Everything You Need to Know About Spiritual-Cleansing Prayers

Let's face it: whether you're going through a high or low time in your life, prayer can be a key tool to use for support. You can pray and give thanks for something you want to celebrate in your life, and you can also pray for help and support during a challenging time. But prayer can also be used as a form of protection for yourself or over others. It can be used as a form of spiritual cleansing or to ward off bad vibes or mal de ojo. You can even incorporate prayer into your spiritual limpia or baño rituals. Prayer is practiced all around the world in various spiritual observances and organized religions. It may be approached differently, using specific words, instruments, asanas (movements), mudras (hand gestures), mantras (a sacred utterance or group of words), and a variety of other things that help bring us closer to a higher power guiding, protecting, and supporting us in our lives.

There's no one way to pray and, suffice to say, no wrong or right way to pray. The point is to converse and connect with the divine. To have a scared, safe space to reveal your deepest inner truths without the worry of judgment or criticism. A place to speak your surrenders, wishes, and intentions and trust they're being heard. After all, pray is a verb. It's an action. You are in communication with God, a higher power, Source, the Great Spirit, the Great Goddess, or anything you prefer. There is healing in prayer, which is why it's a vital principle of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. Prayer is even used as medicine in curanderismo, a diverse folk healing system from Latin America in which it's believed that good health is a gift from God. At the very core of prayer is one thing: faith. You must have faith that what you're speaking out into the world — and how you're doing it — is being heard and received and that healing will come.

Saying a prayer specifically for spiritual-cleansing purposes should be a clear choice of words that speak out what you need to free yourself and what needs to go for good. This could be cleansing your spirit of a past lover or toxic boss. Maybe you need to cleanse your spirit of self-doubt, self-esteem issues, or even fear. Consider closely what your spirit needs more or what the spirit of the person you're praying for needs, then pray.

Always begin with gratitude. Thank the divine for listening and for supporting your life, the lives of your loved ones, and all those around you and beyond. You can even name specific things you're grateful for, like your children, partner, close friends, career, joy, great sex, or just waking up in the morning. Then ask for what you need most in that moment. Say it. Write it, and read it out loud. Write it, and hang it somewhere so you can see it often.

The best thing is you don't have to do this alone. You can pray with a friend to spiritually cleanse you both of whatever needs to be freed. A prayer circle can also be very impactful. Imagine a group of people who have suffered sexual violence. Together, they can pray to have their spirits cleansed of that trauma so that they may heal from it. Prayer in numbers is powerful!

End your prayer with something that closes it and seals in the ritual or divine communication that took place. "Amen," "namaste," "sat nam," "han han katú," "hallelujah," and "so be it" are just some ways people seal their prayers. Find whatever works best for you and feels right.

Places of worship offer various prayers you can tailor to your own life. You can also search online for some prayer basics to get you started. But the most important thing is that the prayer is for your spiritual cleansing or focused on someone you are praying for. So while you can search for and read other prayers, the prayer you use should be specific to your personal situation. Only you and the higher power know what you need to free your spirit of, so don't be shy. Say it all. Talk, cry, laugh, scream, get down on your knees, run out in the rain, lay in the sun — whatever you need to do to feel closer to the divine you're speaking directly to when you recite your spiritual prayer.

The new moons and full moons offer us a ripe time for spiritual praying. You can craft your prayer to focus on the areas ruled by the specific zodiac sign associated with the moon. For example, the new moon in Pisces can help you tap into your intuition, so you can get clearer messages and guidance on your path. The full moon in Leo offers the opportunity to boost your confidence, so if that's an area of your life that you want to work on, a moon ritual may be just what you need. Calling in more confidence in your life means cleansing yourself or freeing yourself of self-doubt, anxiety, and fear. So, pray for that under the full moon in Leo.

There are 12 zodiac signs and new and full moons throughout the year, so there are a lot of opportunities to focus on different areas of life with each one. But you don't have to wait for the perfect moon to pray for spiritual cleansing. This can be done every day, every minute, every hour, or sporadically throughout the year.

So, whether you're a newbie to praying or a seasoned professional, give it a go, and see what it may bring into your life. We are all in need of healing.