BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Herbs Sage - uses and smudging

We were watching something recently where a person was talking about smudging sage and how wonderful it smells. My sage grows wild pretty much and I love it, so I thought I should try this!

Did the native Americans burn sage BRUSH and not sage HERB? I think they are different, yes?

If I can do it with the herb sage, what do I do with the herb stalks before lighting them on fire?

EDIT: I just found a site recommending you NOT try this with garden sage as many people have reactions to breathing in this smoke. Hmmmmm.

I use the wild sage that grows in the desert here in Nevada. The Native Americans gather the sage with prayers of thanks to the plant spirit. They never take all they need from one plant and never from the Grandfather plant, which gives life to all the others. You only take what you need. For smudging, dry the sage before burning it. Put some of the dry sage in an abalone shell or clay dish and light it. With a feather or your hand, brush the smoke in the direction you need it to go. The Native American will offer this smoke to the Four Directions while saying the prayer they need for the specific purpose of smudging (ie: negative atmospere, illness, bad vibes, etc.). For more info, see my articles:

Heal The Spirit

Healing With Herbs

Hope this helps.

PS: I never use the culinary garden sage for smudging. The sage I use is Artemisia tridentata or common sage, or sagebrush.

Here's an image of my sage, which is the garden sage



it is growing VERY thickly in the entire garden area now.

I'm not sure what to do with it all!

Your garden sage looks very healthy and abundant. I love to tie it in small bundles with a pretty ribbon and attach it to gifts for my sisters, neices and friends. They love to get fresh herbs that way. I hang bundles of the sage in my kitchen to dry. It looks pretty and gives an old-fashion look to the kitchen. I use it for cooking and when the bundles are very dry, I store them (minus the ribbon) in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. This will last thru the winter months.

I use culinary sage in a lot of meals I cook. I just rub the dry leaves in my palms and add it to the food while cooking.

I learned about smudging with sage in a feng shui class and I do it occasionally to clear out any bad energy. The class instructor advised smudging if you buy an antique as you aren't sure what type of energy may be associated with the piece.

I got the sage at a Native American art gallery in Oregon.

This is the sage that I use for smudging:


Artemisia tridentata (also called sagebrush/common sagebrush, big sagebrush, blue/black sagebrush or mountain sagebrush)

It grows wild here in the Nevada desert. Sometimes I like to use White Sage from the Lakota area. It has a sweeter, more pleasant aroma when burned.

As I am a witch, I use the sage brush for this purpose. Good luck! nornwyrd

Dry the sage out on paper towels, then store it for use during the winter. You can also put it on paper towels or paper plates (just the leaves) and microwave at 30 sec intervels to dry it out faster and retain the color. If your microwave tries to arc, put a real small glass or bowl of water in it. I dry all kinds of herbs this way and have them to use for the next winter or two. Just watch it so it doesn't burn.

This winter was the longest and most cold in the last 10 years, so I used up a lot of my medicinal plants stock. Sage is one of the herbs that kept us in good shape. I used it every time I felt symptoms of cold, sore throat, hoarseness or cough - anything that would spoil the beauty of the winter and our good mood. I also recommended it to my father against sweating.

Here's my photo of my sage plant today -



It's still growing strong!

I'm glad I found this forum post - I had forgotten that this was the "wrong" sage for smudging and was thinking smudging thoughts again

Sage is a beautiful plant with a lovely aroma. I like cooking with it but I also enjoy the scent of the dried herb. It needs to be planted annually here because the winter cold kills it. I'd love to be able to see it growing in the wild.

Dear Debbie -

That's interesting because I'm in Massachusetts - I think of us as being fairly cold! I was surprised when the sage kept coming back on its own here.

That is interesting. I live in the midwest and mine comes back all the time too. *crossing fingers* it does again. Of course, last year was a milder winter for us. The year before wasn't though.

Traditionally White Sage is the main ingredient in a Smudge Stick. Personally I prefer to make my own with Red Sage that comes from a garden of a friend of mine and has a particularly strong resiny sap that gives off a strong and effective smoke when dried and tied into a long smudge stick. Particularly when working with Goddesses such as Hecate and Artemis or doing a cleansing ritual with the Nornir.
The site Lisa commented on re the smoke is quite correct, so make sure everyone is clear and all pets are out of the area before doing it. Do be careful and check what sage you are burning as some types of sage can be highly hallucinogenic!!

Lisa....I am not far from you, so winters here can be tough too. I could never get my sage to come back after winter. You must have a bit of a protected spot where you are growing it. Lucky you!

I use Oregon sage when I can get it. I have used it for clearing and cleansing. One can walk the perimeter of their property to clear a land area also. The intent of the sager coupled with the actual saging makes a real difference. Glad to see this post. dave

Gorgeous plants you have there Lisa! We had such a hot dry summer this year (very unusual for our part of the country) and my little pot of herbs were toasted - even with TLC.

I know that some mediums use Sage to clean the air before they begin a session. I think though it is the other sage that Phyllis was mentioning.

You are lucky Lisa to have such beautiful, healthy herbs this year. Send some my way! :-)

The sage is growing along the side of the porch. I'm not sure that it's protected, but it's not in the middle of an open meadow either .

The plant has survived the winter yet again - here's a photo I took today!