Green Bruja Discusses the Importance of Spiritual Hygiene and Sexual Energy Wellness
When it comes to sex the focus is always the physical but not enough attention is on the energy transference that also happens
Photo: Zuly Garcia Photographer and Creative Director
When it comes to sex the focus is always the physical but not enough attention is on the energy transference that also happens. Sex feels different with different people for a reason and how you feel afterward is also an indicator of where you heart and spirit are at. Brujas have in an innate ability to sense these spiritual shifts and often recommend limpias to cleanse negative energy that can affect your overall health. Green bruja, practicing intuitive medium, and palera Yvette Montoya is a first generation LA native of Mexican and Chilean descent and founder of Bratty Brujita. She often hosts Instagram Live chats revolving around brujeria, love and sex and offers readings to help get in touch with spiritual guides.
The 34-year-old, who also works as a journalist, has shared her own trials and tribulations and it’s through this openness and her spirituality that she’s intent on helping others with their self-care.
“I’m a medium so I’m a very spiritually sensitive person. This work is entirely based on my own experiences getting stuck in relationships that didn’t serve me because of what I thought my ‘feelings’ meant rather than what they actually were telling me, which was usually ‘LEAVE”, she tells HipLatina.
She shares that examining the reason why she was attracting and allowing certain situations to happen in her life led her to stop betraying herself. “Stepping up my spiritual hygiene has allowed me to step into my power and to make better choices overall because I know the thoughts and emotions that guide me are my own.”
Cleansing Your Spirit
Montoya believes strongly in the power of spiritual hygiene, the use of various techniques to physically remove and alleviate the drain of outside energies absorbed by the body. She developed a guide on sexual wellness energy protection and cleansing and is hosting a four-hour Zoom workshop on spiritual hygiene for beginners on Valentine’s Day. Her expertise has been nine years in the making, cultivated through her own trial and error and from “watching elders” and partaking in rituals and ceremonies. She compiled practices she shares in the course/workshop centered on cleansing, grounding and protection.
“Learning how to properly execute my spiritual hygiene routine has been the greatest gift in my life because before I used to isolate myself to avoid other people’s energy,” she shares.
Absorbing low vibrational energy can manifest in a variety of ways and tends to affect empaths and highly sensitive people the most. Montoya explains how “people hangovers” can happen when you’re in a large crowd or around certain people or after an altercation. Some of the ways you can feel the effects of this negative energy is headaches, neck and shoulder tightness, jaw clenching, teeth grinding, upper back pain and soreness and trouble sleeping. She also warns that you may experience these symptoms and suddenly feel attracted to someone you weren’t so into before which leads to missing red flags.
Any type of energetic shift throws us off our game and is a major barrier to achieving the balance and clarity necessary to be true to ourselves. Clouded judgment fuels our fears and influences decisions that strain our mental health and anxieties. I’m pro sex so obviously I’m not telling anyone not to have sex, but like let’s just pick people that don’t suck, yeah? Your energy is too precious and women are at most risk from sexual partners, femicide is a very real thing in the US that no one talks about.
She emphasizes that her course and workshop are specifically about consensual encounters and not about situations of sexual assault or rape. This work goes beyond just avoiding bad vibes as much as possible when it comes to sexual encounters, it’s also about protecting your physical, spiritual, and mental well-being. Montoya makes it clear that while not allowing certain people access is a great form of prevention, it’s also not the easiest or most realistic approach. She equates it an abstinence-only approach to sex so empowerment comes through education.
The Spiritual Toll of Dating
Dating and online dating in general carry risks and can get complicated but dating during a pandemic comes with its own kind of messiness. Dating apps are designed to make users feels like they have the power to select the person who sounds like they could be the perfect fit. However, Montoya is quick to point out that “we attract who we are not who we want.”
“We’re the first generation of women to have this much self determination and we still accept sub par relationships because ‘love’ and because they ‘feel good’ but bring literally nothing else to our lives.”
The end goal is to have clarity versus getting trapped by the negativity so much so that you can’t identify exactly what your gut is telling you. Distinguishing between lust, spirit guides, or a trauma response when it comes to physical attraction can make all the difference. As the saying goes, some loves are for a lifetime others a lesson – knowing how to identify the source of your attraction can better inform your choices.
The consequences of this negative energy is combatted when a person takes time to center themselves from within. Her workshop is devised with self-care and self-love in mind incorporating different techniques including limpiezas and energetic clearing sprays. Beyond the limpias, additional cleansing practices include supplemental teas, ancestral veneration, affirmations, and altars. I
Good Vibes Only
Just like with any good limpieza, the effect of this cleansing should be a sense of feeling like an emotional load has been lifted. Amid a pandemic that’s been going on for almost a year and the dating experience, maintaining your spiritual hygiene is an extension of caring for your overall health not only sexual health.
“I see them as self- care. Its important for your spiritual well-being. If you allow energetic ‘junk’ to build up, it will eventually take its toll. Limpias are a great way to cleanse, re-new and build a connection to spirit,” Christy of Bruja’s Botanica previously told HipLatina.
And while there is a focus on sex, the course and workshop are meant for anyone on a spiritual path, empaths, and those seeking growth. Montoya is among a growing group of brujas leaning on ancestral practices to work toward healing.
“We’re in an age where we’re discovering our independence in mind, body, and spirit and are willing to explore our personal power and what that means. A lot of this is tied up in our ancestry, history, and culture, because there is a resurgence of witchcraft and spirituality as a booming brand and trend,” Tatianna Morales, a Puerto Rican and black American intuitive tarot specialist, medium, and ritual practitioner based in New Orleans, Louisiana, previously told HipLatina.
After practicing spiritual hygiene you should have been able to remove unwanted energies “so that you can hear your internal voice and make choices from an authentic place.” It’s through her own work on herself that she now feels equipped to help other women take control of their spiritual energy. She says that knowing what the issue is how she’s able to find the appropriate remedy and it’s that very knowledge that she’s now sharing.
“Our biggest barrier to ourselves is often the company we keep, the boundaries we don’t enforce, and the energies we allow in our lives. I always say: you can’t grow a flower in toxic soil. It doesn’t matter how smart, or pretty, or positive the seed is if the environment will not allow for growth.”
