Sage and the City, Ashram, Farm

This post is inspired by a friend who just asked me how to use sage.

As per an article on Chopra.com by Bess O'Connor Smudging is an ancient ceremony in which you burn sacred plants, such as sage, to allow the smoke to clear and bless a space.

So here is what I personally do:

I walk around our apartment in New York City with burning sage (my friend sometimes gifts me hand-picked sage from Utah) blowing carefully into it  (see photo) to create smoke.

Then I return to the living room where I started, extinguish the sage and open the window (if only a crack during the winter).  I sit down for meditation, usually breath-based, my favorite.  I may do some asana or self-reflexology.  Most of the time I set the intention to simply be present.  

Shri Jasnath, Panchla Siddha: At the ashram smudging was part of daily puja and done by baba (the priest) while gurujii or one of his disciples led the chant accompanied by drums and ashram visitors.  It took place outside before dinner (see photo below).

Farm Austria: Back home at my grandparents' farm in Austria (my first home), it was done annually on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  We also visited extended family to bless their houses and used a pan just like at the ashram.  My brother continues the tradition at the farm.  As a child I liked watching getting the pan ready and joining the walk through the house; opening and closing doors, walking up stairs.  It was a small procession in a way.  Naturally we also encounter it in church. 

New Mexico, August 2004. 

I personally did not use sage until 2004 when I spent two weeks in the desert in New Mexico.  We had driven there all the way from New York.  We stayed outside of Taos.  I went for a walk behind the house we stayed at every morning admiring the sagebrush landscape, the vastness of the mesa. The scent was intoxicating and very comforting to me;  my grandmother had died at the beginning of our trip.  Sage has ever since been of great comfort to me and I even keep some on my bedside table as well as the bathroom.  I often wake up to the waft of sage in the summer.  The sense of smell like no other is connected to the limbic system (emotions). 

Did you know that "sage" derived from the Latin word 'salvare' which means 'heal' or 'save'?

Smudging is a ritual rooted in ancient times.  Creating your own version connects you to your most inner self. 

Below quotes are from Scientific American (below link).  And there is the link to the article by Bess O'Connor.  I am inviting you to consider to add smudging to your wellness kit like my friend.

 "Rituals take an extraordinary array of shapes and forms. At times performed in communal or religious settings, at times performed in solitude; at times involving fixed, repeated sequences of actions, at other times not. People engage in rituals with the intention of achieving a wide set of desired outcomes, from reducing their anxiety to boosting their confidence, alleviating their grief to performing well in a competition – or even making it rain."

"Recently, a series of investigations by psychologists have revealed intriguing new results demonstrating that rituals can have a causal impact on people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-rituals-work/

http://www.chopra.com/articles/clear-your-energy-and-lift-your-spirits-with-the-sacred-art-of-smudgin

Blessings, 

Birgit Nagele, ARCB, LVCY, TSY

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