“To understand the protocol means you have to learn something about aboriginal people. So in a sense the medicines are working in a kind way, saying ‘learn about me and we can respect each other and we can walk together.” - Aboriginal elder-in-residence at the University of Toronto, Cat Criger.
To smudge helps us slow down, to stop and be grounded to Mother Earth, and the smoke spirals its way up to Creator like a prayer that returns as a blessing. It releases us from a chaotic place in the world and allows our spirit to connect to the Creator.
It is said that the smudge releases negative ions...you know the feeling of standing on the banks of a surging river, a moment in the woods where the stillness is holy. It raises one’s soul and raises emotions that can only be described as something very holy.
When one smudges, one collects herbs, plants, stems, dries them and puts them in a natural container (like a shell, or a stone-type bowl you have stumbled upon and gotten because it just feels sacred and right to you for the purpose of smudging. My smudge pot is a sacred stone, a very very old stone that actually had dried paint stains from use many centuries ago. I took it to one of the Profs at NAS (Native American Studies Faculty) to a Medicine Man who was one of my teachers. He took it to a ceremony and it was revealed to him that it had waited a very long time for me to have it. I use it every day.
When we light the smudge, we use a match, or a bit of flame from a fire, to light our smudge. (Not a lighter… When we use a match, we do not blow that match out. It is allowed to burn itself out in the container. If we light a stick from a fire, we return it to the fire.) The smoke that rises is as sacred as our very soul. It is healing and when we smudge ourselves, it is something like a baptism to those who belong to a religion they feel is right and good. We waft our hand over the smoke to keep it burning, not as a flame, but as smoke. Some use the most correct way of using an eagle feather to waft the smoke.
Every person who smudges themselves, or others; people, places things; it is blessing, not by the smudger, but it becomes the blessing of the Creator that is connected to the smoke’s rise and return around us or it.
I was taught to pull the smoke above me, down me, behind me, around me, below me that I might be blessed by the connection to Creator. We pull the smoke to our eyes that we might see what we are meant to see – to my mouth that I might say the things I am meant to say – to my ears that I might hear the things I need to hear – to my nose that I might sense the things I am meant to sense – and, finally, to my heart in much gratitude. There are different protocols in different places and to know the right ways is to sit and watch and listen and learn how to do it in the right way.
Smudging is a way to purify ourselves, to cleanse all negativity from us. Every culture might use different plants or herbs to smudge with, that are collected in the right way – never paid for with money…always gathering ourselves or giving honor gifts for receiving such. When I gather, I was taught to give thanks to above, the ground, the plant in four directions and never ever take more of a plant than we need so that we only take a bit of one plant until we have what we need. Pure tobacco is offered to the plant in gratitude.
When we are done smudging, the ashes are filled with the negative energy and we must take it to our sacred burying place to bury the ashes.
It is indescribable the feeling that one has of well-being, of groundedness, of holiness one feels after smudging. It is said that smudging changes the molecular structure of air around it and breathing in the smudge smoke enhances ancient memories and instincts as well as healing us from the negativity of fear, of anger, of anxiety, of grief, of sadness. It is good to sit with the feeling for some time after smudging so that our very soul soaks the blessings in.
I can only tell you what I have learned for myself. It is best to ask an Elder on your own, but, if you do smudge, be sure that you try to keep in mind some of the things I have blogged about so that you can do it a good way until you can meet someone who can teach you more and the right way for you. Remember, this is being borrowed from ancient tribal ways and it is most sacred to them so we should not do it in a flippant way. It is spiritually significant that we honor and give gratitude to those who have taught or shown us the right ways to do this.
©Carol Desjarlais 1.10.22
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