Soul Washing is a ritual for deep self care. It is a time to check in with the contents of our interior, see what is there that needs tending to and offering it nurturing and care. If we have been especially busy, overworked or just come through a crisis of some sort, Soul Washing is a good thing to do.

In this ritual we are washing and refreshing our interior space. It is different than the sweep because the sweep cleans the outside, the skin. Here we are reaching for our internal, private, vulnerable soul space, what lies within, the place only we have access to and that only we know completely, or can know completely.

For this ritual you will need:

• A fire (either a fire in a fireplace, wood stove or outdoor fire pit. If you do not have ac cess to these, a candle will do)
• Milk (any kind you prefer)
• Healing charcoal if you have it.
• Hyssop essential oil (optional)
• One raw egg
• A bowl large enough to hold the egg covered with milk

The Ritual:

• Come to a place of quiet and calm. Light the candle or build the fire.
• First, we are going to go deep within ourselves and see what is there. As we go in to clean this private interior, we must first address any shadow material that is lurking around, on it, or present within. Any “sins,” blemishes, negative energies or thought patterns. It is time to look at each of these, one at time and begin the work of transforming them. What are you holding onto that is no longer serving you? Are there hurts, wounds, places you are stuck? Is there anger, judgement, reactivity? This is between you and you. No one else. It is time to clean house, your own interior house. Make room for new. Get all of this other stuff gone so newness may flow through you. As you identify each one, you ask it what it would like to be transmuted into. After you have done this, you offer it to the fire asking the fire to do the work of transforming it, transmuting it to what it would like to become. For example in a soul washing I did recently, my impatience wanted to be turned into friendliness. My sarcasm into tenderness. You may do this by making a list on paper and then offering each to the fire, one at a time, literally, allowing the fire to burn the paper or you may do one at a time with your mind, not writing it down, just energetically offering them to the fire. Go at your own pace, continuing to scan, until you feel you have fully addressed the shadow part of your soul material.You may be surprised what they ask to be transmuted into. Once you feel you have addressed the shadow material on your soul, it is time to begin the interior washing.
• The egg is now standing in for your soul. Take it into your hands and hold it and connect with it deeply as your soul. This is now your soul externalized that you are holding within your hands. Hold it up to your chest, to your heart, offer it love, feel into it, connect with it. You are about to wash this egg, your own soul, clean of any impurities, offer it nurturing and refreshment so you may continue on with your life renewed, refreshed and washed clean.
• Once you feel ready, set the egg into the bowl and cover it with the milk. It is up to you if you feel you need to add a bit of healing charcoal into the milk to deepen the cleaning or possibly hyssop essential oil, an herb that helps consecrate and purify. Once you have all your ingredients in the bowl, begin to wash the egg, your soul, with the milk. Milk is used to cleanse, nourish and purify and also connect us back up to the source soul. Source itself. The numinous. Take your time, be gentle, feel into it. Let it speak to you as you bathe it. Offer it what it needs. Know you are offering this to yourself, to your own secret interior.
• Once complete, offer the whole egg onto the earth somewhere for it to be metabolized by the forces of nature, and offer the milk at the base of a tree.

©Theresa C. Dintino 2018

Theresa C. Dintino is an ancestral Strega (Italian wise woman), Earth worker, and initiated diviner in the West African Dagara tradition. For more than 20 years Theresa has studied and practiced an Earth-based spirituality. She currently helps others reclaim their personal lineages through her divination work. Theresa is the author of seven books which include her Tree Medicine Trilogy. Learn more about her books here.