While researching different spiritual practices, I kept coming across a common element: salt. Throughout history, the crystal has been seen as having purifying effects and is still used in rituals and spellcraft today.
Readily available and cheap, salt is scientifically proven to have certain health benefits, but its spiritual use is as ubiquitous as its place on the dining table. So, let's delve into salt and why it's so important within Eastern and Western spirituality.
Why salt is used in spiritual rituals and spells
Salt is considered an effective spiritual cleansing and purifying agent across many cultures and traditions for a few key reasons:
• Absorptive properties - Salt's chemistry allows it to effectively absorb and attach to negative energies and neutralize them. It essentially binds together impurities.
• Antibacterial qualities - Salt has natural antibacterial and antifungal properties, which allow it to cleanse physical spaces as well as spiritual auras.
• Ocean origins - Many view salt as inherently spiritually cleansing and protective due to its oceanic origins and connections to water deities in some traditions.
• Availability - Salt's abundance in nature near inland oceans, like the Mediterranean Sea or the Dead Sea, made it widely available for spiritual use.
• Disinfecting abilities - Salt's drying and pH balancing properties enable it to remove toxic energies and refresh spiritual spaces.
• Grounding qualities - As an element derived from earth, salt keeps spiritual work and rituals grounded and stabilized in material reality.
So both physical and symbolic cleansing attributes have led to salt becoming universally used for purifying and warding off malignant forces across cultures and throughout history.
Spiritual salt use throughout history
Salt has been used for spiritual cleansing and purification throughout history in many cultural and religious traditions:
• In ancient Egypt, salt was used to ritually cleanse temples and also as part of mummification to purify the body.
• Ancient Shinto traditions used salt to purify shrine spaces. Sumo wrestlers also ritually purified their bodies with salt before matches.
• In ancient Greece, salt water was used to cleanse sacred spaces and implements in temples devoted to gods like Apollo and Hecate.
• The Bible references purifying waters containing salt used for ritual cleansing of newborns, priests, and spaces.
• Native American traditions involved throwing cornmeal and salt to absorb negative energies haunting places.
• Medieval Christian exorcism rituals used holy water containing salt and other elements to purge evil spirits.
• Witches during the Renaissance and Salem eras used "hag-stones" containing salt for protection.
• Voodoo and Santeria incorporate salt in rituals to remove curses and bad luck.
So across continents and faiths worldwide, salt's innate cleansing properties have been harnessed through history to dispel impurities and restore spiritual purity.
Scientific benefits to using salt
While most studies focused on the benefits of consuming salt, I was able to find a few on the benefits of salt use outside the body:
Per a 2020 study (1), mouth rinsing with salt water solution was shown to speed soft tissue injury healing compared to plain water.
Salt is shown to have antibacterial and antimicrobial properties in studies, especially unprocessed salt without additives (2).
How salt is used within the Shinto tradition
Salt has been used in various spiritual purification rituals and practices in Shinto tradition:
• Salt is used to ritually cleanse the hands and mouth before approaching some Shinto shrines as an act of preparing oneself to enter sacred space.
• Sumo wrestlers rub salt on their bodies or rinse their mouths with salt water as part of ritual purification before matches.
• Salt is thrown on temple floors before ceremonies for cleansing and protection from evil influences entering the space.
• Scattering salt can be part of rituals to purify a new home or dwelling before inhabitation.
• Certain Shinto sects practice saltwater misogi rituals of standing under waterfalls or immersion in the sea to cleanse impurities.
• In folk Shinto, salt may be sprinkled around the outside perimeter of a home or temple to form a protective barrier against harm.
• Salt is used to demarcate sacred ceremonial spaces and shimenawa rope used to mark purified areas may be twisted with paper and salt.
• Salt assists magical purification rituals and exorcisms performed by canny women and blind female shamans called itako.
Salt has strong associations with ritual cleansing of physical spaces, objects, and people within Japanese Shinto traditions.
Resources
Qashqary, Khaled et al. “Effect of Salt Mouth Rinsing on Wound Healing After Periodontal Flap Surgery: A Randomized Double-Blind Clinical Trial.” Journal of periodontology vol. 91,5 (2020): 549-559.
Katz, Jonathan D., Ramkrishna Lal. “Salt-Activated Antimicrobial Peptides from Human Saliva.” Molecular Oral Microbiology vol. 34,3 (2019): 116-130.
Rhoades, Jonathan, Rebecca Bell. “Antimicrobial Actions of Degraded and Native Chitosan against Spoilage Organisms in Laboratory Media and Foods.” Applied and environmental microbiology vol. 75,1 (2009): 286-9.
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