la limpia

Last night a curandera and two of her cohorts came to my house to do a limpia. I know my roommate must of thought that I was nuts, but what are you gonna do? The house needed some help, even though I don't plan on staying there much longer, and, well, so did I.

When it comes to faith, when it comes to believing, I've become, let's just say, not that picky. Whatever works, or even, whatever might work, is sorta my new mantra. I think, once I gave in to yoga, it was pretty much downhill from there. So a limpia. Why not?

They came with bundles under their arms, flowers, incense and more. They convened in my living room and wandered throughout the house in hushed tones. They laid out bright fabrics, burned some copal, and began lighting candles.

First, we prayed to the four directions, sage burning the entire time, feathers dusting the smoky air with it's heavy scent. Then we walked throughout the house as they discussed where the energy was blocked, a bit about what I should do to keep it flowing, and then the real cleaning began.

One by one we brushed burning sage, sprinkled rosewater, and dropped petals into every corner, door frame and window sill of the house. We murmured blessings, or, at the very least, wishes for what we hoped to accomplish with this cleansing. We did the backyard and the porch, the closets and the bathroom, nothing was left untouched by our presence.

After two and a half hours, we were done. They recommended I get back into the garden and work with the plants. They suggested I keep the bowls filled with rosewater, the votives in each room, the petals and stones left at every entrance for 7 days. They told me to bury anything left after that time. And I received back my home, smelling of sweet smoke and rose petals.