Sage advice

After I got back to NYC from Pittsburgh I wanted to get over to the new apartment as soon as I could to give it a sage smudging, a kind of spiritual 'cleansing' of the space. It's an old American Indian technique that involves burning a stick of dried sage, usually tied with twine, and letting the smoke waft through the place you want to rid of impurities, negativity, or anything else you can think of that doesn't support you as the person who will live there.
I had never done this before but a friend of mine who is into all things spiritual (palm readings, numerology, feng shui) told me about it. She does it to every new home she lives in. You can even give yourself a smudging if you feel you've been sensing a lot of negativity in your life.

Burning the sage stick.

 Okay, okay, this all sounds a little too Shirley MacLaine I know, and I'm not one to be too much into this kind of stuff...BUT, you have to remember that the little old lady who lived in my apartment was there for over 50 years. In my mind she was an adorable, petite little woman, gray hair in a bun, sipping tea in her chintz covered easy chair reading Agatha Christie novels. But what did I know? Maybe she was an infamous axe murderer on the lam and living in seclusion all this time, sharpening that axe, thinking about her next victim.
In any event I wasn't taking any chances. Enter me, Mr. First Time Sager and Smudger.
I researched how to do it on the web. First you open all the windows. Then you light your sage stick, let it burn for a bit, then blow it out letting the embers start to smoke (it's very similar to lighting incense).

The 'cleansing' sage smoke.

You set your intention for the space walking the burning stick around the room saying to yourself something like "I'm purifying this home of all bad things and spirits, let only good come to to me and this apartment". You try to push the smoke up and around the rooms, into the corners and closets. After a bit you symbolically push some of the smoke out the windows. The bad energy is flowing out making room for the new fresh positive energy.
After you've blessed all the space you give yourself a sage "shower": you cup your hands over the smoke and "wash" your face and body with it, visualizing the negativity ooze out of your body.
It's all a little kooky, yes. But oddly comforting and emotionally satisfying. You feel like it's a fresh start. Now the renovation and construction are ready to begin.