The past year has been a rough one in terms of my personal life. So when JOAH Beauty so generously gifted me a birth chart reading (to celebrate the launch of their High Roller Legendary Volume Mascara) with Astrologer Lisa Stardust, I was so excited to see if the astros had anything to do with the seemingly dark cloud looming over my head. (Spoiler: They do.)

During my Zoom call with Lisa, she read me like a book. I knew I was an Aquarius sun, Pisces rising, and Aries moon, but Lisa explained that this essentially means I’m an innovative dreamer who fights to be heard and if my voice is stifled, well — chaos ensues. And as far as that dark cloud goes — I can thank the way Neptune is conjunct my ascendent natal combined with where the current Mars Retrograde affects my chart. But good news: she assured me come mid-January 2023 when Mars goes direct, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and come spring I’ll be thriving. 

Lisa shared that a good spiritual practice would be to cleanse my aura via a bath at some point before the new year as a way to wash away all the negativity of 2022.

“The majority of our bodies are made of water, [so] we are very mutable in the sense that we can pick up emotions and carry them with us,” she explains. “This can affect our aura because we can pick up on the aura colors, the negativity, or the vibes of people and those can become a part of us without us even knowing and put us in a bad mood."

"It’s really important to keep your energy, aura, and personal atmosphere clean all of the time. Doing a body scrub, a bath, or putting Florida Water on yourself so you can detox the energy is really important,” she continued.

A beauty treatment that will help me spiritually? Naturally I jumped at the opportunity — and it didn’t take me long to figure out the exact cleanse I wanted to do.

As a weekly self/spray tanner, getting a Korean Body Scrub had been on my radar for quite a while. The ancient treatment that dates back to the 15th century is an intense cleansing process (called “seshin”) that includes soaking the body in hot water at a Korean bathhouse (or jimjilbang) then scrubbing using a Korean Italy towel to exfoliate, smooth out dry patches, even skin tone, improve circulation, and rid the body of excess toxins, water, and waste.

So off I went to SoJo Spa Club in Edgewater, New Jersey for my Korean Body Scrub appointment to put Lisa’s theory to the test, and create a blank new canvas of skin for my impending date with the bottle of self tanner. 

I’ve been to a number of spas before, but the atmosphere at SoJo felt different than any other I’d ever been to. Customers flocked to the different amenities in (barefoot) groups with an energy that seemed more intentional than relaxing. Which made me feel even better about my own intentions of coming here. 

My first stop after the locker room was the indoor bath house to soak in the hot tub for 30 minutes before my Korean Scrub appointment to soften the skin and make the exfoliating process easier. After a half hour in the jacuzzi, I followed my massage therapist back to the scrub room where she had me lay face-up, completely naked on the massage table. The scrub started with me getting hosed off while laying on my back. Then began the 30 minutes of scrubbing.

She started at my neck and worked her way down to my feet, had me turn over, then did the same. After the first 30 minutes of my appointment, I was rinsed off with a bucket of water, cleansed with a body wash, then laid back down on the table for my 30 minute massage. 

Unlike other massage services I’ve had, I found it very easy to stop my mind from racing and focus for the duration of the appointment. I felt myself releasing negative thought patterns and emotions by picturing my self holding on to words associated with the feelings and literally letting them go. Then, welcoming in positive notions like abundance and prosperity. Prior to my appointment, I assumed I would be emotional during the process (like one can during acupuncture or reiki), but to my surprise I didn’t; instead I felt at ease as I recounted the things I wanted to release in that moment. 

At the end of the hour, my dead skin and old thought patterns had been washed away; while my new skin felt unbelievably soft and my mind at ease. Throughout the rest of the day and the next one, Lisa warned me I would feel tired as a cleanse like this was both emotionally and physically taxing — and she was right. I drank lots of water and continued focusing on moving about my days softer and more relaxed.

The long term spiritual affects still remain to be seen, but I can say pairing an intentional mental cleansing practice while getting a physically cleansing one left me feeling refreshed in a sustainable way — one that lasted long after walking out the spa doors and back into chaotic NYC life.