Across many cultures, sage and its ritual are associated with healing, prosperity, wisdom and immortality. It is linked to the third-eye chakra, and associated with clairvoyance and knowledge. It is said to absorb negativity and bad luck and to elevate consciousness.
Sacred Plant of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
White sage has long been used by different indigenous tribes. For the native peoples of the Americas, white sage is a sacred plant. It is part of the spiritual culture and pharmacology of the Lakota and Sioux, to name only the most commonly known ones. Across many indigenous cultures of the Americas, it is one of the four major sacred plants, alongside tobacco, cedar and sweetgrass. It is called sukodawabuk in the Ojibwe language. Associated with the west in the Medicine Wheel, it is linked to the Earth element and autumn.
Like all sacred plants, it must be carefully prepared by authorized persons. Each sacred plant has its specific uses. Tobacco is used for prayer and to connect with the spirits, whereas white sage is burned for its smoke to purify spaces, people and objects during sacred ceremonies. It wards off evil spirits and evil thoughts. It is also used to clear emotional energies. Taken as tea, it cleanses impurities from the body. Thus, it is a plant used mainly to purify.
In indigenous American cultures, white sage is used for important events such as ceremonies, births and deaths. In some rituals, walking on these leaves on the ground releases their scent, which maintains the purity of the sacred space. White sage is also found in everyday life, sometimes strewn across the floor of tepees. White sage root is used by the Ojibwe to dress wounds and stop bleeding, or as a stimulant. The Potawatomi use it as a poultice and burn it.
Burning sage (smudging)
Sage smudging is a sacred ritual, one that the indigenous peoples of the Americas do not take lightly. To use sacred plants, one must be in a certain disposition that is respectful and ceremonial. In the same way that myrrh and incense are burned in churches, burning sage is a ritual act. Indigenous peoples sometimes burn other plants or mixtures of plants. White sage smoke is said to have the ability to purify, protect, maintain harmony and banish evil spirits and difficult emotions. Smudging white sage also wards off diseases and afflictions.
Preperation of sage smudging
The white sage leaves are dried and collected to create a smudging stick. A string is generally wrapped around the bundle of leaves. The stick is used as a white sage incense. The tip of the stick is lit and then blown out to let it burn.
Sage for purification
Historically used to purify the air in a sick person’s room, sage smoke cleanses spaces, on a physical level through its antiseptic properties, but also on an emotional, energetic and spiritual level, according to the indigenous origin of this tradition. In English-speaking New Age circles, this practice is known as smudging.
In indigenous tribes, the smoke from the sage stick is used to purify spaces, purify oneself and purify objects at the beginning and end of ceremonies. This purification can also be practiced during a major change such as moving into a new home or recovering from an illness, and can help to turn the page after difficult events, an argument or bad feelings.
The ceremonies practiced by different tribes vary, but include major rituals such as the
Vision Quest, the Sun Dance, and sweat lodges, which involve sage.
Ceremonial use of sage
For indigenous peoples, smudging is performed along with prayers and intentions. In a ceremony to heal a patient, once the space has been purified, the shaman purifies the soul so that it can present itself with clarity before what the Sioux call the wakan tanka, the sacred, the divine. Sage helps to overcome anxiety and emotional burdens. In a way, it allows one to be in their best energetic state of mind before coming into contact with the divine. Smudging works somewhat like showering before entering a temple.
When shamans use sacred sage to purify a patient, they thus cleanse all thoughts, emotions and energies linked to that person that might prevent them from being receptive to the shaman’s medicine. This practice targets the energetic vibration of the space and of the body. It is addressed to the world of spirits, to our invisible dimension. For indigenous shamans, smudging white sage also brings clairvoyance which is stimulated by the scent of sage and other sacred plants. This is also how sage is used for the sacred ritual of the “Vision Quest”.
Vision quest
The Vision Quest is a spiritual process based on isolation, fasting and meditation to get in touch with oneself and with nature. During this quest, participants often lie on a bed of white sage to protect them, ward off evil spirits and stimulate clairvoyance.
Sun Dance
This same practice is found in the Sun Dance, which is perhaps one of the indigenous rituals best known to modern Western culture. This ritual dance as we know it today is over 3,000 years old. It is a practice inherited from the ancient shamanic traditions of the “Red Road”. The Sun Dance is celebrated on the summer solstice at full moon. The celebration lasts several days. The participants dance for many hours watching the sun. Practiced by the Lakota, the Cheyenne, the Cree and many other tribes, it is a major celebration for indigenous Americans, in which white sage is used.
Temazcal and other rituals
White sage leaves are also used in sweat lodges (temazcal) and through inhalation to treat the ENT area. The leaves are placed in water to macerate, and this water is then poured over the burning stones. The indigenous peoples of the Americas have many other rituals besides the Vision Quest, the Sun Dance and temazcal, which are just the best-known examples. White sage, like other sacred plants, always has pride of place.
Modern purification practices using sage
Inspired by indigenous practices, purification with sage smoke is now practised on a larger scale. It is a ritual act that helps to balance the body and mind of the person performing it, and to cleanse spaces of all undesirable energies or emotions. It is also a protection ritual.
Sage is burned to calm emotions or a preoccupied mind. Personal belongings are also purified with the smoke of white sage. It is customary to address prayers or songs to the plant and to thank it, as indigenous peoples do.
Purifying a space with sage
Purification is generally practised with a certain reverence, in a tidy and clean space.
When purifying a space such as an apartment, all the windows must be opened after the smudging is performed, so as to let the smoke out. It is said to take with it the unwanted energies, spirits and emotions that may have been in that space.
A space is purified starting from the east, proceeding clockwise. To purify a house with sage, some traditions start at the door. Sage can also be burned to create a space conducive to healing before an energy treatment or spiritual practice.
Precautions for using sage
Sage smoke is not recommended for everyone, and burning sage or other plants in the presence of pregnant women, infants or asthmatics is not recommended.
White sage, a sacred plant with many benefits
The virtues of white sage abound. It is no wonder that it has been recognized as a sacred plant for so long by the indigenous populations of the Americas. The powers of sage are not only medicinal but also spiritual, as its benefits affect our emotional and energetic state, beyond its effects on the physical plane.
Smudging dried sage has thus entered modern spiritual practices, from Lakota tepees to Parisian apartments. Sage commands respect owing to its many benefits and its age-old aura. It connects us to centuries of medicinal and ritual practices, through its distinct scent, which our ancestors appreciated before us.