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Juniper berries are most known for their use in gin, but they are also gaining popularity in smudge sticks. Traditionally used to treat a variety of conditions, juniper berries have extensive healing properties. Juniper smudge benefits include clearing the air of negative energy and healing emotional wounds. Burning juniper smudge sticks can help to open up blocked energies, both from the environment and from people.
What Is Smudging
Smudging is an ancient practice of cleansing a person, space or object with smoke from certain herbs and woods. Native Americans have used smudging for centuries as a way to purify and protect their space. The belief that evil spirits or negative energies can be cleared from an area with smoke is common among many cultures around the world. How this works is that the smoke from burning herbs and wood is thought to carry away negative energy and the healing compounds or elements in the smoke are thought to bring in positive energy.
The sacred space or ritual spaces are often smudged to clear out any negative energy and allow healing energy to enter. Sage sticks are most commonly used for this purpose, but there are a variety of herbs and woods that can be used. Juniper is an excellent herb if you need to clear negative energy, improve luck, or focus on healing emotional wounds.
You may also find interest in:
- A Beginners Guide To Smudging
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- Smudging Prayers For Love and Protection
- 35 Best Herbs For Smudging
Juniper Berry Healing Properties
This sacred herb has some impressive chemical compounds that promote spiritual and physical healing. Juniper trees contain terpenes, which help to relieve stress and anxiety. They also contain trace elements of limonene, linalool, and camphene, which have antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, juniper berries contain Vitamin C and antioxidants that help protect against cell damage.
While juniper berry oil has been used for centuries to soothe pain, the juniper smudge benefits can be just as powerful. This aromatic evergreen can be used to help clear negative energy, open up blocked energies, and bring healing to emotional wounds. Burning an organic juniper smudge stick can help to cleanse the air and create a calming atmosphere that is conducive to healing.
15 Impressive Juniper Smudge Benefits
1. Cleansing
This fragrant wood is perfect for cleansing the air and your space of negative energy. Burning juniper smudge helps to create a protective barrier that keeps out any unwanted energies. Its inherent ability to purify the air makes it ideal for use in cleansing rituals.
2. Heal Emotional Wounds
The powerful healing properties of juniper smudge can help to heal emotional wounds. Using juniper during smudging is a powerful way to bring up any emotions that you may be suppressing, allowing you to release them and move forward with healing. Related: How To Get Connected To Your Heart
3. Open Blocked Energies
Juniper smudge can help to open up blocked energies, both from the environment and from people. Burning juniper sticks can help to balance energy, allowing positive energy to flow freely. Positive influences can be invited to enter the space, while negative influences can be repelled.
4. Enhance Spiritual Connections
Juniper is the closest magical plant ally to healing and protection. It can enhance spiritual connections, allowing you to draw closer to the spiritual realms. Smudging with juniper can open up your third eye and help you achieve a higher state of consciousness. The magical properties of juniper can help to open up your intuition and psychic abilities.
5. Protection
The protective energy of juniper smudge can help to shield you from any negative influences. Juniper is a potent ally when it comes to protection as it helps to keep out unwanted energies. This makes smudging juniper perfect for protection rituals or shamanic journeys
6. Improve Luck
Juniper is believed to bring luck. Juniper berries are used as good luck charms in many cultures, and burning juniper smudge is thought to bring good fortune. Juniper’s sweet aroma can help to attract luck, prosperity, and good spirits into your life.
7. Improve Sickness and Ailments
Juniper has antiseptic, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties that can help to heal diseases and ailments. In many cultures, you can find juniper smudge bundles in a sick room to help battle the demons of disease. The medicinal properties of juniper can help to protect against infection, illness and disease.
8. Purify the Aura
Juniper smudge sticks’ cleansing properties can help to purify the aura, clearing out any negative energy or feelings of despair. With ritual purification, juniper smudge can help to restore balance, peace, and harmony to your body and spirit.
9. Improve Sleep
If you have been struggling to sleep, burning juniper smudge can help you to drift off into a peaceful slumber. This fragrant incense can help to create a calming atmosphere that is conducive to restful sleep.
10. Attract Love
Juniper is strongly associated with love and can be used in smudging rituals to attract it into your life. Juniper’s sweet aroma is thought to invite love, passion, and happiness into your life. Related: 55 Positive Relationship Manifestation Affirmations To Help You Attract Love
11. Raise Overall Vibration
If you subscribe to the belief that we are all energetic beings, then you are familiar with vibrations being much more than just “vibes”. Our vibration can be affected by the people and places we surround ourselves with. Juniper smudging can help to raise your overall vibration, allowing you to become more in tune with the universe.
12. Increase Manifestation Power
The power of manifestation is greatly enhanced when we are in high vibration. Burning juniper smudge can help to bring your intentions and desires into reality by helping you to manifest them.
13. Strengthen Bonds
Juniper smudge can help to create a sacred bond between two people who are in a relationship. Burning juniper sticks and sharing the smoke can help to strengthen the bond between two people, allowing them to open up and be vulnerable with each other.
14. Balance Emotions
The aroma of juniper can help to bring balance to your emotions and create peace within yourself. Juniper smudging can help to calm an anxious mind and reduce stress.
15. Connect with Ancestors
Smudging with juniper is thought to be a powerful way of connecting with your ancestors. Juniper has long been associated with the spiritual realm, making it perfect for honoring the spirits of our ancestors. Burning juniper smudge during rituals can help you draw on their wisdom and guidance. It can also create a bridge between this life and the next, allowing us to stay connected with our loved ones who have passed away.
How to Smudge with Juniper: A Guide to Cleansing Your Space
Before you can begin your juniper smudge ritual, there are a few items you will need:
- Organic juniper smudge sticks or juniper branches or needles (if using needles be sure they are dry)
- Fire-safe bowl or vessel (earthenware clay or fireproof metal such as tin)
- Sand (for putting out the flame when finished)
- Matches or lighter
Performing Your Smudge Ceremony
- Now that you have all your supplies together, start by laying out your mat or blanket on the floor where you’ll be performing the ceremony so everything’s close at hand.
- Then fill the fire-safe bowl with sand until it’s 3/4 full – this will be what puts out your flame later on.
- Next, light your juniper smudge stick or needles and hold the flame to them until they start to smoke. Place the smoking bundle in the bowl of sand so that it doesn’t burn down your house.
- Now you can begin your smudging ceremony by moving around clockwise throughout each room of your home with the burning juniper, allowing its smoke to drift into every corner while you intone prayers or mantras of cleansing.
- As this happens cast any worries away from yourself and allow its cleansing properties to work – circling around yourself, others present with you, the room, etc.
- When finished, put out the flame with a handful of sand from your bowl and place the extinguished bundle on an ashtray.
Juniper Smudge Risks and Precautions
- Whilst the positive effects of juniper smudging are widely known and celebrated, there are a few risks to be aware of.
- The smoke produced by burning juniper is strong and can cause coughing or irritation if inhaled in large doses. To minimize this risk, make sure you’re in an open space with good ventilation when performing a smudging ritual with juniper so that the smoke disperses quickly without lingering.
- Also, make sure any children present during your ceremony stay at least 6 feet away from the burning bundle of herbs – as long as their eyes and noses aren’t directly exposed to the smoke they should remain unharmed.
- Finally, all burning substances carry fire risk; never leave a burning juniper smudge unattended, and always have your fire-safe bowl of sand at hand to put out the flame.
By following these simple tips, you can use juniper smudging to safely cleanse your space, manifest your intentions and deepen connections with yourself and those around you. Happy smudging.