Harae - Ritual Purification
The essential Shinto practice of cleansing impurities to restore spiritual harmony.
Harae is the fundamental Shinto practice of removing impurities (kegare) that accumulate through daily life, illness, death, or wrongdoing. Through various purification rites, the natural purity of the soul is restored, enabling proper communion with the kami.
Purification washes away the dust of the world, revealing the bright soul beneath.
Harae underlies all Shinto practice, emphasizing that purity is the foundation of spiritual life.
Engishiki
Written about in
- What Shinto says about starting again after a fall
Harae assumes the bright soul underneath was never destroyed, only covered over. You are not being rebuilt after a fall; you are being uncovered.