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It has also been used in Indigenous culture to ease pain associated with menstruation and pregnancy.
Reshma Patel, founder of Ananda Integrative Medicine, told Oprah Daily that due to the antimicrobial and antibacterial healing properties of sage, it can also help you sleep. The name Salvia comes from the Latin word salvere, which means “to heal/be well.”
White sage, or Salvia apiana, is an evergreen perennial shrub that is native to southern California and northern Mexico. It’s considered one of the most sacred medicines in Indigenous culture, across tribes such as the Lakota, Chumash, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Navajo, all of whom originate from those areas.
The herb is antimicrobial and is believed to get rid of negative energy, thus restoring harmony both to a space and to our bodies, connecting people to the spiritual plane.
There's little surprise, then, that Indigenous activists reject the non-Indigenous co-opting of their spiritual practices. It's clearly unfair to see how the descendants of the very same people who banned their culture, and this specific sacred herb, are now profiting off of it.
The Western wellness industry has commodified and exploited white sage, from the actual plant to the sold product. Non-Native companies have turned it into different products like sprays and sage-infused body wash, and they're also inappropriately calling sage burning smudging.
Indigenous people pick and use the herb mindfully and sparingly to avoid overharvesting. The New Age wellness market, however, generally has no such intention—many aren’t even aware of the harmful harvesting practices spurred on by high demand from non-Native users. The plant is being threatened out of existence and becoming harder to acquire for Native users.
While the wellness trend has people burning sage to get rid of bad energy, most fail to consider the energy of the sage itself. Buying sage that has been packaged and handled by multiple people poses the risk of absorbing negative energy, as the very Indigenous tradition that it comes from believes that people put their energy into the medicine they touch.
Due to the ritualistic nature of burning sage, many find that it helps them achieve a sense of calm, similar to lighting incense. Colleen McCann, an energy practitioner, told Vogue, “When sage is burned, it releases negative ions, which is linked to putting people into a positive mood.”
If your wellness routine includes burning things to cleanse your space, you don’t specifically need white sage for that. You can instead find more culturally and ecologically sensitive methods like herbs, wood, incense, or other safe-to-burn materials with known cleansing properties.
Vice reported on what they called “the white sage black market,” where the wellness trend is fueling a harmful uptick in poachers ravaging the land, sometimes without sellers even knowing their impact. It looks like people actually sneaking around national and state parks with garbage bags to illegally harvest sage to sell.
Instead of calling it “smudging,” it can be simply called smoke cleansing. Many cultures have used this technique for centuries—it’s specifically when it comes to white sage, as well as the cultural and spiritual practice of smudging, that the controversy should be considered.
Despite there being no record of white sage used in old European witch practices, it has become trendy among young, so-called "witchy" influencers. In 2018, Sephora removed a “Starter Witch Kit” with sage from its shelves after backlash on social media. The same year, Anthropologie pulled their “Home Blessings Smudge Kit” off the shelves. Later, Goop removed a “Cleanse and Purify Smudge Kit.” Yet many other major companies and online stores sell these "witchy" and "smudging" products.
You will likely find Palo Santo ("holy wood” in Spanish) touted as a close alternative to sage, but buying this Central and South American tree bark used by Amazonian tribes can also be harmful in the same ways we have highlighted in this gallery, from cultural appropriation to exploitation of sacred resources.
Wellness is best practiced ethically, to contribute to a higher sense of wellness in the world. Instead of white sage, look for incense, herbs, or wood with unique healing properties that aren't ecologically endangered, like lavender, pine, thyme, and cloves.
Sources: (Oprah Daily) (Insider) (MindBodyGreen) (Vogue) (Native Appropriations) (Bustle) (Well+Good) (Vice)
See also: Can this medieval wellness guide teach us anything new?
As a non-Native, if you are determined to respectfully use sage as Indigenous people have for centuries, it should be used mindfully, and all sage should be bought directly from Indigenous businesses—but as Vice found in their report, even when companies say “sustainably harvested by Native Americans,” many can’t back it up.
In Indigenous culture, the white sage has long been believed to help with a multitude of issues ranging from anxiety to sore throats, and even constipation.
As mentioned earlier, it was illegal for Indigenous people to practice their religion—including smudging—until 1978 in the US, “and many were jailed and killed just for keeping our ways alive, including my great-great grandfather,” Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, told Bustle. To this day, Indigenous people are reportedly still fighting to be able to perform these ceremonies in hospitals.
Since there aren't any regulations regarding sage trading, brands do not have to report where their sage is harvested, and overharvesting isn't properly monitored. White sage passes through so many wholesalers and vendors, that some vendors have no way of knowing if it was harvested ethically—or even legally.
“When using medicinal plants, it’s important that the plant is used sustainably. When we pick sage, we always leave the root and say a prayer of thanks for our harvest. This is as much a part of smudging (or saging) as burning the plant is,” Hopkins told Bustle. The root is left so that the plant can grow back, but many poachers and even legal harvesters are preventing more plants from growing by poor harvesting practices.
Beyond medicine, the use of white sage in Indigenous culture involves many ceremonial purposes, but following the violent oppressive colonization of Indigenous people in the US, Europeans tried to stamp it out. In the late 1800s, the Rules Governing the Court of Indian Offenses made it illegal, and punishable by prison sentence for Native people to practice their religious ceremonies.
Indigenous people of the US were banned from using traditional medicine and expressing their religions up until the passing of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978—less than just 50 years ago.
While the social media standard involves burning sage on its own, it is common for Indigenous people to burn the herb with other things, typically sweetgrass and cedar. The sage is usually also held in an abalone shell instead of the hand.
“That smudge stick represents the deep pain, sacrifice, resistance, and refusal of Native peoples. It represents a continuing legacy of marginalizing and punishing Native spirituality,” wrote Adrienne Keene, a Cherokee citizen and assistant professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, on her blog Native Appropriations. “So when our religious practices are mocked through these products, or folks are commodifying and making money off our ceremonies, it’s not about who has the 'right' to buy or sell. It’s about power.”
There is traditionally no purchasing and selling sage within Indigenous culture because it would be considered a form of commodifying prayer. Instead, sage is supposed to be gifted by a family member, friend, or community organization, thereby also ensuring its good energy.
If burning sage is your first and only form of connecting with the sacred Indigenous culture, it falls under cultural appropriation. To remedy it, follow Indigenous educators and influencers, and learn more about the culture, its history, and the sacred practices that are at the deep roots of this so-called trend.
Sage also shouldn't be blown on to increase and spread the smoke, but instead a feather can be used to fan it.
The sage also shouldn't be lit with a lighter but rather a match or candle. That's largely because the butane in lighters kills the medicinal purposes.
Smudging is distinctly Indigenous and has a long and rich history in the culture. It’s an important ceremonial purifying ritual or prayer created by and practiced in many Native North American cultures.
Burning sage, also (mistakenly) called smudging, has become a popular trend across social media and among the New Age wellness community. Touted for its benefits in casting away bad energy and even helping with sleep, this seemingly new trend of lighting bundles of the dried plant to release clouds of scent and smoke is actually an age-old practice among Indigenous peoples.
But many argue that those who don’t know the history of burning sage shouldn’t be using it, that it has commodified a sacred medicine. What’s worse, the trend has gotten so popular that white sage is being overharvested, leading to a host of other problems. And that’s not even mentioning that most non-Native people are performing the ritual wrong.
So, what exactly are the benefits that have people eager to light sage sticks in their homes, and why is it so controversial? Click through to find out.
Burning sage: the hot trend with a controversial root
You might be clearing out some bad energy while bringing in another...
LIFESTYLE Wellness
Burning sage, also (mistakenly) called smudging, has become a popular trend across social media and among the New Age wellness community. Touted for its benefits in casting away bad energy and even helping with sleep, this seemingly new trend of lighting bundles of the dried plant to release clouds of scent and smoke is actually an age-old practice among Indigenous peoples.
But many argue that those who don’t know the history of burning sage shouldn’t be using it, that it has commodified a sacred medicine. What’s worse, the trend has gotten so popular that white sage is being overharvested, leading to a host of other problems. And that’s not even mentioning that most non-Native people are performing the ritual wrong.
So, what exactly are the benefits that have people eager to light sage sticks in their homes, and why is it so controversial? Click through to find out.