Cleansing: what, how, why? Part 2 of 2

All right, my thoughts turn from "sin," however defined, to "cleansing" and "purification." The questions that arise now are these:

• What, precisely, is being removed, dissipated or banished? (And is "precisely" even a useful word in this context? :))
• When the cleansing takes place, how is your life changed?
• What is being restored?
• And what, if anything, does all this have to do with repentance?

Maybe it's time for some visual aids. We can at least get a grip on the first two questions:

• A Wiccan cleanses her house of ghosts (except for lilac, the herb attributions she uses are European, and long ago entered into hoodoo; ditto the use of Christian prayer. Don't let the ominous soundtrack scare you off).
• A Mayan curandera cleanses a foreign journalist of tension and wards off misfortune (no, not hoodoo at all, but very instructive. Spiritual work starts around 2:17).

More later, perhaps.