House Blessing/Smudge Box DIY

 

My very good friend and old roommate Kristina bought a new place and wanted to 

cleanse her house of any odd spirits and negativity. 

She found a smudge box on Amazon for $25.93 and asked if I thought

what it offered was worth the price. 

The package includes:

• 1 natural Abalone shell
• 1 wooden display stand (to hold shell)
• 1 gray feather (states its traditional for smudging)
• 1 Kokopelli good luck key-chain
• 2 White Sage sticks
• 3 Palo Santo sticks 

Even though the smudge kit may come at a moderate price 

(especially when you think about purchasing all of these items separately it adds up!), 

Kristina preferred a more authentic kit that I could put together in New Orleans, 

known for its witchcraft, Voodoo, and Hoodoo. 

So I went shopping in my altar supply box at home and in the French Quarter.

The items I did not have on hand I searched through many stores for the best price.

I went to the usual places I frequent like Hex, Nola Rock Co.,

& The Artists Market & Bead shop all on Decatur & Barracks St. 

I found some new places like Conjure, Voodoo Authentica, & Boutique Du Vampyre. 

There are many more places that sell the necessary supplies but on this 

day I ventured to these stores:

Here are the items I made or bought in the French Quarter:

• 1 White Sage stick - $4 (Voodoo Authentica)
• 1 Palo Santo stick - $2 (Conjure)
• 1 Mystifying Mints Ouija tin - $5.43 (Reverend Zombie's House)
• 1 Selenite wand - bought for $5 which was almost a foot long so I cut it in half (very easy to do) = $2.50 (Nola Rock Co. on Royal)
• 1 black Tourmaline - rough cut $2 (Nola Rock Co. on Decatur)
• 1 clear Quartz - rough cut $2 (Royal Street Stones)
• 1 black small altar candle - $1 (previously bought in Salem 2018)
• 1 brown small altar candle - given as a gift 
• 3 white tea light candles with herbs & crystals added (on hand)
• Bay leaf sachet - bought previously on Amazon 
• Feather stick with added stones/thread - found feathers 
• Full Moon incense cone sachet - previously bought at Walmart 40ct for $2 & came with metal cone stand 
• 4 Four Corners jars - glass jars with metal screw tops bought a 12pk  for $6+ at Michaels (with a 40% coupon) 
• Rice - $0.78 1 lb at Walmart
• Sea Salt - Hain 21oz. $1.78 at Walmart  
• Dried Lavender - 5 sachets $1.90 from Wish
• Dried Sage - from my garden $3+ for the plant at Lowes 
• Black & yellow wax - from a Halloween tea light candle - 8pk probably $1 
• 1 Match book - caught during one of many Mardi Gras parades 2019
• A handful of Salem rocks from Collins Cove bay 2018 
• Red Brick dust bag - homemade from a brick found under my house
• Cardboard Day of the Dead skull shaped box - held candles, matchbook, & rocks; Dollar Tree
• Cardboard rectangle box with magnetic closing lid - held all supplies; Dollar General $2

Total: Around $22 NOT including the Four Corners jars since I made multiple sets (3).

I wrapped most of these items in tissue paper, luckily I received a wonderful deep brown 
tissue paper from one of my purchases that day & used it on most of the pieces.  

Salem rocks, a matchbook, & three white tea candles inside the skull shaped box:

• The white tea candles were placed in an old sauce pot with enough water added to not exceed the side of the candle tin & heated to boiling. 
• Once most of the wax melted I turned off the stove & let the wax cool somewhere between translucent & opaque wax. 
• Then added dried lavender, wild yellow flowers, bay leaf pieces, & clear quartz chips (same chips as the ones on the feather stick). 
• Once the wax hardened, I wrapped each in tissue paper, also hoping they won't melt when shipped.

Altar candles - each candle color has a meaning, the colors I included are black & brown & are perfect for home blessings. Light these candles while performing the Four Corners home blessing or during smudging:

• black - safety, protection, banish negativity, pride, & shape shifting
• brown - home blessing, pets, animals, stability, locating lost items

The selenite wand is used in conjunction with the black tourmaline stone for home protection:

• Selenite (white/clear): good luck, protection, removes energy blocks, & powerful intuition stone & physic awareness. It brings a very protective, yet calming and angelic energy into your home to promote a peaceful space. Selenite crystals also have the ability to quickly unblock any stagnant or stale energy, 
• Black Tourmaline: protection against negativity = repels & blocks, transforms negative energy into positive. The powerful minerals absorb electromagnetic radiation, which makes it excellent for placing near computers and other electronics. One of the most powerful and effective crystals for anxiety, you'll feel instantly calm and relaxed by holding a stone in each hand.
• When combined: Selenite greatly magnifies the energy of anything that is placed upon it - Black Tourmaline; this makes a powerhouse protection combo. They have slightly different energy frequencies. Look at Black Tourmaline as the protective shield and Selenite as the guardian angel for your home.

Bay leaf sachet & it's uses:

• For protection, good fortune, success, strength, purification, healing & psychic powers, 
• Write a question on the bay leaf, burn it in an open flame, if it crackles & burns brightly the outcome will be positive, if it refuses to burn or smokes the outcome is negative. 
• Place a leaf under your pillow to induce prophetic dreams, also place between the bottom sheet & your mattress to attract luck while sleeping & a good night's rest. 
• Place one in each corner of your home to protect all that dwell there.
• Carry in your pocket to protect yourself against black magic.

The Mystifying Mints Ouija tin: the mints inside are the shape of a planchette (ouija eye) and are quite tasty (I have a tin for myself). Once the tin is empty, use it to place the smoldering Palo Santo or Sage stick in so you'll have a free hand to use the feather stick to waft the smoke into high ceilings. Be careful the hot tin does not burn you. Maybe use a pot holder!

Smudging: 

• Smudge sticks are used in ceremonies and rituals involving smudging, a practice that involves the burning of certain herbs (white sage, desert sage, cedar, lavender, palo santo sticks, etc.) to create a cleansing smoke bath, which is then used to purify anything from people to ritual and ceremonial space, to tools and objects. Sacred to many cultures, particularly Native Americans. 
• Sage are burned in smudging ceremonies to drive out evil spirits, negative thoughts and feelings, and to keep negative entities away from areas in which ceremonies take place.
• White sage is very common, also called salvia apiana, grown in parts of Mexico & California. Can be burned as incense sticks, tied up bundles, or individual dried leaves. Sage has a very strong potent odor similar to earthy tones & mint. 
• Palo Santo: translates to "Holy wood"  best when used for deep healing and clearing energy. Its benefits include relieving the symptoms of headaches, inflammation, emotional trauma, stress, colds and much more. Palo Santo has a citrus- like scent.

The feather stick contains one seagull tail feather (found in the sand in Long Beach, MS) 

and one blue jay tail feather (found in my backyard).

*I determined the origin of each other feather here*

The blue jay feather was hot glued at the base of the seagull feather, I added a metal Rune bead to 

the base and wrapped tan thread around the shaft.

Before I finished wrapping the end I glued on pink and green threads (with added quartz crystals) 

to the shaft and then wrapped the rest of the tan thread around it, finished the end with hot glue for security. 

The labels were cut from a brown paper bag that I received while shopping.
I made a simple outline tag, added fancy font with a black ballpoint pen, & used an 
X-acto knife to cut an X to string the cord through.
Simply tied the label around each wrapped item. 

All wrapped up

I added a rolled up instruction sheet to the box with all of the items included and their purpose. 

This photo was taken before I added instructions on using the red brick dust and the brown candle.

The sheet was made out of the same brown paper bag that was used for the labels. 

Front of instruction sheet

Back of instruction sheet

Everything fit nicely in a cardboard box approximately 8"x5"
After I laid everything down I added crumpled tissue paper to fit in the empty 
spaces so the items would not move around during shipping.
Also I plan on updating this when I hear back from Kristina to see if the wax & candles 
melted by the time it arrived in Orlando from New Orleans. Hopefully the tissue paper helped!