I refer to magickal bathing as an art because in essence it is. You are getting creative with colour, texture, scent, objects and placement. It engages all of the senses and carries with it a uniquely beautiful experience.
Bathing not only cleans our physical bodies but it cleanses our spiritual selves as well. These baths can be done alone or paired with a spell or ritual. You can tailor them to whatever your needs are and your personal tradition. These baths help to mentally prepare us for attaining a better connection with the energy that is all around us.
Because this is an art form, you can make the bath as complex or as simple as you like. The point is to create a ritual that appeals to you while achieving your specific goal.
There are many components you can add to your magickal bath: candles, scents with oils, herbs, incenses and teas, gemstones, salts, soaps, bubbles, music… the list goes on and on. I even like to add natural food dye to tint the bathwater to a corresponding colour.
Choosing your bath and intent is the first step. Over the next week, I will go into the energies that surround each day of the week to give you an idea of where to start.
Once you’ve chosen your goal or intention you need to decide what colors, herbs, scents etc. that you want to incorporate. Personally, I always include candles. A candle lit bath in and of itself feels very magickal. If you’re worried about fire safety I recommend tea lites. They are self contained and in the proper container they will not fall over or drip wax. Keep in mind that white can be substituted for any other colour. There is also noting wrong with electric candles. If you have pets, kids or sensitive smoke detectors try them out.
Next you will want to look at what scents, if any, you would like to add. There are many options here. You can add oils and herbs to bath water or you can burn incense and scented candles, or diffuse essential oils. You can add flower petals to the water or strewn around the room. Natural oils have magickal properties in and of themselves, but if you have to use an artificial fragrance, be sure it actually heightens your focus and doesn’t distract you.
Now take a look at stones and crystals to add if you choose. I like to arrange crystals around the tub that correspond with my purpose.
You can also incorporate salt for purification or a bath bomb for a boost in energy. You’re catering to your unique senses, so it’s all up to you. The more personal you can get the more powerful the bath and thus the result.
Things you can do with the herbs are (as mentioned above) to make a sachet using cheesecloth and string to tie up all of your herbs like a tea bag to soak in the water. You can sprinkle the herbs around your sacred space, or if you choose edible herbs you can make tea to drink while you bathe. You can add stones and crystals to the sachet as well (just be sure they’re safe to use in water). For rituals related to dreaming, such as prophetic dreams, you can also make a dream pillow. You can have it in the bathroom and cleanse and charge it at an appropriate point in your bathing ritual. Choose a cloth in the color that corresponds and fill it with herbs and sew it shut.
Typically, I don’t physically clean my body in a magickal bath, since it’s not the intent of the ritual; I do a physical clean in the shower and then draw my magickal bath. The choice of course is yours. Do what you feel is right.
A word of caution when using essential oils in the tub. You must dilute essential oils. They can be toxic when applied directly to the skin. You should always dilute them with a carrier oil such as jojoba, grapeseed or almond oil. You must also be very careful with certain oils as they cause skin irritation even when diluted. These include clove oil and cinnamon. Research is important before adding essential oils to anything that will come into contact with your skin or mucous membranes.
Once you’ve gathered all of your ingredients, candles, stones etc. you can then write your ritual. You can add chanting, singing, humming as well. Whatever is appealing to you and will get you to connect.
Cleanse and charge all of your ingredients and tools before the ritual.
You will also need to create sacred space in your bathroom. Create sacred space by using whatever methods you normally do or that follow your specific tradition.
Strength and Health Bath on Sundays
Magickal baths for Sundays are great for strength and health. This is a good opportunity to bolster your immune system during cold and flu season, to gain strength before running a marathon or even traveling. If you’ve decided to get back into the gym after months or even years of neglect this is a great accompaniment. You can also do this bath periodically to strengthen general health. Of course this type of energy is not in any way limited to the ideas I’ve listed above; it’s just to get you started.
I will use general health here as example and you can build off of it to create one for your specific purpose.
Green is typically a colour chosen for health but if you feel another colour is more appropriate by all means use it. Other colours for health include blue, light blue, orange, pink, rose and violet.
Stones include agates, moss agate, amethyst, aquamarine, brown rocks, carnelian, jade, jasper, jet and sunstone.
Herbs and plants include eucalyptus, gardenia, geranium, rose geranium, ginger, ginseng, jasmine, juniper, lavender, lemon, myrrh, orange, pine, rose, thyme and violet. (Please note that some herbs are toxic to breathe in and/or shouldn’t be ingested. When this is the case you can use herbs to sprinkle around your sacred space or have in a bowl of the herb in the room. Research the herbs you use to be sure if they are toxic or not.)
If want to go a step further you can add numerology to your ingredients. For example, the numbers corresponding to health are 4, 6, 7, and 8. You could choose to add four pinches of an herb to the bath, or four drops of oil. You could also use 4 different types of herb, or have 6 candles burning. You can mix and match with the numbers to find the right blend for your needs.
The elements at play here are water and earth. You could add a few pinches of salt to bring in the earth element or even tint the water green to blend both earth and water.
For general health your ritual could include an incantation such as:
I am strong, I am energetic
Even when my life gets hectic.
I am in balance, I am healthy
So it is and so shall it be.
Let your creativity flow when designing your magickal baths.
May you always be blessed with good health.
Many blessings,
Lady Black