Saging or Smudging

(Sage by Maryann Sterling)

The smudging ceremony is a sacred ritual for Native Americans and for other peoples. It is a ritual of cleaning and purification. Indian People burn tobacco, cedar, sage, and sweetgrass in offerings to the Four Directions. The Journey of Life begins in the East and ends in the North. By offering to the Four Directions, the person opens themselves to guidance and wisdom from the Spirit.

“Smudging” which is the burning of sacred plants is a time honored method for healing. People bath themselves in the smoke of the burning herbs. Sage, one of the sacred plants, drives out the negative energy. Sweetgrass helps brings in the positive energy. Smudging helps to restore the person to spiritual health.

Often, people will burn tobacco or sweetgrass as offerings to the various spirits – plant, stone, animal, and earth. The smoke purifies people, their homes, and sacred things. Smudging is a method of inviting the spirit to come and be with you.

I smudge often my home to make an offering, and to purify the room. I keep the sage in a medicine pouch. When I am ready to burn it, I place the sage in an abalone shell. After getting the fire going, I fan the embers with a feather to spread the smoke. I leave a window cracked open to allow the spirits to leave. I sage the room, starting in the East, moving South, West, North, and East again.

Smudging can be done by anyone. All you need a fireproof bowl and sage. Light the sage and fan the smoking embers. Let the smoke drift over you and feel yourself opening up to the Spirit.

Please do not gather the sage, sweetgrass, tobacco, or cedar yourself. These plants are regulated under various laws, and can be only harvested by selected groups such as Native Americans.

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Resource: “Sacred Sage, How It Heals” by Wendy Whiteman. (Purchase from Amazon.com, along with sage supplies.)

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, Animal Teachers, 2008

Other Worldly Beings: Old Souls

When I watched “SMOKE SIGNALS” (1998, Eyre), I perceived the two main characters, Victor Joseph and Thomas Brings-the-Fire, to be a split soul. Rarely apart, they guide each other towards wholeness. Victor brings Thomas into the present, while Thomas teaches Victor the way of the Worlds.

Wearing a suit and his hair in braids, Thomas resembles a medicine man from the last century. Known in the Coeur d’Alene Nation as an eccentric storyteller, Thomas lives his life by his own compass. He fears neither lies nor the truth. Weaving the past, present, and future in his stories, Thomas offers wisdom to those around him. As an old soul, Thomas delivers his pearls of wisdom with good humor. “Sometimes it is a good day to die. Sometimes it is a good day to have breakfast.”

Thomas, for his part, regards Victor’s father, Arnold, to be his teacher, he tells about going on a vision quest and encountering Arnold instead. In Thomas’s stories, Arnold emerges as a Shaman working magic and illusions. He hides in plain sight, and practices disappearing. Through Suzy Song, Arnold’s neighbor in Phoenix, Victor discovers that his father was an old soul who made a tragic mistake. Because his pain was so great, Arnold slowly let go of all his connections to this world. However, after his death, he returns to his son in a vision.