Smudge A Little, Smudge a Lot
Updated: Dec 22, 2019
Smudging: How To's, Glory Photos, Personal Stories & Reccos
So I feel like I have a love affair with so many things in spirituality: chakra knowledge, angels, astrology, ascension, ascended masters...but there is one humble product of spirituality I sometimes forget about and that I always wonder why I forget!
White Sage. Smudging. Sacred Smoke. Holy Smoke. Saging.
Smudging goes by so many names, and, in fact, one can cleanse energy with any of a variety of cleansing herbs including essential oils, resins, sprays, and palo santo. True smudging in my opinion, though, involves smoke and fire via palo santo or sage varieties, as it invokes the element of fire, air, and earth. Throw in some holy water and you have the elemental quadruple right there!
I have had many moments with sage in all forms. I have been on a solo palo santo spree, a white sage incense spree (see link outs at bottom for some Amazon reccos), a perfect abalone shell spree (settled actually upon using a large conch shell of my own after some egregious embers falling through the holes of the abalone shell and singeing carpet in places), and, of course, a cannot-get-enough white sage spree.
Sage is really an exquisite connection to something sacred, a Native American ritual extending through time and space for many, many moons. It is purifying, clarifying, and uplifting and comes in many different varieties. You can burn it, purchase it in an essential oil and diffuse it, or add it to a spray bottle and spray the oil throughout a room (bonus points if you add an energy clearing stone like black tourmaline or tiger's eye to your spray bottle). In addition, and many don't realize this, the benefits of sage can also be achieved by consuming it: as an herb added to salads or as a tea. I have personally found a cup of sage tea to be SO purifying in times when I have really needed an energy boost the most.
In addition, sage smoke just makes for some really beautiful divination possibilities...
I mean just look at that! So cool, right? Here's a live video of some undulating sage burning and another photo below mixed with the healing rays of the sun to wet our sagealicious appetite even further..
(To sweeten the pot even further, as I look back through my sage photo shoot I just realized I have a dancing orb in the background! Angels and guides and guardians among us. So beautiful.)
Even in just posting this to my Instagram feed, so many beautiful souls saw different things in this undulating smoke. Some saw a butterfly, a mermaid, an angel, a pregnant woman. I saw a bird.
I believe we see what we need to see. I believe that even the art of witnessing the smoke of the sage bundle is an art form itself, a form of quiet stillness and meditation, to just connect again.
In addition, the vernacular and memes possible for smudge are just too funny and too playful NOT to partake in. Some of my favorites:
Smudge already!
Smudge yo'self
Sage yo'self
Get your sage ready
Sage that Sh*t
Smudge on the Run
Smudge a Go Go
Nature's Windex
The quirky inside jokes are endless! Not to mention there is a spiritual teacher I follow who even has an entire business named after the beloved herb. (And accompanying Facebook groups- which are vibrant and fun by the way!)
A few funny personal epithets:
DO consider putting your smudge bowl by a windowsill to allow its healing vibration to go out into and heal the world.
DO NOT. DO NOT. I REPEAT DO NOT. Put your smudge bowl into a freezer in an attempt to "freeze the smoke" short...I learned this the hard way :cries: accidental burn in a hole in a freezer door to speak for it.... Boyfriend: "What happened?" Me: "I thought it would stop it from smoking so much..." Boyfriend: "Have you ever been camping? Do you realize that the fire smokes because it IS cold outside?" Me: "Oh yea...I never thought of it that way.." Oops!
In addition, I have heard that sage smoke can actually REALLY purify your air- as in goodbye germs and bacteria. I stumbled across this article and really loved how they cited scientific studies informing on this little known property...
"In short, burning medicinal herbs cleared airborne bacterial populations by 94%, and the space was still found to be disinfected a day later. What’s more, a month after smudging, much of the pathogens originally found were still undetectable."
Seems like our ancestors were really onto something here, huh? :-)
I never cease to be amazed by the wisdom that exists in nature. It is constantly there to surprise and delight us all, AND to heal us all. Which reminds me - stay tuned for my Fairy Foodie Features I regularly post on my Instagram beginning to be available to you on my blog here as well!
Julie Ann Fae prides herself on being a channel to the angels and the fae, and being a conduit of divine messages of healing, love and truth in her spiritual healing and teaching work. As a Certified Angel Card Reader, Certified Fairyologist, intuitive empath, and Virgo-Libra-Libra (a.k.a. learning fanatic), she instills hope, healing, and peace through her card readings, channeled messages, and miraculous life experiences. Sessions with her include laughter, love, and literary reccos. You can contact her on Instagram @julieannfae or via email at julieannfae@gmail.com. Also, ask to sign up for her bimonthly moon report- it's free!
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