5 Ways to Use Agua de Ruda in Your Spiritual Practices This Year

Spiritual tools are intended to amplify a ritual or practice. These may include feathers, shells, crystals, musical instruments, smoke, herbs, flowers, plants, and spiritual colognes like Agua de Florida. If you're wondering where to begin in selecting the spiritual tools that feel right to you, start with Mother Earth. She provides us with so much rich earthly medicine that can be used in spiritual practices, like the rue plant, a short-lived perennial herb with blue-green foliage and a fern-like appearance.

This powerful herb is also known as the herb of grace or by its scientific name, ruta graveolens, and can be used in spiritual rituals and practices in a variety of ways and for varying purposes. It can be used to relieve earaches and headaches, and it can be applied to the skin as an antiseptic, as an insect repellant, and for pain relief.

While rue is a beautiful plant with strongly aromatic leaves, it can be poisonous when consumed. For the spiritual practices and rituals discussed here, the herb is used in liquid form and is not consumed internally at all, but instead used externally to shift energy. For all the cat lovers out there, just a warning that your feline baby may not like the smell — so use it sparingly.

Agua de ruda is the water derived from the powerfully magical rue herb. Its origin is associated with a few geographic locations, including the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. It's also linked to the deserts of North Africa and South Asia and is credited with being introduced from the Mediterranean region and the Middle East.

This herb, like many plants, herbs, oils, spices, and other goods, made its way to the Caribbean and Latin America on the ships of colonizers, and there, it was adapted by Indigenous communities for various purposes, including spiritual work.

Agua de ruda is used for a variety of purposes in spiritual rituals and beyond. The herb has a lovely aroma and is refreshing when used as a body splash and facial toner. When added to a spray bottle, agua de ruda can be used as a room freshener to uplift and shift the energy of your space. The herb has also been used as an oil to promote healthy, radiant skin, and is excellent for hair nourishment.

It was used in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt to treat a wide variety of health conditions, including menstrual cramps and muscle spasms. It has also been used as an insect repellent and an antiparasitic agent as well as to improve eye health.

Agua de ruda can be purchased at apothecaries, herbal shops, botanicas, and spiritual shops. The spiritual cologne can also be purchased online, but it is important to use your discernment and make sure to research the seller you are buying from to gauge authenticity.