The burning of sacred herbs, including herbal smudge sticks, has been used in rituals and ceremonies practiced by Indigenous people all over the world. Smudging uses handheld bundles of dried herbs, leaves and flowers, which are then bound in cotton or hemp twine and burned to create sacred smoke, which you then move throughout your space to sweep out energetic cobwebs. Traditional plants for smudges include Sacred White Sage, Palo Santo, Cedar and Frankincense, but these precious resources are rapidly being depleted due to increasing demand in the wellness industry. A more sustainable & fun way of working with herbal smudges is to make your own from local, wildcrafted and home-grown herbs. Read on for herbal inspiration and instructions on how to make your own sustainable, bio-regional herbal smudge sticks.

SUSTAINABLE HERBS FOR SMOKE CLEANSING

Many different herbs can be used for making smudge sticks. Making your own offers an opportunity for intention, meditation and reflection. You can choose specific herbs for your own medicinal needs. Add herbs like Sage & Rosemary to clear away negative thoughts & patterns. Add herbs like Lavender and Rose for healing, love and peace. Here is a list of herbs that you can easily grow or wildcraft from your environment, or purchase at a local fresh produce market, to use in your own home made herbal smudge stick.

Sage – One of the most sacred herbs in smudging practices, Sage is beneficial for environmental, emotional, spiritual and psychic cleansing & purification. Sage smoke offers healing and protection, enhanced intuition and connection to ancestors & the spirit realm. Traditionally used to banish negative energies and purify sacred spaces. As the sacred White Sage of southwestern California is endangered, if you can’t grow your own, consider sustainable alternatives. Common garden Sage is an often-overlooked & easily accessible variety of Sage, with similar cleansing and protective qualities. Mexican Sage grows abundantly in tropical climates, and has similar spiritual qualities to White Sage

Rosemary – Clears the air and calms the mind, promotes mental purification. Clears negative energy, helps remove feelings of anxiety. Cleansing & purifying for the auric field after being exposed to dense or chaotic energy. For clearing illness from a space.

Lavender – Beneficial for cleansing, protection, happiness, healing, purification, tranquility and sleep.

Rose –Has the highest vibration of all flowers. Symbolic of love & luck. Burned in rituals associated with matters of the heart, grief and healing.

Lemongrass - Cleansing and purifying. Helps to dissolve obstacles and transmute negative energies, and to shed light on dark corners or hidden issues.

Lemon balm - Clears mental fog and enhances intuition. Uplifts the spirit and facilitates emotional healing and love. Burn to attract happiness, abundance and success.

Eucalyptus – For healing and protection. Relaxing, clarifying & rejuvenating when used in smudge sticks.

Yarrow - For purification and balance. Include in a smudge for clearing of negative energy, for strength, to dispel fear & bring courage.

Mugwort - Include in a smudge to dispel negativity, bring clarity and enhance psychic abilities. Encourages lucid dreaming.

Tulsi - Purifies and energises the environment and the aura. An aromatic nerve tonic that relieves mental fatigue, enhances mental strength and clarity. Burn to express gratitude, and to attract health, wealth and prosperity.

Rue - Burn for cleansing, purification, protection, healing and empowerment. Destroys evil and evil intentions & transforms negativity into the power of victory.

Thyme - Traditionally burned in purification & cleansing rituals for protection, to ward off negative energies, and to attract health and happiness.

Pine needles- Protective and nurturing, with an affinity for the throat and clear expression.

Mullein- Burn for protection and healing. Beneficial for cleansing spaces, banishing negative spirits and exorcisms. Protection from nightmares.

Coca leaf - A symbol of offering and gratitude, unity and reciprocity. For honoring the cycles of life, birth and death, to enhance connection with the divine and the ancestors. Burn for protection and guidance in daily activities, to bring good fortune and to ward off evil spirits

Witch hazel - Amplifies psychic and divinatory abilities. Include in a smudge for protection, cleansing and emotional healing, and to ward off negative energies.

Cinnamon leaf - Cleansing, refreshing and healing. Helps dispel negative energies and create a protective boundary when burned in doorways.

St John’s Wort - Burn to ward off evil spirits and enhance protection.

Choose sustainable, local, seasonal herbs

Palo Santo (Bursar graveolens) and Indian Sandalwood (Santalum album) are now officially threatened with extinction. The global demand has escalated in the past decade as Sandalwood sticks & essential oil became popular for spiritual and shamanic purposes. The mass commercialism of this sacred South American wood, and also of White Sage (Salvia apiana), sacred to the Native American Indians, has become a huge environmental burden for the native people whose ancient spiritual practices have become ‘trending’. Please source your Sandalwood sticks, incense & oils sustainably. Choose sustainable, locally grown White Sage, or use Common Sage or Wild Sage. Visit this site for United Plant Savers endangered plant medicines list - https://unitedplantsavers.org/species-at-risk-list/ There is sustainanably grown and also wildcrafted Western Australian native sandalwood (Santalum spicatum), and Indian Sandalwood (Tantalum album), available now, for example Quintis of Western Australia. https://quintis.com.au/products

Even better, look outside to the plants growing in your own bio-regions for your perfect herbal smudge blend. Herbs that grow around you are tuned in to you, your cycles, seasons and moons, and often their medicine perfectly corresponds with your own needs. Eating, making herbal medicines, flower essences and herbal smudge sticks with the herbs and flowers growing around you connects you to the plants, their medicine and the Earth at an even deeper level. Step outside and see what fragrant, medicinal weeds you can wildcraft in your bio-region to bundle for smudging. See the blog post on Ethical Wildcrafting here.

MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL SMUDGE STICK

You will need: About 20 sprigs of fresh herbs

Flowers and petals to decorate.

Scissors.

Cotton or hemp twine

Storage jar

Fire-proof dish

Instructions: Take a a moment to centre your self, and move into a state of gratitude & appreciation for the harvesting and gathering of your fresh herbs. Only gather plants that are growing in abundance, and haven’t been sprayed. Cut a few sprigs from each plant. Give thanks to the plants and never over-harvest.

1, Bring your herbs to a cool, clear work surface and get your scissors & cotton twine.

2. Start by trimming your flowers and herbs to size.

3. Lay the sprigs in a row, from tallest to smallest. You can make your herbal smudge sticks with one herb or make mixed bundles. Your smudge stick will shrink as it dries, so make it plumper than your desired final size.

4. Place the sprigs on top of each other, from tallest to smallest.

5. Tightly encircle the base of the bundle and tie it off in a knot.

6. Wrap your twine up tightly, spiralling around the sprigs, remembering to pull the string tight as you go. You want to make sure to wrap the twine as tightly as you can so that it stays bound when the flowers dry and shrink.

7. Crisscross back down with your twine at a diagonal angle, crossing over the first loops.

8. Encircle the base again, tie off the string at the bottom and cut. Tidy and trim any excess and cut the bottom of the stalks straight.

8. Hang your smudge stick in a dry & dark but well ventilated area and allow it to dry.

9. After 4 to 6 weeks, depending on your chosen herbs and climate, your home made herbal smudge stick will be ready - if a leaf/twig breaks when bended, it’s ready to be burned.

10. Once fully dry, store your smudge sticks in big glass jars to preserve the freshness, aroma and essential oil content of the herbs.

To use: Use a fire-proof dish to catch ashes. Light your dried smudge stick with a lighter.

Starting at the Eastern most room or area of your home, circle around the room clockwise, wafting the smoke as you go.

Continue moving in a clockwise direction through the rest of your home, purifying each room. Include doorways, verandahs, driveway and paths leading to & from your home. Even smudge the letterbox if you feel like it, and your car inside and out.

When you are done, leave the smudge stick to self-extinguish in the fire-proof dish.