Cleansing your energy field with ~Sacred Sage~!

[lillies1978]

i use White Sage (not the one from the seasoning cabinet ) a lot and find it very effective, the follwing article is not from me, i found it through google and really liked how simple it was described! I know there are others here that are familiar with the use of sage, please feel free to post any other suggestion/information about using sage for cleansing!

SACRED SAGE
http://www.meyna.com/use.html

The following are suggestions for the use of sage for those of you not familiar with the custom. Some words of caution: sage burns very hot, and the embers stay hot for a long time. Always burn sage in a little metal container, an abalone shell, or some type of ceramic or ironstone dish. Put some clean sand in the bottom as an insulator, and NEVER use glass. When you're finished with the sage, cover it with sand and leave it in the container you were using. When you want to use the bundle again, just shake the sand off.

When you light the sage, let it flame and then blow the flame out at once. It's the smoke you want....not the fire.

FOR HEALTH: Science has discovered that the healing properties in sage come from antibiotic agents they have identified. Some people boil sage and drink the water as a tea. Many have found relief in the smoke for sinus congestion and pain, and even for migraine headaches. For this purpose, break off a single leaf, and breathe the smoke through your nose. Use common sense here. If this bothers you....Don't Do It.

FOR PERSONAL CLEANSING: If yourenergy is low, or you feel depressed and out of sorts, or if you have been around negative people in a negative situation, try cleansing your entire energy field. The most effective way to do this is with a broad, strong feather, or a group of feathers in a fan. Have someone sweep the smoke over the entire outline of your body, front and back, head to toe. Don't forget the top of your head and bottom of your feet. If you don't have someone to do this for you, pass the sage bundle around your own body covering as much area as you can. Breathe deeply and calmly while doing this, and you'll notice the difference at once.

Before going to bed, try using sage to clean away the physical and emotional grime and stress of the day. For a peaceful night's rest, break off a single leaf, and burn it carefully in your safe container. Be sure there's no paper around, or anything that can catch fire. Remember to blow the flame out at once. You don't want the fire......you want the smoke.

FOR GROUP CLEANSING: If you're in a group where this would be appreciated and welcomed, this is an excellent practice. First of all, use the entire bundle to cleanse the room, or the area where you will be. Be careful of dropping hot embers if you're inside as they will burn a carpet. Start at the back of the room, walk along each wall reaching as high as you can, and then criss-cross the center of the room letting the smoke rise at its own pace. As you walk, ask that only positive energy be present, and that the group be blessed with experiences for their highest and best good. Then cleanse each person as they enter the room as described above in Personal Cleansing. Ask that they be made peaceful, and blessed with positive awareness and learning.

FOR HOUSE CLEANSING: To cleanse and bless your house or apartment, again use the entire bundle to light. Open your front door. Go to the back of the house, and cover as much of the room as you can reach. Be sure to hold the bundle as high as you can. Don't forget the corners of the rooms. Work from the back toward the open door at the front. Go into every room, including bathrooms, closets, utility rooms, kitchen...everywhere. When you get to the front door, say "Anything not here for the highest and best good of those who live here, be gone. You are not wanted, and you are not welcome. This home has been cleansed and blessed." Then walk out the door, close it, and sage around the door and door frame. Leave the bundle outside to burn itself out. Make sure you put it on dirt, or on something that will not burn.

Sage is a wonderful gift from Mother Earth. Use it wisely, and it will serve you well. Aho.

[Indigo Dog]

Excellent advice. Be careful and use the proper kind of sage. I used the household kind in the spice cabinet and it was noxious. Or use Sweet grass instead.

[lillies1978]

that's funny though ...thanks for making me smile, i havn't in a little while and it feels really good!

[Indigo Dog]

i use White Sage (not the one from the seasoning cabinet ) a lot and find it very effective, the follwing article is not from me, i found it through google and really liked how simple it was described! I know there are others here that are familiar with the use of sage, please feel free to post any other suggestion/information about using sage for cleansing!

Bump

[lillies1978]

Thanks for bumping, I was wondering about this thread a few weeks ago when I cleansed my house; it was way overdue.

[rabana]

culinary sage is from a whole different family (labiates or mint family) than the smudging sage which is an artemesia. any of the aromatic artemesia sages (sage brush) common all over the western US) will work in the absence of white sage.


How to Make a Smudge Stick

Smudge sticks are used in traditional Native American ceremonies to purify people and places. There are similar ceremonies in many cultures where herbs are burned for cleansing. Smudging can be used to counteract depression, anger or bitterness. If you would like to try smudging, it is very easy to make your own sage smudge sticks.

Things You'll Need:

* Western or desert sage, or other aromatic herbs like basil, rosemary lavender, eucalyptus...
* Garden clippers
* Sturdy cotton string
* 12 by 18 piece of newspaper


Step 1

Cut the sage branches into 7 to 10 inch lengths.

Step 2

Snip a piece of string 2 1/2 times the length of the cut sage branches.

Step 3

Hold three branches together with the tips pointing down. Begin wrapping the string tightly around the base of the branches.

Step 4

Wrap firmly, working your way to the tips of the branches. When you reach the tips, switch directions and begin working your way back up to the base of the sage branches. Tie the two ends of the string together when you reach the base.

Step 5

Dry your sage smudge sticks in a flat basket or on a screen for a week, and use them in your own smudging ceremonies.

[lillies1978]

Awesome Rabana, Thanks

[greentara]

Yes. Smudging is wonderful. It can cleanse crystals as well as households, and people. On the occasions when I am using incense instead of a smudge stick,
I find white sage blended with dragonsblood the pentiultimate cleanse/protection, as dragonsblood amps the energetics of the resin...
http://www.fredsoll.com

[lillies1978]

True I use sage for my crystals quite often

[rabana]

my friend has been gone for 3 months and i have to get he house ready for her return. this reminds me to smudge. the only artemesia that grows here is called boldo/california mugwort. it is very close to white sage and i do have it in the garden. rosemary grows abundantly here and also eucalyptus. i've used both.

[RAIN1000]

white sage is great but it has the ability to awaken dormant energies (negative) in a building if used to clear this kind of space.

[james]

yes there are herbs that can relax you, but how does it really work? Through your self belief that it actually made a difference

[rabana]

there is a undefinable pleasure to working with plants and an intelligence to the plants themselves. its the oldest of occupations, herbalism, and has great value for the human spirit.

[jeRaste]

Confidence of intention is the most important part I imagine. I have done cleansing and clearing with simple incense, and know it did the trick.
Hell I was lying in bed, on my way to sleep one night, and was randomly setting off bombs of white light throughout the house in my minds eye, and the cats all freaked out right as I set off the last one that started in the center of the house and expanded past the property line, pushing all unwanted energies out to be recycled by source...

[rabana]

white sage is great but it has the ability to awaken dormant energies (negative) in a building if used to clear this kind of space.

i'm not using white sage, but a relative of it. what would be better? all kinds of craziness around that house....

[rabana]

Confidence of intention is the most important part I imagine. I have done cleansing and clearing with simple incense, and know it did the trick.
Hell I was lying in bed, on my way to sleep one night, and was randomly setting off bombs of white light throughout the house in my minds eye, and the cats all freaked out right as I set off the last one that started in the center of the house and expanded past the property line, pushing all unwanted energies out to be recycled by source...

call it a focus then, smudging....

[jeRaste]

call it a focus then, smudging....

Definitly, thats what I am coming to slowly realize and try to practice with all external helpers. Crystals, altars, smudge sticks, all these things are just tools to help us focus what we can do with pure power of intention and will. Sontlux I believe in the crystals thread suggested that there would be a day we leave all those things behind, and I totally agree, for now though, I love using them, its definitly advantagous to have a physical representation so you can load it with intention when you start, and then move on and be free to add other intention as specifically needed.

[rabana]

atlantis was the place for trappings. in Mu they weren't necessary.

[jeRaste]

In that case, I hope we are headed back towards a Mu like state. =] If we arent than I am just remembering Mu and projecting it forward into the future [which is what I think makes people believe some kind of world smashing armageddon is coming down on us]...

I really feel like we are heading towards a Mu/Lemuria like state of being though.

[rabana]

(off topic i know) Mu is rising and Avatar has done a lot to set it off. meant to tell you that in some other thread. will soon be starting a thread remembering Mu. its important to rebirth the archetypes, bring that peace and beauty into the world.