smudging

[Moonlite__Syren]

Morgandria

Moonlite__Syren

im not sure if this idea clashes with this topic but i didnt see a reason for me to make this into a thread since it ties into the purpose of blessing rocks which majority wise is what smudging is for from what ive come to understand. anyway my idea is pretty simple. i like the idea of reconnecting a stone with the earth. especially if you bought it from a store and its been cut, tumbled, and polished. i like seeing the rock as a living thing since it possesses a lot of energy. and if you think about the process in which a stone has to go through to be sold its quite gruesome. and you have thousands of people touch you every day leaving behind a blend of energies, tossed and turned in a wooden cubby as dust settles in. and then you start thinking, how long has it really been since its been dug up after millions of years untouched by man living deep in the ground. feelings the vibes of centuries and generations pass it by. perhaps even seeing this earth shape into itself as it is today. ive read about reburying the stones in the earth but theres that chance you may misplace them, they get dirty, or you live in an area where you cannot dig a hole for whatever reason, you can stick it in a potted plant or what i do is put it at the base of a tree. but theres that chance your stones can fade due to too much sun exposure. so my clever idea is placing a wooden bowl or a sea shell over them so they may be protected and still absorb yet other natural energies. ill leave them out there for almost a week. just really depends on your preference. once i have them charged with the earth i then put them through the smudging process to make them blessed specifically for magickal use.

Actually, smudging's purpose, for the Native peoples who originated the practice, is to be cleansed so one can be healed or perform healing or acts of community; it's done before ceremonies and before consulting elders or receiving teachings. It is to remove negativity and bad spirits in the four sacred medicines. It's not intended as a blessing itself.

oh i didnt know that. thank you for the enlightenment smile  

[xMiemiex]

Morgandria

Smudging is a misappropriation of Native practice, when you boil it down. At this point, it's been done for so long there's very little that can be redone to claim it - the New-Age community picked it up early and disseminated it as they went, and the Natives themselves have shrugged and moved on. It doesn't make them happy, but there's also a belief that holding onto anger or frustration won't make anything better, either.

Smudging using sage and an abalone shell is a practice done by several different peoples, as it was given to them by a holy female figure - although what you're describing is Apache. But smudging is done by almost all Native peoples, at least in Canada. I have been taught that if you use an abalone shell, it is never to have burning incense or a coal placed in it - it is an insult to the entity who gifted the shell for your use. The ashes from a smudge stick are scattered across your threshold, to keep negative things out.

Some tribes, though, consider a shell a sacred symbol of water figures, and don't use them in association with smudge. There are plenty of elders who use clay bowls or other such things to hold their smudge wands as they go.

I don't have a shell myself. I do smudge, from time to time, but because I find smudge wands totally irritating and I can't deal with the smell of sage, I tend to burn cedar tips on charcoal instead, or burn a sweetgrass braid in a ceramic bowl.

Thisss, so try to keep to referring it as smoke cleansing instead so you're not culturally appropriating. (:

Smoke cleansing isn't my go to method for cleansing/purifying my home. I MUCH prefer to stick to my powders to sprinkle around, but I also use the steam/water of appropriate herbs (for example, rosemary, bay and basil are good ones) to use around my home.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

I'm not aboriginal but my concern is the people who would take that information and just completely ignore/forget about the cultural context it came from. Little over a month ago, I went to this guided meditation. The instructor was very aware there were new people. She said right before going into meditation everyone would pass around the sage stick and smudge their personal space. No other further explanation than that. Just that they did. It was very obvious that half the new people had no idea why we were passing around the sage let alone how to even smudge. And this was coming from someone who basically ran the New Age shop in the area. Can't say I'm really surprised though. She acts like she knows everything about anything that would go through there but I've caught her spewing s**t about Egyptian mythology before.  

[dormant lime]

It depends entirely on the context. There's a number of traditions, taboos, and folklore varieties that are regional within the indigenous populace.
I have Native American heritage, and I was raised around the traditions and reservations by my father. We burn our smudging sage in shells, as do many Natives at our local reservations. However I live in Florida, where one of the largest populations is Seminole, and I also live in a very coastal area so things that are of the sea are very popular and held dear.

When we burn the sage, we pull the smoke over our heads and hearts, and mentally (or verbally when in private) say a prayer to the Great Spirit. This is a bit informal, it's usually something we do under certain circumstances.
A proper smudge is much more rare for us.

Quote:

Rub your hands in the smoke to cleanse them; scoop the smoke into your hands and bring it to your head, so you will think good thoughts - no anger, jealousy, hate; to the eyes so you will see the world around you in a good way; to the throat so you will speak always in kindness and in non-judgmental ways; to the ears, so that you will listen truly listen to each other instead of 'waiting to speak' which we so often do; to the heart so you feel connected to all living beings in a loving way; to the solar plexus so your emotions connect with the Earth Mother; Women to the womb, so your life giving energies go out into the world in balance and harmony.

Finally under the feet, this way the dark side of your soul and the world will not follow in your footsteps.

Ondottr

I've done different forms of smoke cleansing for a long time, but I held back from actually smudging just because I was concerned about cultural appropriation.
But I just did a really neat summer "Institute for Indigenous Education" as part of my teaching degree at Uni. We learned a lot about how to incorporate Aboriginal teachings into our own teaching style in order to support aboriginal students in the school system and to build knowledge and respect for these teachings among all students.
That was a long preamble. But in one of my classes, our prof (she is Cree; maybe that's relevant?) would smudge with us before or after doing important or emotionally challenging things. She invited us to use smudging or smoke bathing/cleansing in our own lives, because it really can 'clear the air' and help create a healthy, peaceful state of mind. I asked several First Nations people what they thought about non-Natives using smudging (including the woman from whom I bought a bundle of sage for burning), and no one said "don't do it!"; they just wanted to make sure that people were doing it properly, acknowledging where it came from, and doing it in good faith and for good purposes.
I'm so paranoid about cultural appropriation that I still wonder if it's inappropriate for me to do a smudge, even though I've basically been told by several people that it's fine. I've yet to burn that bundle of sage, just because I still feel self-conscious. I guess my question now is - would it be more or less respectful to smudge according to the way my prof showed me, or to continue with a generic form of smoke cleansing but just use sage from time to time? I would love to get more perspectives on this, especially from aboriginal people who have a better understanding of both smudging and cultural appropriation.

A lot of Natives seem to be very welcoming to outsiders. The view is that it doesn't matter what your heritage is, you want to be closer to The Earth Mother and the Great Spirit. To many, we are all connected and there is no harm in that.
I think to continue the way your professor taught you is a good bet, but as long as you know the underlying meaning and how to respectfully handle it, I'm not sure there's a wrong way to do it. Like I said above, my father and I don't do a full, proper smudge every time- and we know others in the Native community who don't either. But even then, it's treated with respect and sincerity, and not overdone. It's not an incense after all~