Some cleansing needs no fire and no water, only a bell, a breath of smoke, and the right words spoken into the corners. Say the Room Empty is a cleansing incantation spell for beginners, worked at dusk to lift the ordinary heaviness that gathers where people live — the flatness a room takes on after argument, illness, or too much company. It leans on sound and smoke rather than fire or water, so the stale air is given somewhere to go and the space is left swept, quiet, and answering only to you.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colours: white with light blue, for purity and the calm of clear water.
- Herbs: sage, rosemary, and hyssop, the classic smoke-cleansers.
- Crystal: selenite, clear quartz, and black tourmaline, to lift, clarify, and absorb.
- Day: Monday, the Moon’s own day.
- Planet: the Moon, ruler of tides and quiet clearing.
- Element: Water, which carries and dissolves.
- Moon phase: the waning moon, whose falling light draws things away.
For more on how these pieces fit together, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A small bell with a clear, carrying note.
- A bundle of dried cleansing herbs — sage, rosemary, or hyssop — or a stick of incense.
- A heatproof dish to catch ash and rest smouldering herbs.
- A window that opens onto the outside air.
- Optional: a piece of selenite or black tourmaline to set on the sill.
The Best Time to Cast
Cast at dusk, when the light lets go and the day’s held energy loosens with it; the threshold hour is itself a kind of clearing. For the fullest working, choose a Monday during the waning moon. Monday belongs to the Moon, which rules Water and the slow tides of cleansing, and a waning moon’s diminishing light draws stale energy outward rather than in. Dusk on such a night lends the whole rite its downward, outbound current.
The Working
- At dusk, open one window a hand’s width so the old air has an outward road.
- Light a stick of incense or a bundle of dried herbs, and let the first smoke rise straight.
- Ring a small bell once in each corner of the room, waiting for each note to fade before the next.
- Walk the edges of the room sunwise, carrying the smoke, and speak the incantation as you go.
- Pass the smoke across every threshold and along every sill, corner to corner.
- Return to the center, ring the bell a last time, and stand in the quiet until the smoke thins.
- Close the window, and let the emptied room settle around you.
The Incantation
Bell in the corner, smoke on the sill,
go where the heavy air has lain.
Sound through the flatness, sweet and shrill,
carry the staleness out again.
Nothing stays that was not asked.
Nothing lingers that I did not keep.
Swept and hollow, the room unmasked —
mine to wake in, mine to sleep.
Variations & Substitutions
- No bell? Clap sharply in each corner, or ring a struck wine glass — any clear, sustained tone will move the air the same way.
- Sensitive to smoke? Swap the incense for a rosemary or hyssop sprig dipped in salt water and flicked into each corner; sound and water together will still do the work.
- A heavier room, after illness or a bad argument, welcomes a piece of black tourmaline set on the sill and a second sunwise pass before you close the window.
A Word on Intent
Work this cleansing only on your own space, or on a shared space with the freely given consent of those who live in it — an it harm none, do what ye will. The Rede asks that we clear away staleness without imposing our will on another; you are asking the heaviness to leave, not commanding a person to change. Speak the words as an invitation the room may answer, and the working stays honest and clean.
Related Cleansing Spells
Breathe the cleared air once, deeply, and know the room answers to you again. Return this entry to the Grimoire for more workings, or copy it into your own Book of Shadows.