Smudging is a way of using plants to make beneficial smoke. It is a world-wide tradition that goes back thousands of years. Smoke is deeply symbolic – it ascends to heaven, and many cultures believe the smoke takes intention and prayers with it. It is essential in almost all Native American ceremonies. In fact, most traditional cultures, from the Zulus to the Chinese, have some form cleansing and blessing ritual involving smoke. Smoke was offered to the deities and used for meditation and ritual. Even the West retains traces of it – the incense wafting through a church or temple is cleansing the atmosphere just as surely as ancient smudge.
More practically, smoke and smudging have been used for fumigation, to preserve food, to drive off insects and to prevent disease. Among peasant cultures in Europe, smokes and smudges were used to clear parasites and bugs from domestic animals and to clear ‘bad air’. In France, rosemary and thyme were burned in hospitals as a way of keeping the air clean and preventing contagion. Research supports the use of smudging as an antiseptic.
An article published in the journal Ethnopharmacology reported a 94% reduction in the bacterial count of a room that had been smudged with medicinal herbs.
Originally, herbs and resins were burned in a fire or placed in a special bowl and allowed to smolder. Smudge sticks, bundles of dried herbs tied together with colored thread, are more portable. beautiful with the use of colorful flowers.
In our class:
- You will learn which plants to use in your smudge to address particular needs.
- We’ll make three different kinds of smudge sticks
- learn methods to use them to smudge yourself and your space.
