#smudgingritual

Sunday morning 🌙 Reflecting on last week and getting ready for next one ☝️ Blessed be 🦋💗☀️

posted a little information about smudging/sage alternatives for non-Native ppl on my instagram, figured i could post it here too.

White sage should not be used by people that don’t have indigenous blood. (blood quantum is different for every community, tribe, or pueblo etc for each people’s of turtle island, this is about what I know of mine personally) While I have lost my tribe and my community to colonization and oppression, yet I know a large area of where my indigenous blood comes from I know we have never gone by the white mans blood quantum and never will so it doesn’t matter if your 5% or 95% as long as you know your limits, fully embrace your indigenous ancestors and history, decolonize your mind and connect/reconnect respectfully.. I didn’t even use white sage for years cause I didn’t feel connected enough, when I see non indigenous people using white sage it irks me because not only is it disrespectful to most tribes and peoples of turtle island, but because you are also doing the opposite of what your using it for.. using it for protection when you are bringing bad luck and bad spirits into your heart and into your homes, and you may not even notice it, using white sage is almost a privilege and it has to be earned for many indigenous people, and it also hurts those that have grown up connected, those that were outlawed and banned from using our own sacred materials by the white man for years and years only to now be traumatized while non indigenous people freely use what was once ours and what they fought so hard for, it’s another thing taken, most of white sage harvested is harvested by white people or non indigenous people and goes to non indigenous people, white sage is dying, it’s an endangered sacred medicine and sacred plant, and with non indigenous people buying all of it up and harvesting it how it’s been harvested for so many years to appear to the commercial consumers by the time indigenous people that have finally earned the privilege of using white sage, there may not even be any left.. white sage is truly sacred, and for years it’s been being used as a product to get the white mans paper (money) which was a product of colonization and oppression with no real respect towards its actual sacredness.

If you refuse to stop using white sage as a non indigenous person, the least you can do is be ethical and get it from an indigenous person, it’s even better if an indigenous person were to gift you the white sage without you knowing, or perhaps do your cleansing for you if they are willing. Be mindful of how you get it, where it came from, how it was grown and harvested, and the energies that went into collecting it.

If you have white sage and want to get rid of it always give it to an indigenous person or tribe or any sort of indigenous community, if you can’t then you can bury it and say your thanks to Mother Earth.

White sage is a closed sacred plant, and to name any air cleansing you do as any sort of “smudging” is huge disrespect, some may tell you it is, some may tell you it isn’t, that’s because of how many different communities there are of turtle island people and what we all individually believe, whether people tell you it’s closed or not, know that “smudging” definitely is, no matter what community. You can air cleanse, and not with white sage.

I’m not saying not to use sage at all, there are lots of other sages you can use, I’m saying to be mindful that this is important to us, and when there are lots of other kinds of sages that can be used, it gets tiring, it’s even more tiring when you try to tell people and they do not listen cause they think it doesn’t apply to them

And because I’ve seen this happen too.. dragons blood sage is just white sage with dragons blood resin covering it, don’t buy it if your avoiding white sage, too many people sell dragons blood sage bundles/sticks and give the misinformation that it’s a different sage plant or that it’s okay cause it’s not white sage..

All of this goes for palo santo wood as well, palo santo wood is endangered as well, yet when non indigenous people stop using white sage I see them go straight to palo santo wood or other sacred materials. Do your research into what you use, no matter what it is

WHAT YOU CAN’T PICK AND CHOOSE (you cannot choose whether or not to incorporate these into your craft):

 smudging

 karma/chakras

 spirit animals

 voodoo/Santeria

 general cultural appropriative stuff

 stuff from closed cultures