Sacred Smoke Medicine
Smoke…
In between the world of spirit and the physical form. Not quite air, not quite solid and not quite here or there.
Most ancient traditions have a way to work with plant medicine through smoke may it be as dried herbs on the fire, incense sticks, smudge sticks, smoking in a pipe etc.
Sacred smoke medicine refers to working with plants (or other earth medicines) in a form that creates smoke and through the smoke help to manifest our intentions, prayers and dreams. Our intentions for working with smoke medicine is usually for:
Cleaning
Centering/Clarity
Protection
Transition e.g. opening/closing of a ritual or ceremony
Let’s start with the last one - marking a transition point between different world/states:
A powerful transition guide
When honored and worked with intentional, smoke medicine can be a guide between worlds, helping us step:
from the doing and into the being
from the busy everyday and into a sacred space
from the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) to the parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”)
from a place of mind into a place of heart
It is such an awesome bio-hack so to speak, where we can help ourselves step out of the everyday stress & raising mind into that open, receptive space (within us) where magic starts to unfold and where we can be present in the moment. The body shifts focus on a sensory level with the scent and thus guides us to arrive at the present moment in the body. This shift, when used with intention can shift us out of one state of being/mind and into another. Letting go of whatever was filling up our system and taking space and simply “walk into another space”.
Our favorite types of Smoke Medicine
There is so much that can be said about different types of Smoke medicine and different plants for smoke medicine. Overall we recommend you to start where you are comfortable and with the plants and practices that you feel connected to or most curious about.
Check out our video where we show an example of smudging with a smudge stick.
Our four favorite sacred smoke medicine:
Smudge Sticks / burning the pure stick of wood
Incense of various different plants/herb (mixture of dried plants)
Smoking a holy pipe with mapacho (tobacco)
Smudge sticks & incense
Smudge sticks or incense - we love both!
You can buy pre-made incense and smudge sticks but you can also make your own of the local plants in your area (yah). When we create our smudge sticks we sing prayers & intentions into each knot and binding. The same with incense mixtures. The recipe for the mixture you can see in the image came to Eva in a drum journey. Depending on the plants, the mixture/stick has a different “flavor” in how you can work with it. Some plants are very cleaning, some brings in softness, ease pain, others raise you upwards etc. etc.
Some incense need to be put on a burning coal to really produce proper smoke. It is also possible to have a really badass “storm”-lighter to get it fired up.
Be conscious in working with White Sage and Palo Santo
Many of you are probably familiar with White Sage and Palo Santo. Two awesome, powerful plant allies and amazing for smudging. Truly great - but unfortunately also over-harvested and increasingly endangered. Even though some native communities still uses sustainable methods to harvest and utilize the plants most of what you can buy in the west is not coming from these sources. Therefore it is a good idea to buy these plants from a source that actually cares about the harvesting and supports the indigenous communities who works deeply with these plants. Or even better - switch some of your Palo Santo/Sage use out with utilizing local plants:
Utilizing local plants
We recommend finding local plants from your area and working with them. That not only connects you deeper to your ancestral land and the nature right outside your doorstep (yah) but also tend to be more sustainable and with less over-harvested plants. There are so many amazing plants growing in ditches and along roads that are great for Smoke Medicine.
What plants to we suggest to start with?
In our area (Denmark) a great example of this is Mugwort (Gråbynke) growing incredible abundance all over the place. You can see it with seeds on in the following image.
Mugwort (can we get an amen in here!) has been used as a magical and medicinal herb for thousands of years - it is know as the healer of the woman, connected to the moon and has been used in rituals since humans have settled in Europe (maybe even earlier). Growing wild on rural areas it is seen by many as a weed, but its medicine can lift us up to higher realms. However, it has magical properties and is one of our most powerful plant allies.
You can harvest mugwort a great portion of the year, but for smudge sticks we prefer right around midsummer when the plant is super potent.
More Ideas of plants you can work with in smudge sticks or as incense mixtures:
Mugwort (Gråbynke) as smudgesticks, incense or for smoking
Tansy (Rejnfan/Regnfang) as smudgesticks or incense !Do not smoke it!
Juniper (Enebær) bz burning the wood or incense
Sprout or Pine resin (for incense on a coal)
What, how?
So how do you actually smudge with a smudge stick or incense?
Well, we decided to make a small video for you guys and gaias showing one possibility to inspire you further with Sacred Smoke Medicine. It’s also a little recap. Check it out higher up in the blog.
Holy pipe
If you have ever been to our ceremonies outdoors you probably remember the strong smell of Mapacho and recognize the sound of our dry whistle as we pray to the pipe. Of cause we could not have a newsletter on Sacred Smoke Medicine without mentioning our pipes and mapacho.
We have learned to work with Mapacho - strong, pure tobacco from the jungle - in the jungle. Working with pipes made out of the trees that we have been connecting deeply to through dietas. Tobacco/Mapacho has been used as a sacred medicine for indigenous people for millennials and there is a good reason for that. It is a powerful, sacred medicine!
It is a whole world in itself, but what we feel like mentioning is that mapacho/tobacco is a powerful spirit. It is such a versatile plant and a great plant ally for ceremonial and healing work. It takes training to master working with mapacho, and as we can see on the misuse of tobacco in the western world - it is not an easy plant to master. We are programmed in the west to see tobacco as something harmful, something addictive and something bad. Which, if we misuse this plant and enter into an addictive behavior is harmful. Addiction is not healthy. What is being put into conventional cigarettes is also not healthy. That is something very different than pure tobacco, worked with in a sacred, masterful manner.
We hope this post inspires you to dive deeper into sacred smoke medicine.
You are always welcome to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish you a loving, nourishing winter time <3