Sacred Smudging

How it heals

Smudging has been a sacred ritual for many tribal people around the world for thousands of years.

Through the smudging ritual or ceremony we can cleanse and purify the spirtual and physical energies around us. Each and every living thing on the planet has a aura around them – an energy – be it a person, an animal, a rock, a room – they all have around them an energy field that can hold onto negative energies.

It is important to cleanse our aura and the space around us, to chase away any negativity that can interfere with our mind, our body and our spirit.

Many different herbs can be used for smudging – sage is in the tradition of the native americans, mugwort – found growing wild often in the UK, lavender, sweet grass, cedar, rosemary, catnip are just some of the herbs that are beautiful for cleansing, healing and purifying. These herbs can be dried just as leaves or stalks and burned or are often gathered together, bound with twine and left to dry – these are called smudge sticks.

How to smudge.

To smudge a person or a room, object or space with a smudge stick, light the dry smudge stick with a match. Allow the flames to burn for a moment or two. Fan out the flames with a feather, and allow the smudge stick to smoulder and create smoke.

We want to work with the smoke, not the fire. If your smudge stick is not burning well, perhaps it is a little damp or there is not enough air getting to your smudge stick. You can crush the end of your smudge stick to allow more air into to it, to encourage it to burn.

Once you have your smudge stick smouldering, continue to fan the smudge stick with the feather to allow air into it and to encourage it to continue smouldering.

If smudging a person, pay special attention to their chakra points – these are the points our body that are the most energetic. There are seven points.

I use a smudging fan, made of a few feathers and wrapped in twine.

Approach the person with your smouldering smudge stick and try to become aware of their aura. They can stand with their eyes closed, their arms streched beside their bodies with their palms open, and their legs, shoulder width apart.

You will find your own way with smudging, but I begin by standing in front of the them, fanning the smoke over the crown of their head, moving clockwise, round their body, to their feet and up towards their head again, and them moving down the centre of their body, to give attention to their chakras. I then move behind them, and follow the same pattern.

When I am finished I stand in front of them, and touch their shoulders with the feathers to allow them to know I am finished.

The fanning of the herbal smoke removes any negative energies from the person, leaving them feeling cleansed, energised and comforted by the ritual.

There is something lovely about gathering and making your own tools, but not all of us have the time or live in an area of abundant, organic herbs.

If you would like to experience smudging, we offer smudge sticks on our Esty shop, that are made with love and pure intentions and sent directly to you.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/VeeMorris

Have a beautiful day