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Welcome.
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We we do part truth.
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Truth, What's going on Paratruthers. Welcome to a brand new
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episode of Paratruth Reborn. My name is Justin and I'm Eric,
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and we are so happy to be back with you again.
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Spooky season is technically over, but for us, the spooky
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season never ends. Today we are talking to Shonda Parkinson
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about her book, The Book of Ritual Baths. Make sure
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I get that tight.
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Right, be right there if you're watching YouTube.
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Shanda utilizes her spirit gifts, tarot and astrology to support
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others through transition in life with clarity and deep compassion.
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Author of the award winning Meditations for Psychic Development Practical
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Exercise to Awaken your Sixth Sense, Shonda's fiercely committed to
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mentoring others in the discovery of their own spiritual gifts. Shanda,
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Welcome to Paratruth Reborn And how's it going.
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It's going great. It's so happy to be here and
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talk to you guys this evening.
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Yeah, it's going to be an interesting one because I
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mentioned last week that I use bath as a meditation,
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just assault bath now. So it was interesting to see
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a book written by some for something like that. But
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what got you into writing this book? What got you
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started with it?
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Yeah, Well, besides the topic being super duper personal, I've
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like developed a really cool relationship with my publisher and
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my acquisitions editor, who you know occasionally will spit b
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all ideas and when I'm in between projects, you know,
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talk about what, you know, what their readers are interested in,
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what is like really popular right now, but also what
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kind of merges with my own practices and passions and this.
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You know, the book of ritual bass. Ritual bass isn't
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something that I you know, I practice professionally. It's a
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very personal process. But I was intrigued by the project
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because it was going to give me the opportunity to
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actually interview other professionals in the field, do some exploration,
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travel around and try out some things, and actually kind
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of gather the research for this book. So it was
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a very different entry point for the book, and I
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I got super excited about it. I birthed twice in
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a tub, and I think that that is an incredibly
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sacred process and a very ritualistic process. And so, like
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I said, I have very personal relationship with ritual ritual bath,
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which I learned talking to people about it. Lots of
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people have a personal relationship with that as well, and
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it means different things to different people.
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So yeah, well, you know one thing that I felt
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really fascinating about this now, mind you, Like Justin and
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I have been kind of in this this field for
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roughly twenty plus years, and it was only two years
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ago that a friend of mine, a reiki master, who
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actually introduced me to the idea of ritualistic bathing primarily
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to cleanse the day away, you know, and reset. And
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I was like, how come I never even thought about that,
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let alone learn about it, you know, so it was
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like kind of new to me. So of course, yeah,
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reading through this book, was really fascinated just to lend
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the various aspects of what is potentially possible when it
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comes to ritualistic cleansing and bathing. But now you had
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mentioned here a couple of times about your personal journey
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and how it personally or how it's personal to you,
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But what specifically, how specifically I guess, does it relate
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to your personal spiritual journey and like, how did it
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all begin for you and what led you on this
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kind of augment path to aside from just writing the book,
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but just to learn and grow in the idea of
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ritual paths.
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Well, I hit a similar experience to you on Novetor's
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back where I was actually in counseling for anxiety and
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my counselor suggested that I consider including some type of
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soothing bath practice and pointed me in some different direct
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and so initially it was an exploration around like how
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to balance my nervous system. So then I suddenly suddenly
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sparked this idea like, oh my gosh, they're hugely uh
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physical impacts you know to ritual bath that that I
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didn't even realize existed when I started to dive into
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the science of it. And so that was actually my
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entry point and then it just blossomed from there. I'm
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also a practicing which and so I started to play
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with this idea, like I wonder how ritual bath could
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actually be shaped sort of like the cauldron of your intentions,
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you know, when you go into a sacred space like that.
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And I started to play with it, and it was
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pretty mind blowing, like what was happening and and help
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phenomenal The experiences were becoming, I mean, accessing the supernatural,
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you know, having experiences of like inner visions, you know,
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having a spiritual guide come and connect with me, you know,
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I mean it was it was pretty wild and so yeah,
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this was definitely a good a good topic and a
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good kit for me.
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Awesome.
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Well, now, why do you think water specifically has such
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a deep spiritual significance across cultures.
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I think it does because it is so ancient and
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it's so universal. You know, we all have access to
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it in some way, shape or form. We depend on
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it for life. Our bodies are made up of water,
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and so the yeah, definite connections, ethno religious connections across cultures.
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It has held a deep spiritual significance. It's ancient. Uh,
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goes all the way back to the Hammams in the
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Islam religion. It it goes all the way through to
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Judaism with a mikvah. It is.
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Uh.
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People have met communally in bathing spaces because that's how
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they cleanse themselves and then they would join together in
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some type of a sacred practice. So it is water
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is seen has been seen as a purification. You know,
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it's it's deeply ancient. And then also we have the
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nods to pagan practices to water priests and priestesses who
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guard and protect our waterways. I mean, it's it holds
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such a phenomenal significance that isn't just linked to one
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particular like we can't really find the origin of it.
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It is so vast and so deep across.
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So yeah, you know, one thing that I find really
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interesting about water too. Obviously, it is not just the
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fact it's a life source and like every living creature
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craves it and needs it to survive. But what I
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find really fascinating also is the emotional impact that water
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tends to have on people. And speaking both from stories
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I've heard, but even from my own personal experience. You know,
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when I'm taking a shower, especially or a bath, but
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typically I don't do that, but usually a shower, you know,
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it kind of releases emotions that I don't expect to
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be released, you know, And I'm very strong headed. I'm
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one of those who don't handle emotions well. I tend
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to keep them buried and push down, you know, not healthy.
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Everybody who's listening, seek therapy, here's something I need to do.
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But you know, when I step into a shower, it's
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like all of those things that have been pushing down
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is just I can't. It's just the water pulls it
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out and leases it, which I think is just you know,
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it's just it's so much deeper than just the fact
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that it's living. Well, you know, this is something that
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hits us in a much deeper, spiritual, more emotional way. Also,
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you know, I mean we even have like the idea
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of water. We use it kind of metaphorically. We talk
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about how emotions or pain things like that come in waves,
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and water is something that typically you know, forms waves.
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So it's just really really interesting to me that it's
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as broad as it is in terms of just what
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it's capable of. Now, one thing I do want to
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ask though, because the book does say ritual baths, and
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so what I want to know is what really makes
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a bath a ritual versus just simply relax and relaxing soak.
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Yeah, that's a good question. So the moment you step
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into a space, and I'm speaking specifically from like my
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practice as a witch, you know, the moment I step
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into a space, no matter where I am. If I'm
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in my room, if I'm in my kitchen, if I'm
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at my hearth, I if I'm outside in nature. The
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moment you step into a space with a particular energy,
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a set energy where your head and your heart are
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connected and for an intention of some type of release
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or manifestation or promoting an energy of some kind and
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drawing it to yourself, that's the moment it becomes a
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sacred space. And so whether you are someone who has
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a bathronot and you know, I would like to talk
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about like the fact that you don't need to have
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a tub, you don't have to own a tub. Maybe
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you're just a shower guy, you know, or maybe you
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have some way that you can basin bathe or focus
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on other bathing practices that don't require a tub. But
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the moment you step in to that space, you are
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activating that sacred space and grounding yourself in it. And
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the even even the steps that in processes that you
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go to to gather your tools and clear the space
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and prepare yourself mentally and spiritually to get into a bath,
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you are already beginning the ritual process. So it turns
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it transforms it from just like a routine part of
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your life to something that is very sacred and and
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it's simple, but it's very powerful.
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Yeah, Now, I'm sure everybody's going to ask this question,
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how can you know somebody get started incorporating ritual stick
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baths into their daily or even weekly lives.
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I feel like simple as best, and I really can't
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start usless enough, and it's stressed a lot in the
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book as well. To start small and expand outward. So
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if your thing is herbs, start with one. You know,
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pick something that's super relaxing that makes you feel happy
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when you take it out of the big and hold
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it in your hand and smell it. It relaxes you,
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it calms you. Start with one. Start with an herb.
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If you like to have candles in your bathroom and
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in your bathritual because you really connect with the element
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of fire, choose a candle color that really fires you up,
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lights you, that makes you feel happy. Yellow or a
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red or a pink candle burning can do a lot
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for a ritual bath. Also, prepare your space like you
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mean it. You know what I mean, Like, like, we
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know what a lot of bathrooms look like. Okay, maybe
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not everybody's bathroom looks like my bathroom, but you know
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I have four people let live in my house, and
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so I need to go in there periodically and like, Okay, yeah,
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I'm going to clear and cleanse the space. I'm going
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to declutter the space, like I'm really preparing the space.
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So it's just really about preparation. It's about choosing one
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or two things that really light you up. If you're
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a crystals person, you're just starting to dabble on crystals,
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get yourself a clear quartz that you can drop in
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the water safely. You know, just start start simple, Start simple.
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Get something a basket or a container to kind of
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hold everything in so that you have a place you
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can tuck it away and it's easy to bring out.
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I think that's sometimes in practice as a ritual practices.
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I think sometimes people get really overwhelmed, Like if I
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don't figure out this big thing, you know, with all
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the tools and the bells and the whistles, and I
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need to go and order all these herbs and salts
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and fancy things, you'd need nothing fancy to make this
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an effective part of your spiritual practice. So start really basic,
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Start simple. I feel like I want to encourage salts.
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For most people. Sometimes it's some type of salts, because
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salts in itself is also extremely purifying as a substance,
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and it also browns the energy. So like let's say
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you're going into your bath with maybe some grief or
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some emotion, or you've just dealt with a breakup or
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your you know, you want to bring in some protection.
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Going in with some salts in your bath, to me
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serves a dual purpose. One, it's going to absolutely ground
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the energy that you're bringing into that practice, in that craft,
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in that sacred space. And also it's going to further
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help you kind of detox and kind of help remove
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or help release energy from your aura. And so that's
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those those are really basic things. Do not overdo it.
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It's not necessary.
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Yeah, okay, yeah, I remember my friend when she told
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me about it her she said the same thing. Keep
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it simple, she Get yourself a bar of charcoal soap
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and start there.
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All right. Let's see, charcoal soap is wonderful to work with.
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It's super super purifying. Yeah, that's great. You just feel
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it can feel a lot lighter. Also, like dead dead
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sea mineral salts. I also like feel because that ties
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in a little bit of the physical benefits as well.
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Like if you get a dead sea mineral salt, that's
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going to also infuse your body and put really good
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stuff because you're because the organ is your skin. And
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so if the dead sea minerals are actually infusing your
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skin with all kinds of really good minerals, that's also