Cleansing Foot Wash
Not on the shelf right now — call and they will tell you when it lands.
What this is
A bath or floor wash. This is the step before, not instead — most practitioners clear the ground first and set the candle after.
The practice
What this tradition does with an object like this — how it is used, not a promise about what follows.
How it is used
- 1Wash normally first. A spiritual bath is not a bath — it goes on clean.
- 2Pour it over yourself from the shoulders down, in one steady movement, and let it dry on the skin rather than rinsing it off.
- 3Traditionally the used water is carried out of the house and poured away — at a crossroads if you are near one, otherwise outside and away from the door.
A waning moon, for anything you are trying to be rid of.
Working it properly
The craft under the instructions — direction, count and order. This is the part that is normally only said across a counter.
- Taken in odd numbers. One, three, seven or nine nights running is the customary count, and the run is not broken partway.
- Poured shoulders down without stopping for anything you are taking OFF; feet upward for anything you are calling toward you. The direction is the entire instruction and it is the part most people reverse.
- Dried by air, not by towel, and traditionally the clothes put on afterwards are clean ones — dressing back into what you wore is counted as putting it back on.
- The used water is caught and carried out. A crossroads if you are near one, otherwise away from your own door, and never the house drain.
What completes the working
A working is a ladder, not a single object. Each rung below says what the addition does, and shows what Yeye's Botanica carries for it.
the bath clears the ground and the candle is what is set on it afterwards
the ordinary wash that comes first — a spiritual bath goes on clean skin
a capful in the water, or on a cloth to wipe the threshold down the same night
loose herb steeped and strained is how the bath was made before it came bottled
What people get wrong
- Rinsing it off. Whatever was in it stops working the moment you wash it away.
- Pouring the water down the house drain, which the tradition counts as keeping the thing you just took off.
