Smudging and Sacred Herbs

Before you begin any kind of healing work, ceremony or shamanic practice it is best to cleanse and purify yourself and your surroundings. Cleansing with herbs help to create sacred space, and shift the energy. It clears and opens the doorway so that our guides and spirit helpers can enter more easily and assist us in the process.

Smudging is one common cleansing ceremony in which herbs are burned. One Native American teacher I worked with, Rainbow Weaver, called smudging "Cosmic RightGuard". Burning your specific herbs in a clay bowl, abalone shell or other fire safe vessel, use your hand or a feather to brush the smoke over yourself and through your aura. Smudge throughout the space, around the sacred circle you're casting, visualizing the negative energies rising out on the smoke. Sometimes if you're working indoors and the negativity is great, you may want to open a window.
 
In Western North America the most frequently used herbs are Sage, Cedar and Sweetgrass. Mugwort, also of the Sage family, is used. In Mexico and Central America, Copal, a resin derived from the copal tree, is used widely in ritual.

The botanical name for "true" sage is salvia, which in latin means "to heal". Sage is burned to drive out the negative energies, spirits or influences and it creates a protective barrier to keep those energies from entering the space.
 
Sweetgrass is best burned with sage or after as it brings in the good spirits and influences. It is to remind us of the sweetness and innocence of our youth. Usually found braided together, you can light the end of the braid and wave it around the area so the smoke permeates the air or add it to the mixture of other herbs.
 
Cedar is burned for purification like sage. It will clear out negative energies and also bring in the good spirits. Cedar is burned while praying as it is believed that the prayers rise upon the smoke and are carried to the creator.
 
Mugwort is sometimes burned alone or with other herbs. It is useful in opening the third eye, connecting us more fully to our intuitive process. It assists in our psychic abilities and also induces dreams.