Miasma and Cleansing

How do you define miasma?

Miasma isn’t an easy thing to define. Ask twenty people and you’ll probably get twenty different answers. For me, it’s easier to talk about miasma in terms of what it both is, and what it isn’t, rather than to straight up say “it’s this.” Miasma doesn’t have a translation. We don’t have a word for it in english. Rough translations put it at meaning “stain” or “pollution”, but those don’t convey the spiritual, religious, and social connotations of miasma. 

It’s important to note that miasma is not akin to sin. It’s not a bad thing, it’s not something you gain from doing bad things, and it’s not some kind of punishment. Miasma is a natural force, a natural occurrence, the same as sweating. 

We gain miasma from every day, mundane occurrences. We gain miasma from human activities. Birth, death, illness, work, all of these things bring on miasma. It’s a badge of our humanity. It isn’t a bad thing at all, it’s a sign that we are human. 

Miasma, in my own experiences and practices, are best described as the emotional and spiritual gunk of humanity. It’s the things that stick in our minds and weigh us down emotionally, keeping us firmly rooted in our humanity, and the mundane world around us. It’s my opinion and educated hypothesis that miasma doesn’t so much make us unworthy of the theoi, as it distracts us from their presence. My reasoning for this is as follows:

1. plenty of people report being approached by and working with the theoi with no concept of miasma and ritual cleanliness.
2. classical literature and stories rarely make mention of heroes cleansing their miasma before being visited by the theoi, while taking time to mention it in ritual settings for those same heroes at different points in their stories. 
3. different practices use traditionally miasma inducing activities, taken to an extreme, as a means of personal cleansing. As an example, look at this passage from Aristotle on the Art of Poetry, “At any rate the Dionysus ritual itself was a katharmos or katharsis–a purification of the community from the taints and poisons of the past year, the old contagion of sin and death.” [and more(all be, not much more) on Dionysian rites and katharsis here if you’re interested]

Which brings us to the next question.

How does miasma relate to your Hellenic practices?

I have a complicated relationship with miasma. On the one hand, it’s a strong symbol of my humanity. On the other hand, it distracts me from the theoi, and can make me feel more distant from them. A notable exception to that being Dionysus. Dionysus seems to embrace the humanity of his followers, rather than be dismissive of it, and if anything, I feel him stronger when I’m steeped in miasma. This is where part of my complicated relationship with veiling comes in as well, but we’ll get to that in the next section. 

Miasma, being a sign and result of my humanity, isn’t something I’m going to be completely rid of, ever. I’m not a deity, I’m not a hero, I highly doubt that I’ll ever be elevated to any sort of recognition by the theoi, and I don’t aim to be. Would I be honored? Yes. But is it my place to desire that? I don’t feel so.So, having miasma is something that just is, like the fact that I have hazel eyes. It’s not ever going to change in any permanent way.

However, removing miasma, temporarily as it is, helps me to feel closer to some of the theoi. Removal of miasma and keeping it off as much as possible is important to me for feeling close to Persephone and Amphitrite. As I’ve paid more attention to miasma lately, and cleansing, I’ve felt closer to those two. It hasn’t affected my relationship with Dionysus, and so regular cleansing is something I’m still getting in the habit of, but is a step that I’m taking in my practice. It isn’t central to my practice, but it’s in the top five things probably. The significance of miasma in my practice definitely varies with which theos I’m approaching though.

Removing miasma also helps me to move on from emotional distress. I’ve managed to prevent a panic attack once by stopping and cleansing. It pulled me away from the stress and anxiety I was feeling, pulled me away from the unhealthy excess of miasma due to my mental health, and calmed me down. Reminding myself that the theoi are there, present in my life, and making myself presentable for them has helped a lot with my anxiety. 

How do you deal with Miasma?

There are plenty of ways to deal with miasma. And I probably use all of them to varying degrees and in different situations. So let’s just analyze each one.

1. Khernips- Also known as lustral water or sacred water. Khernips are made from plunging burning herbs (usually of a cleansing variety such as rosemary) into water. Spring water and ocean water are traditional options for the water used, I suggest just making sure it’s clean and you can certainly add salt if you want since salt has cleansing connotations in our society. Anyway, you thrust the burning herbs into the water and being declared as clean and sacred. Khernips should be made fresh, or at least prepared the same day. The most common way of using khernips is to wash your hands and face, and sprinkle it around an area to remove miasma. Classically, it was used as an easy and quick way for people entering a temple to clean themselves of miasma. I’ll prepare khernips for rituals and festivals, but on a day-to-day basis it tends to amount to me washing my hands before i pour libations.
2. Barley- Barley is used as a cleansing agent in Hellenism. Items stored in barley are supposed to be protected from miasma. You can also throw barley onto your altar to cleanse it. Barley is used primarily for cleansing a space or item, rather than a person. I personally don’t use barley, as there are other ways for me to cleanse items without using food products.
3. Incense- Used for purification, rather than just scent, incense was/is popular for cleansing a space or room of miasma. I tend to use incense to cleanse my altar. When I make an offering, I’ll light incense on my altar prior to making an offering.
4. Katharsis and Katharmos- Katharmos and katharsis are ritual means of cleansing that typically involve several steps. The most basic formula for katharmos is to cleanse the person doing the cleansing with khernips, cleanse the space with barley and incense, cleanse the offerings with khernips, and then cleanse the attendees. I’ve done it this way three times in my practice, all for big rituals. As a Dionysian, I’ll be the first to tell you though, that mundane activities can be used to cleanse yourself in a deep an meaningful way. Dancing, singing, drinking, having sex until you feel cathartic from the release of emotions is a form of katharsis, and one I use frequently.
5. Veiling- Veiling is used in my practice to keep off miasma. It’s a physical reminder of the theoi, and so it keeps me focused on them, and I don’t allow myself to be as easily distracted by mundane things that induce miasma. I veil in ritual for most of the theoi, and I’ve started veiling (occasionally) outside of ritual for Persephone. I never veil for Dionysus. To me, it feels disingenuous to veil and try to keep of miasma for Dionysus. He is wild, passionate, and consuming. He loves humans, and it feels shameful to me to veil before Dionysus, like I’m trying to hide my humanity from him somehow. He does not seem to approve of me veiling when I honor him, but he doesn’t seem to mind when I veil for other theoi. So I veil for Persephone, and I don’t veil for Dionysus. Veiling serves to keep me close to Persephone and other theoi throughout the day, and it seems to (at least for me) help keep my emotions and anxiety in check.