Is your aura a little scrambled? Are you feeling like there’s some bad juju stuck somewhere inside of you—either because you’ve recently been hanging out with people with some pretty toxic personalities or because you thought saying yes to that after party last weekend was a good idea at the time? Don’t worry too much about it, we’ve got an eggcellent way for you to feel brand new again. Whether you’ve previously heard about the many wonders a good ol’ egg ritual can do to your soul, we’re here to let you know what the fuss is about.

Can rubbing an egg against your forehead really help or will you just look ridiculous? More importantly, can you still eat that same egg again afterwards? We looked into the benefits of an egg cleanse for you.

Before we get into the specifics of what an egg cleanse entails, it’s important you learn a bit more about where the practice is commonly used and how it can differ depending on where it’s being accomplished.

Known as ‘la limpia’ in Spanish, the practice of egg cleansing is said to derive from Mexico and Mesoamerica, although similar traditions can also be found in the cultures of Italy and the Philippines. “Practitioners differ on the details of the ritual, but the basics don’t vary; believers insist that by merely rolling an uncooked, whole egg all over your body, the egg will suck up the bad energies that plague you, cure your illnesses, and clean out your dirty, filthy chakras,” reads a VICE article on the topic.

The term ‘la limpia’ translates to “the cleanse.” This practice is a deep-rooted inheritance from our Aztec ancestors, as they believed everything in this world had a spirit. It’s still commonplace for the elder—especially in rural or mainly indigenous communities—to resort to spirits and implore their intervention to obtain good harvests, produce rain, cure illnesses or to avoid one of life’s many misfortunes.

In Mexico, all classes of society fall into these belief patterns. The wealthy, the working class, politicians, men and women of all ages—absolutely everyone resorts to or suggests a cleanse when something goes wrong. Healers and shamans practising limpias use various instruments to achieve the purification and protection of a patient. The body is traversed head to toe with herbs, flowers, stones, candles and incense, which serve as tools to connect with Mother Earth. The egg cleanse cannot be complete without the sound of drums or the snail conch, which symbolise the natural elements.

In Italy, the same practice is part of a wider term used to define a number of loosely related family-based folk traditions found throughout the country; ‘benedicaria’, which means ‘way of blessing’. “Though referred to by some as ‘folk magic’ or even as ‘witchcraft’, the various benedicaria traditions are concerned almost exclusively with healing, cleansing, spirituality, and religious devotion,” explains a Wikipedia page on the Italian tradition.

Among the more commonly known practices are the use of olive oil and/or eggs as a cure for the ‘Malocchio’ or ‘Evil Eye’, along with the use of candles, the Rosary, herbs, and Novenas in honour of the various Saints. In this exercise, the egg is washed, dried, and then covered in Holy Water while the practitioner prays over it. The egg is then rolled over the alleged victim’s body in a loosely prescribed pattern, paying special attention to any area which may feel the most pain; the egg is believed to absorb any negative energy. After doing this for fifteen minutes, the egg is broken by throwing it in the toilet and flushing the remains.

“This is very similar to a practice found in Mexican Curanderismo and Filipino Pagtatawas which has the same objective, and it is also an example of a Catholic Sacramental being combined with a possible pre-Christian practice, with the latter being subordinated to the belief-system of Catholicism,” continues the Wikipedia article.

An egg is the symbol of life in its purest and simplest form. Regular egg healers believe that eggs are energetically polarised and are therefore able to draw negatively charged energy away from the body. Some shamans report eggs becoming significantly heavier as they perform the ritual. In more extreme cases, energy fields are reported to become so heavy the egg explodes under pressure. Should this happen during your practice, just clean up the mess and start again with a new egg. No judging, but let’s be honest, you probably have a considerable amount of negative energy to extract.

In order to be effective, the egg needs to move constantly and calmly, rolling across the contours of the body. There is no right or wrong way to do an egg cleanse but always try to get the most calming output possible.

First, you’re going to take a fresh, unblemished egg and wash it in some salty water and lemon juice. If you’re religious, you can even say a few prayers while holding it, but according to VICE, “many practitioners don’t get religious about the ritual at all.”

Then, you’re going to slowly roll that same egg all over your body like a purifying jade roller. It is also advised to hold the egg in your dominant hand and concentrate on any areas of specific pain. It might not hurt to “ask a Spirit to make the egg into a vessel which will vacuum off any discordant or negative energy you might be holding at the time” as Shamanic Readings suggests.

Although we won’t be the ones guaranteeing you miracles, some claim egg healings have previously cured fevers and made asthma fully disappear. Others say the feeling is just generally pleasurable. In either event, expect some good vibes. After the cleanse, you have two options: either crack the egg open into a bowl of water, let it settle, and then read the egg as if it were tea leaves or dispose of it by breaking it in the toilet and flushing it. Then dump a cup of salt and lemon juice down the toilet, just in case.

If you do decide to have a peek at what’s inside your cracked open egg, get ready to be surprised. Several people have reported that their egg revealed a black yolk. Others have found it contained strange red dots. Spooky…