Sometimes a Little Sugar is the Cure

This topic came up on a discord server I’m on, so I thought that I’d share it more widely.

There are times when you feel icky. When you’re just down, not clinically depressed – that requires professional help – or you are just not feeling your usual self. Or maybe you’ve been through some life changes and need to re-focus and clean some of that emotional and spiritual guck off yourself.

Many folks will suggest a salt bath/scrub or smoke cleansing, but I believe that sometimes a little sugar is actually the answer. You can think of it as a bit of a honey jar on yourself.

When you want to bring in joy and fun and not just get rid of the negative ick, or maybe you want to sweeten your attitude towards something, sugar scrubs are the answer!

If you need a big cleaning – try a salt scrub followed by a sugar scrub. Bonus – sugar scrubs are good for your skin.

Here’s how you make a sugar scrub:

Ingredients

• Sugar – anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup is enough. Brown sugar is preferred, but regular white sugar works as well. The brown sugar is more “scrubby.”
• A base oil – olive, avocado, safflower, whatever works as long as it’s liquid (you’ll need the liquid coconut oil if you want to use it)
• A small amount of shampoo or liquid soap or shower gel
• Magical additions if you’d like. This is entirely optional, but if you want to include a few drops of essential oil or a small (1/4 tsp or less) of dried herbs, gather them up. You could also add a small amount of coffee grounds. Remember that this is going on your skin, so don’t add anything that is dangerous or could harm you. A good protection combination is to use dried sage, dried peppermint, and coffee grounds.

Making the scrub:

• Mix the base oil into the sugar a little at a time. Start with about a teaspoon of oil and mix it into the sugar.
• Continue adding oil until the sugar sticks together. It’ll be very thick.
• Add a small amount of the liquid soap, gel, or shampoo – about 1/2 a teaspoon of soapy stuff to a 1/2 cup of sugar. This helps to make sure that not too much of the oil stays on your skin.
• Now mix in your magical additions. As you add each one (I recommend no more than 3), think about why you’re adding it and what it’s supposed to bring. If you don’t have any additions or want to make a general-purpose scrub, don’t worry about it, they are entirely optional, and I don’t add any most of the time.

You can also make up a batch of the base and add additions as you need them.

If you’re going to use it relatively quickly, you can leave it in the bowl, but if you need to store it (even overnight), put it in an airtight container. Store on the counter or in a drawer.

To use the scrub

Put about 1/4 cup of the scrub in a bowl or cup that is not likely to break if you knock it over and place it in a convenient location for when you’re taking your shower.

Pause for a moment and think about what the scrub is intended to accomplish – scrubbing all the gunk off and bringing in joy and happiness (for example). If you work with spirits, you can ask them to bless the scrub – nor not. Please do whatever you feel you need to do with it.

Now start your shower. If you’re planning on using soap, do that before the scrub. Take a little of the scrub at a time (it will dissolve in the water) and scrub yourself. You can use it anywhere as long as you didn’t add in any dangerous oils or herbs, but remember that it IS a scrub – so be gentle with your delicate bits.

Rinse off and dry off. The scrub will leave a little oil on your skin; it’ll be absorbed quickly.

And that’s it. Simple to make and use, but it can be pretty powerful stuff.