For years I struggled with keeping my house swept until la tlazoteotl, fuerza regenerativa, taught me the spiritual power of the broom. It is one of the most basic limpias that we do. I vaguely recall my grand mother's broom, a short one she kept just for limpias on la gente. I still run to sweep the house minutes before midnight on New Year?s Eve, to sweep out the old year and make way for the new.

La escoba and ritual sweeping are recorded in the ancient picture books of Mexico. Tlazolteotl is often depicted with escobas and bundles of herbs. The daily sweeping so common among our elders and Mexican women is a legacy of the ritual sweeping our ancient abuelas did as part of their sacred responsibilities for healing and purification rites. Our ancestors knew we must cleanse matter and spirit for both to be clean. Tlazolteotl, which the Spaniards translated as the ?goddessÓ of filth and sex, is in fact a feminine healing energy of the Earth associated with regeneration, fertility, the partera and the temazkalli, the sweatbath tradition of indigenous Mexico. With her weaving symbols, she is the Spider Woman of Mesoamerica. Y la escoba is one of her instruments. Our ancestors were scientists who did not believe in ?gods,Ó but rather energetic functions, the way we understand gales and other forces of nature.

Cleaning our house is not only sanitary but a spiritual act because we clean out emotions and the energy of the days gathered in dust and dirt. My abuelas taught me to clean on Fridays (some say because it was an odd day and therefore potentially unlucky or because it was a powerful day for healing) and then smudge my house with copal or sage, romero or cedar. Before there was Pinesol, nuestras abuelas would put flowers in the pale and rinse the house with agua florida - our form of aromatherapy. I like lavanda or agua d limon, especially on the day of a full moon, when things come into completion. La abuela Celia says to smudge everyday and pray to live in a good way. ?And buy yourself a broom.

All these things from the natural world help us to cleanse and regenerate and are also diagnostic tools for determining imbalances of body, mind, spirit. Do limpias for new beginnings, such as a new job or for when things have ended, or in times of distress. We have done limpias for torture survivors and given the White House grounds a limpia de flores. There are hundreds of ways to do limpias, all based on our relationship to the four elements of life and the hot/cold principals of Mexican indigenous medicine. For instance, to cool a ?hotÓ condition, such as a rash, warrants cooling elements, such as cold-natured herbs and water.

Another basic limpia we do everyday is to take a shower or bath. Ba?os espirituales also are powerful ways to cleanse our spiritual, emotional and physical bodies of stress and other elements attached to our energy field. Ba?os are made like teas and then poured over us as we pray, following our showers or bath or added to bath water. Herbs can clean our spirit and body and many herbs drunk for stress or calming can be used as a ba?o. It is best to use the herbs that grow around us or that we have relationship with - like ones our abuelas used. A basic herbal bath includes a couple of handfuls of romero, albacar and a pu?ada of ruda. They should be boiled in a non-metal pot, (and can be strained) and kept covered to contain vapors until you are ready to pour. After your regular shower or bath, pour the liquid over you and pray que las santas plantas cleanse you deeply, pray to release stress and any mitotes you have with others. Helga Garcia-Garza of Calpulli Tlapalcalli in San Benito, Texas, who organizes an encuentro de medicina every year, suggests this ba?o fuerte, using the three plantas maestras. Prepare as above, except do not strain. With your legs in a V, take the herbs and rub them from below your stomach up, breathing deeply to release spiritual crud. Do for three consecutive days.

Such is the poder of a bath and a broom, the power of el ba?o y la escoba.

(C) Column of the Americas 2006