Why smudge with sweetgrass

All of them can be used to smudge with, though sage, cedar and sweetgrass also have many other uses. It is said that tobacco sits in the eastern door, sweetgrass in the southern door, sage in the western door and cedar in the northern door. Elders say that the spirits like the aroma produced when we burn tobacco and the other sacred medicines. Traditional people say that tobacco is always first. It is used as an offering for everything and in every ceremony.

Traditional tobacco was given to us so that we can communicate with the spirit world. It opens up the door to allow that communication to take place. When we make an offering of tobacco, we communicate our thoughts and feelings through the tobacco as we pray for ourselves, our family, relatives and others. Tobacco has a special relationship to other plants: it is said to be the main activator of all the plant spirits. It is like the key to the ignition of a car.

When you use it all things begin to happen. Tobacco is always offered before picking medicines. When you offer tobacco to a plant and explain why you are there, that plant will let all the plants in the area know why you are coming to pick them. Length: Required 18 Current Stock:. Quantity: Decrease Quantity: Increase Quantity:. Facebook Email Print Twitter Pinterest. Also called Seneca grass, holy grass and vanilla grass.

This very special herb's sweet vanilla-like scent is the breath of the Earth mother, bringing the blessing of Mother Earth's love. Sweetgrass is burned to remind us of essence of the feminine and that the earth provides us with everything we need.

Sweetgrass can also be be unbraided or trimmed with a scissors into small pieces and sprinkled on hot Charcoal Tablets. Allow the sacred smoke that follows to wash over the subject of the blessing. The sacredness of the sweetgrass herb then sustains the smudging process.

Use a smudging feather if you need to douse the flame or promote more smoke. Many Native tribes in North America use sweetgrass in prayer, smudging or purifying ceremonies and consider it a sacred plant. It is usually braided, dried, and burned. Sweetgrass braids smolder and doesn't produce an open flame when burned. Sweetgrass is burned for smudging. It is believed to please everybody, so when you burn sweetgrass, you may also want to burn some sage to get rid of more negative influences.

How to properly light your braid of sweetgrass:. What you will need: Scissors Multi-Purpose Lighter also known as a "clicker" or candle lighter : If you try to do this with a small lighter, you may burn your hand as this requires a strong flame.