Home Is Where the High Is: A Cannabis Cleansing Ritual for the New Year

Hi baddie,

Happy Honda-days! 🎄 How are you holding up this holiday season?

I’ve been surviving! Since quitting my shitty AI-pushing job and reaching the end of my temp job, I’ve been applying for work, smoking, and (hold your applause) crafting. What if a witch just wants to exist without selling her soul to the corporate devil?

To fill the void of progression that I’d normally feel from a consistent client or W-2 employment, I’ve been conjuring all sorts of little projects for myself. I’ve been bedazzling a thrifted velvet skirt to skirt around buying a new holiday outfit, upcycling trash into a trinket shelf, and casting abundance spells for small businesses that I’ve developed secret parasocial relationships with. 

Weed’s been my friend, unlike my collegiate history with the herb. Mindfulness has been my focus for this year and it’s bled into every area of my life including my indulgence in the “Devil’s Lettuce”. 

My favorite ritual for processing everything I’m feeling as an unemployed 30-year-old? Weed, cleaning, and cleansing. Saturdays in particular are great days to do this as they’re ruled by Saturn, the planet of responsibility.

I’ve been digging into Japanese Shinto as of late, as I’ve been missing my bachan (grandmother) and once again, want to embrace mindfulness. Within Shinto, there’s the belief that we’re all innately good but can develop spiritual/energetic “gunk,” called kegare or tsumi depending on the creation of it. 

Extending this idea from our own physical and energetic bodies, I believe our homes can be vessels for lingering icky energy as well. So a mindful cleanse is a perfect way to prepare our homes for the new year!

I’ve been starting my ritual with an incense that makes me feel like I’m standing barefoot in the woods after a summer rain. Tbh, pick something that speaks to you personally or the energy of your home. 

To follow, I carefully roll a joint, acknowledging my frustrations in inadequately doing so and exhaling them as I thumb the paper and flower. If you’d like to join, I recommend an indica strain with higher Limonene and Linalool terpene percentages to help you melt into the energy of your home.

Then, possibly the most important part, I open a window- even if it’s just a crack in the winter.

When they came to read my bachan’s last rites they opened a window, explaining that the soul needs a way to escape and return to the universe. (So beautiful 🥹)

So again extending that mindset to our homes, as we clean, we visualize any stagnant energy and/or “bad vibes” being wiped away and sucked out the window to be properly renewed with the wind.

Even if you feel like there aren’t any “bad vibes,” it’s still great to clear space for new opportunities! Similar to doing a closet cleanout.

Admittedly, I think my favorite part is always when it comes time to finish the other half of my joint. To celebrate the midway mark of my cleansing journey, I make a cup of my favorite tea and stand by the open window to smoke. As I wait for the water to boil, I wait for thoughts. I don’t reach for them or dig around like I’m trifling through my discarded clothing in the donate box… I just wait for them to arrive. I watch them drift in with the clouds, feel them settle on my skin like a morning mist, and ingest them for steeping as I sip my tea. 

Finishing my clean, I plop down on the couch (in true Taurean fashion), open a journal, and dump everything I thought about during my ritual. Sometimes it’s a whole entry, sometimes it’s a sketch, and sometimes it’s just 2-3 words. But when I close the book and toss out the butt of my joint, I always feel a little more ready for whatever is coming next.

Anyway, I hope you’re finding pockets of personal peace this season! Lmk when you want me to read your cards or cast the charms for the new year btw! 

Hexes + O’s,
Your Baltimore basement witch penpal,

Christy 💖