absurd visceral joy that opens up all the windows”
She recorded a whole episode on it, which in itself is a purification portal:
Purifying ourselves returns us to a state of grace. Simple innocence. And the point of returning to innocence is to open up to the inherent joy and playfulness that lives inside us, which cannot thrive in guilt and shame and regret.
To me, playful innocence is about as close as we can get to being the Creator within. And that is who we must be now, creators of our own world, and the multiverse that’s made from those intersecting worlds.
We’re in a new era. The world is asking to be re-made. Some say we have completed the Kali Uga — an era of ignorance and destruction as articulated by Hindu cosmology. (Some say it will rage on for 450,000 years more, but for today let’s adopt the optimistic view.) This means we are at the baby-breath beginnings of a vast new age of enlightenment. Can you feel it?
Something has shifted.
Our consciousness has never been greater, perhaps, than it is right now. We are so very aware of the boundlessness of life, we are becoming more aware of the enchanting mystery of reality, and now we know how little we really know about an ever-expanding, ever-evolving universe. We are just babies splashing around in wet cement.
Some of us will be called to dismantle the old world. Some will be tending to the casualties. And some of us will be creating the new. Creating the new world is just creating your own world in the way you see fit, not as a reaction to trauma or a desperate response to capitalist demands, but as a creative act of genius, making something new, expanding the possibilities and contributing to everyone else’s world at the same time. The more people who live their dream life, the more we all get to live inside a joyful dream.
To create our world, we must become a Creator.
The true power of creation is found within our innocence.
Purification is simply any ritual that restores us to that inherent innocence, so we may be that which we truly are —
creatures of a great and surprising love.
12 Simple Purification Rituals
Easy-ish ways to cleanse your aura and reset your vibe to its factory settings.
Watch the sun rise and let it scrub you clean.
Play with a dog until the dog gets bored.
Use a match to light a candle. As you blow out the match, send your intention and desire for purification on your breath. Watch the rising smoke take your prayer up to a compassionate, intelligent universe. Now stare into the flame. Ask the element of fire to help you burn away anything in your mind that does not serve your alignment, you deepest self: limiting beliefs, mental loops, self-doubts and judgements, whatever is ready to go. Trust the fire to take it from you. Watch the flame and wait. Be prepared to feel.
If you have access to birchbark, you can write the thing you want to cleanse on the bark and let it burn. There’s a powerful earth-magic in this ritual that works wonders.
Hold a grown man while he cries. Feel that pure thing in your heart swell and know who you really are.
Try this simple Reiki maneuver for cleansing your energy field:
It goes: right, left, right on the arms and then right, left, right across the body.
Light dried sage, cedar, myrrh, copal, palo santo, or frankincense—or just any incense stick you have—and let the scent of sacred smoke carry you deep inside yourself to a place that feels ancient, beyond words, and perfectly whole. Say out loud: “I am divine.”
Take a nap and ask your dream-self to purify you while you sleep. Pay attention to your dreams and how you feel when you wake up.
This one is a deep dive. Follow this profound guided meditation on the energy of purification channeled by Jonette Crowley, a wonderful grandmother-teacher who channels a higher-dimensional being called Mark, whose mission is to help humanity expand our consciousness. She guides you to feel the pure white light in the space around your heart and to experience purification as a kind of tuning fork returning you to the tone of your own essence. The first time I listened to it I had full-body spasms as something that was definitely not me left my field.
I love what she says about what happens inside a process of purification: “what dissolves is blame.” Imagine dissolving the need to blame anyone for anything, including yourself.
Try this simple meditation, taught to me by a visionary artist named Diane Brown: while drawing an infinity loop on your forehead with your fingertip four times, say to yourself out loud “wondrous mind, wondrous body, wondrous heart, wondrous soul.” Feel a simple but profound truth rise up inside of you.
Make an herbal infusion. Rosemary is a strong choice, offering cleansing and protection. In Oaxaca, where I’m writing from, they traditionally use a combination of rosemary, basil, and common rue for cleansing, so that’s what I used. (They don’t drink infusions of the herbs, though, they just buy big bushels at the market from the mountain villagers and set them in vases in their bathrooms, leaving a wonderful fresh scent.) You could also use mint (uplifting), yarrow (protection), sage (clearing), or mugwort (revitalization).
Start by bringing a large pot of water to boil. Once it’s roiling, turn off the heat, and toss in your chopped fresh or dried herbs, the more the merrier. Wait five minutes, and then use a pitcher to take out some of the water. This will be the stuff you drink, and for aromatic herbs (rosemary, basil, mint, sage) a short steep will keep those delicate flavours alive. Let the rest of the pot steep for longer, minimum four hours but even overnight if you have the time, stirring it with intention. This is your full-strength infusion.
Purify yourself from the inside out by drinking the tea (slow down, make a little ceremony out of it, and ask the herbs for their support) and pouring the infusion into a bath. Or else you could fill a spray bottle and spritz yourself. Feel the energy shift as you receive the gift of herbs sharing their vitality with you. The earth is on your side.
Lie down and have someone you love roll a raw egg all over your body. Ask them to take their time, making it a slow, sensual experience full of intent. Imagine, everywhere that the egg touches, it absorbs the negative energy from your body, removing anything that isn’t you. Once you’ve been touched all over, take the egg and leave it under your bed, or on the nightstand, while you sleep, asking it to absorb anything stagnant remaining in your field. In the morning, crack the egg into a bowl and “read” what you see — what did the egg absorb? Flush it down the toilet, knowing you’ve just rid yourself of something that was ready to go.
This tip comes from Oaxaca as well, where they use eggs for limpias, spiritual cleansing ceremonies. (You could also have someone spit mezcal all over you in a spray, that seems to work.)Dance around like a fool to this playlist, singing the songs you know at the top of your lungs:
These are just ideas. Ultimately, yo'u’ll take your own steps back to that sacred place inside yourself where you remember who you were before the world told you what to be. Where you remember what you’ve always been: something beautiful.
I needed this today. Been feeling “stuck” and this woke up something in me. Thank you.