Sacred smoke cleansing is a practice stemming from many different cultures and traditions including Indigenous North America and South America, Celtic pagan roots, even the Roman catholics use incense. All of these practices use certain herbs, resins or wood to burn for cleansing, purifying and blessing space or individuals. When considering smudging, there is something big to be aware of, there has been much damage caused to indigenous communities as as result of mass commoditization of the industry.
For this reason, I wanted to share with you a way for you to create your own bundles of herbs local to you and your heritage / ancestry, for example, looking into ancient healing modalities and herbs used in your culture could make for beautiful sacred smoke bundles.
Creating your own bundle is surprisingly easy, and you can intuitively build it based on what you are looking to cultivate (rose for love, cultivated sage for clearing, lavender for calming etc.)
You can start by actually growing your own herbs, or buy plants that are cultivated so as not to damage the endangered wild species.
Some lovely plants for burning and clearing space include:
There are many different plants that can be used for ceremoniously cleansing, blessing and clearing your space - pick your plants with intention.
From here you'll need to allow the herbs to dry out for a few days (usually around 4 - 5) then remove any broken parts of the plant.
Cut a cotton string to about 1.5 metres in length and use that as the wrap (You can also wrap the herbs fresh, but since they will shrink, you will need to rewrap them).
Gather your materials into piles per sacred smoke stick in the approximate size your desire - make them as big or as small as you wish, perhaps even give them as gifts to dear ones who could use their healing powers.
Big Love,
Kate
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