What Native people say about the use of sage: you can use sage, but you cannot smudge as nothing you are doing (waving sage around) is actually smudging. Smudging is a ceremony and you are, we promise, not smudging. Please buy sage from either us, or someone who sources the sage from us. White sage may not be considered endangered by the US government but corperate sourcing is making it difficult for us to source sage for our own religious purposes. Let alone to sell it.
What white people hear: never use sage ever, don’t ever buy it, don’t own it, don’t even look at it.
Look, y’all. There’s a couple of facets to my talk today.
1) Yes! You can buy sage! You really, truly can! Buy it from either native sellers (go to a powwow! Eat our food, buy our stuff, watch some dancing!) Or buy it from a seller who sources the sage from native people. Pick one. And no, buying it from 5 Below doesn’t count.
2) you CANNOT smudge. This isn’t just you “shouldn’t”— this is a YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF SMUDGING. Waving a sage stick around your doorways IS NOT SMUDGING. It is smoke clensing. Smudging, depending on the tradition and tribe, could easily have dancing and drums involved. You, as a white person, do not have the cultural BACKGROUND to even know how it works. At all. Period.
3) please, for FUCKS SAKE, stop making posts here on tumblr where you tell other white people about cultural appropriation and what they can and cannot do. Please stop, your license has been revoked because none of you bother to get the facts right. We native people are FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING IT OURSELVES. Consider instead: a) reblogging our posts where we talk about it! We’re here! We have made posts!! b) Making a post that states what we said and then LINKS BACK TO US. Screenshot with a link if you must. Stop centering your own voices in these conversations. You are already centered in everything, stop centering yourselves in a native space.
The past few years have certainly left many folks with the desire to rid their homes of negative energy. Smudging, or saging, has become a trendy wellness practice that folks use to cleanse their living spaces. But if you tend to poke around smudging social media circles, you’ve probably heard people ask, “is sage burning cultural appropriation?” If you’re not Indigenous and therefore hesitating to strike a match to cleanse the bad vibes out of your apartment, here’s what you need to know about burning sage.
What Is Smudging?
Smudging is an important ceremonial purifying ritual in many North American Indigenous cultures. The practice has a long and rich history that extends way before white witchy practices brought it onto Instagram feeds near you. Before smudging was popularized, it was illegal — at least, for Indigenous folks. “It was illegal for Natives to practice their religion until 1978 in the U.S., and many were jailed and killed just for keeping our ways alive, including my great-great grandfather,” Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, tells Bustle. Smudging was part of those banned religious practices. Today, Native people are still fighting to be able to perform these ceremonies in hospitals. Smudging, therefore, is not to be taken lightly.
Because of all that history, when non-Native people burn white sage to “smudge” their homes or other spaces, it minimizes the cultural importance of this ritual. Instead, advocates say non-Native people can learn to cleanse their spaces in ways that are culturally and ecologically sensitive.
Is Burning White Sage Bad?
Thanks to the recent trendiness of smudging, white sage (which is used in these rituals) is in high demand. The demand has become so great that many Chumash people (of what is now Southern California) are concerned that the plant is being overharvested. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says that white sage has important medical benefits — it is used to cure colds and aid postpartum healing — and it’s a crucial part of the surrounding ecosystem. But some brands continue to sell white sage, despite Native communities speaking out against it. “It’s exploitative and amounts to silencing Native voices and erasing our cultural heritage,” Hopkins says.
For Hopkins, the appropriation of white sage is made worse because the plant is often not being harvested correctly. “When using medicinal plants, it’s important that the plant is used sustainably. When we pick sage, we always leave the root and say a prayer of thanks for our harvest. This is as much a part of smudging (or saging) as burning the plant is,” Hopkins says. In other words, it’s important to leave the root, because that’s how the plant grows back. If someone is harvesting white sage and doesn’t know to leave the root, they’re preventing more plants from growing.
If you’re browsing your fave place to buy herbs and look at the options for smoke cleansing next to white sage, you might find Palo Santo (“holy wood” in Spanish). But you might want to hold off on buying the next available thing. Palo Santo sticks have been getting more popular as an alternative to sage, but buying this Central and South American tree used by Amazonian tribes can also be harmful, in similar ways to sage. Palo Santo has been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) list, because though the tree is not yet nearing extinction, its overharvesting can put it on that path.
Smoke Cleansing Versus Smudging
If you have used herbs to cleanse your space in the past and enjoy the ritual, you don’t have to give it up in order to so in a culturally conscious way. Smudging refers to a specific healing cultural spiritual practice, but smoke cleansing offers an alternative to smudging for folks who aren’t Native. This form of cleansing can look a bit like smudging, but it’s just the simple act of burning herbs, wood, incense, or other safe-to-burn materials that possess unique cleansing properties. The smoke is then waved over the area you want to cleanse. Some cultures may have spiritual practices connected to smoke cleansing, but the act of smoke cleansing is not inherently spiritual or specific to a certain culture, the way smudging is.
If burning incense, herbs, or wood is part of your self-love practice, there are safe-burning alternatives to sage for smoke cleansing, including lavender, pine, and cloves. It’s important, however, that in the process of cleansing, you’re respecting Indigenous cultures and the ecosystem. That may include educating yourself and others about white sage, appropriation, and smoke cleansing; harvesting your own sage or other herbs sustainably; contacting brands to ask them to stop selling white sage without giving due to Native cultures; or using other plants entirely. Being intentional about how you implement this practice in your life — and being mindful about its origins and significance — is helpful for everyone.
White sage is a closed and SACRED medicine that is not to be bought or sold. You never want to purchase a sacred medicine because the plant absorbs the energies of the person gathering; if the person is profiting off that sage you never know if their intentions are truly good. Do not buy white sage
My white sage is loving this weather… growing nicely but I think I might buy a few more white sage plants just in case … can never have enough white sage
White sage growing… why buy it when you can grow it
Moping your floors (or cleaning with) pine needle infused water will cleanse a space of negative energy.
After working with crystals for dream work it’s good to take a break and let your dreams breath.
When trying to meditate, you are not actually doing anything wrong by being unable to “clear your mind.” The goal is not actually to have a blank mind, but an open and receptive one. If a thought pops in suddenly, acknowledge it, dismiss it, and move on. It doesn’t mean you’re not focused or doing it wrong.
Hydrangeas are moderately toxic if eaten.
Electronic library. Download books free. Finding books This website has a lot of witchy books you can download for free!!
Holey Stones, any stone with a hole in it, are thought to gaurd against malicious fae and protection in general.
Palo Santo and White Sage because they are being grown on stolen land. For cleansing, you can use: cedar, juniper, lavender, rosemary, lemongrass, cinnamon, or eucalyptus.
If you don’t have a bath tube for ritual baths, do a foot bath instead.
My white sage is loving this weather… growing nicely but I think I might buy a few more white sage plants just in case … can never have enough white sage
My white sage is loving this weather… growing nicely but I think I might buy a few more white sage plants just in case … can never have enough white sage
