Will burning sage to cleanse my home open up a door to the occult?
Whenever you assign a power of protection to an inanimate object, you put that thing into the realm of the occult which in turn opens the door to demon spirits even if you call that thing "holy." It is said that sage is supposed to protect against negative magick used against a person. To smudge means to burn an herb -- usually in a ceramic dish or seashell set in a base of sand -- and fan the smoke with a feather to fill the room you're in. Then, the person repeats the same procedure with every room of the house. After smudging the whole house, the windows are opened to allow the smoke and negative energy to flow out. Priests who do that, with the smoke from burning incense or sandalwood, don`t realize this is a practice from the occult , or that it brings spirits into the lives of those who are being smudged. Well, incense, sage and other herbs burned for smudging have no power to purify anything or protect us from evil. Any kind of smudging invites demons whether it is performed in the church, in the home, in a sweat lodge, or as part of a spiritistic ritual.
What does burning sage smell like?
It doesn't smell too bad, but it can be strong, based on the type of sage and the amount. A little goes a long way. As an FYI, certain types of sage can smell a bit like burning pot (at least to some people), so, factor that in if you're going to burn any sage.
How to have a good aura?
Good aura is very important. But you can't just give off good aura, it's something that comes from within. And people who are sensitive to it may shy away from you if they feel you have bad aura. At least this is what I have always believed.
Why are things getting worse after I burned sage?
Because burning sage is only an exercise in fooling yourself via the placebo effect. But as is the case with placebos, if you don't fully buy into the efficacy of the treatment, your power of suggestion isn't going to kick in. And it sounds like you're not sure what you believe in. While your spaghetti sauce might depend on herbs and spices, problems in life do not. That's a modern fairytale cooked up by New Agers and other mystics who seek to control their lives using magic. But it doesn't work beyond what can be shown via the placebo effect and confirmation bias. Sure you can find all sorts of success stories for sage, but honestly -- why would you ever believe a story you hear on the internet? If people want to believe in sage, then they'll cook up their own stories to support their faith in such things. People do this for religions, cults and quack medicine as well. So instead of relying on spices to fix problems in your life, you're going to have to instead rely on yourself to do the hard work to make things better. Thankfully, most of us have friends and family to help us along. But it's all up to you -- not spice.
Is it ok to say a christian prayer while burning sage to cleanse my house?
I didn't know if it would be against God to use sage just to cleanse the house of negative energy and then thank him for cleansing my home and what not. I didn't know if sage was used for only a specific religion.