Cleansing the sanctuaries of negative energy after dark retreat participants

One of the questions we get asked now and then is:

“Do you cleanse the sanctuaries of negative energy after each participant?”

Where does negative energy come from?

According to the terminology of various spiritual courses and esoteric teachings, negative energy is energy that harms us, that causes us something we don’t want.

To prevent this from happening, we have introduced the following procedures after every dark retreat participant:

1. We air the place thoroughly, summer and winter alike
2. We light 7 incense sticks one after another to burn away negative energy and bring in love and harmony
3. We air the place for 7 minutes
4. We place a handmade beeswax candle on the floor at the exact geometric centre for 77 minutes to burn away the last traces of negative energy
5. We air the place for 7 minutes
6. Using water infused with elder bark and lime blossom, we wipe the entire floor with our right hand in clockwise circles for at least 14 minutes
7. On the front door we hang a freshly woven wreath of either elder twigs or spruce branches, depending on the season
8. If the previous participant was of the opposite sex to the one arriving, we place 7 plantain leaves in the toilet for 49 minutes (we have dried ones for winter too)
9. With our hands joined, we walk round the whole sanctuary 7 times clockwise, and our children walk round it 7 times anticlockwise
10. Once every 7 weeks we have arranged for 7 maidens from the local school to come, whose presence in the sanctuaries for 7 minutes (in each one) dissolves the very last traces of negative energy

And now, a little more seriously 🙂

In our view there is no such thing as negative energy, just as there are no negative thoughts or negative emotions. Things are as they are, and as they are, they are perfectly fine. It is always and only the mind that distinguishes between negative (I don’t want it) and positive (I want it) energy.

Just as you don’t catch flu every time you ride a bus, nothing from the previous participant will jump across to you.

Our experience with participants is that those to whom it never occurred that the sanctuary might need cleansing show no sign whatsoever of the previous participants’ energy.

And those who do consider it don’t show any either 😉

We simply believe that everything happens out of love and that the destiny of human beings is joy and happiness.

With love, your dark retreat guides

Tomáš and Lenča