I can’t tell you how many times we hear this at the store: “I cleared my space with sage, and it was nice for a day or so but then it got icky again.”  Everyone knows the power of sage cleansing, but not everyone knows how to use it effectively.

It’s not that the sage didn’t work; it obviously did. But sage is powerful.  It’s a scrubber.  It will scour out the space and leave a nice “black hole” for energies to come back into, including energies you’d prefer not to have around.  If you don’t fill that “black hole” with something you actually want in there, you’re pretty much leaving the door open *and* sweeping off the stoop for the ick to come back.

And I can hear you saying: “But the Native Americans use sage all the time!”  Yes they do.  And they follow that immediately with ceremony. (I feel that a LOT of what Native Americans do every day is in ceremony.) They clear the space and then follow it with something sacred.

This is not to say that you must do a full-on ritual after saging your space.  There are quick, easy, and effective ways to refill the space with good stuff.

— Use sage bundled with lavender.  It won’t smell like lavender; it’ll smell like sage as sage is so strong, but energetically the lavender will work to fill the space with calm and peace.

— Use Florida Water after saging.  It’s got a nice fresh smell and it lifts the energy.

— Use sage with frankincense, myrrh, rosemary, juniper, cedar, etc.  Or use those as incense after saging.

— After saging, run through your space laughing, clapping, playing your favorite music, spraying your favorite scent, burning your favorite incense — whatever helps you energetically CLAIM the space.  (You might have to revise this a bit if you’re talking about a space in a shared office!). You can even say aloud, “I claim this space!  Nothing harmful or evil can enter!” — or something to that effect.  (In ritual at the store we often use “The good stay in and the ill stay out” three times.)

So there you go: several easy ways to make sure the cleaning you do with sage doesn’t get undone immediately!