Ritual Bathing - Making Magic in the Every Day World

A simple bath can be a magical transformation

One of the questions that I hear (and see online) over and over and over again is, "How do I add magic in my every day life?" As if magic requires robes and solemn ritual to be, well, magical. The short answer is, "Nothing. When done with intention, everything you do is inherently magical." But what does that mean? Well...

Take cooking, for example. We often joke and point out the fact that spell casting is akin to making soup. We read the recipe (spell), add the herbs and spices (sacred correspondences with each), we stir (widdershins or deosil depending upon intention), we taste, we season again - and probably all the while muttering to ourselves about what it might need more of, less of, and so on. A seemingly mundane and every day task (cooking) has turned into a ritual or spell with, hopefully, magical results for all who partake in the meal.

Bathing is no different, whether you choose to soak in a tub or quickly scrub in a shower. Or maybe you linger in the shower as I do, especially on cold days. The simple act of cleansing your body can turn into a daily cleansing ritual. I embrace this first by closing my eyes as the water cascades down from the shower head. I envision the heavier things that I'm carrying and see them being washed from me, leaving my body as inky rivulets, swirling down the drain. When I soap and scrub, I see the same in my minds eye.

This is similar to what I do when I'm able to get into the ocean itself for a good float - I ask the ocean to take those heavy things away and carry them to the deepest depths, and I see them streaming away in those inky rivulets, being carried far out to sea.

When doing this at home in the shower, I use our Fairyland Glade soaps, not just because they smell amazing (they do) but because there's actual sea glass in each bar. For me, it's the ocean connection in my shower that serves me well when I can't get into the water, especially in these cold months.

For a full cleansing, ritual bath, I turn to our seaweed bath soak. I add the solar dried Maine sea salt to the water (1/4 - 1/3 of the tin), and the sugar kelp to the canvas bag. The bag is then submerged in the water like a tea bag, allowing the sugar kelp to release its nutrients and antioxidants into the water. The combination of sea salt and ocean farmed seaweed leaves my skin feeling amazing, and also serves to relax and ease my sore body. I also love using the natural sea sponge we carry when I do treat myself to a bath. These are wild farmed from the cold waters in the Gulf of Maine and add yet another element of the ocean to these bath times. This combination of "ritual tools" (such as they are) creates the perfect ocean connection when I really need to release what I've been carrying, and emerge feeling truly and fully cleansed.

Some people will say it's important to ritually bathe by moon phase (especially at the new and full moon) but I believe that it's important to turn every shower and bath into a ritual and a connection to the ocean or waters that call to us. When we do, not only do we step into our day feeling clean and cleansed, it serves as a perfect reminder that there is magic in everything, all around us and that the "mundane" doesn't really exist at all. It can help us to open our eyes again and again to see the magic that's already there, and to guide us into turning all that we do into a beautiful ritual.