Beginners Guide to Sage Smuging
Why Sage?
You are likely reading this because you have seen someone using sage as part of a spiritual practice, it struck a chord and you want to try it for yourself.
Sage smudging is an ancient spiritual practice used in rituals and brought to us by shamans and indigenous people from around the world.
Carry on reading to learn some of the benefits, how mantras can intensify your ritual and how to safely create a sage ritual at home.
Sage as a Spiritual Tool
Sage smudging has been used for centuries as a spiritual tool to enhance intuition and connect to a higher energy or spiritual realm. Healers often use sage to achieve a healing state and dispel negativity.
There may be some scientific basis to this too as some sage plants contain thujone and research shows that thujone is mildly psychoactive and contained in many plants used in cultural spiritual practices to enhance intuition.
In traditional cultures, sage plays an important role as a remedy for treating anxiety, depression and mood disorders, so there is probably a reason you feel so chilled when you experience the cleansing ritual of sage.
How to Create Your Own Sage Ritual
What you will need
Sage stick or smudging stick (like the one in the picture below)
A ceramic bowl or shell
Matches or a lighter
A smudge fan or feather (optional)
Prepare
Set an intention for your ritual
What is it you would like to cleanse or draw in?
Meditate on your intention to cultivate the right energy
Select a mantra or speak from the heart (see mantras below)
Open window / door
Let’s Begin
Light the sage with a match
Blow out any flames if it catches fire
You want the sage to smoulder like incense
It will release a thick smoke
Direct the smoke around yourself, person, or room you wish to perform the ritual
Use the feather to help direct the smoke
Use the ceramic bowl to catch any ashes
Sage Prayers and Mantras
You can use these prayers or mantras to call in energy during your ritual. Try them out and see which resonates with you.
Simple Cleansing Prayer
Into this smoke I release all energies
That no longer serve my greatest good,
All negativity that surrounds me, and
All fears that limit me, I ask that only
Love, light and peace fill my space.
And so, it is…
Love Mantra
I open this space to divine love, may all the energy that flows through here benefit the heart space.
May it hold compassion, nurturance, forgiveness, and truth.
Divinity Mantra
May this sage cleanse your hands,
Your feet, your mind, your throat, your souls and your eyes.
Thus, enabling you touch, see, feel, and hear,
The wonders and beauty of the world.
May your space be purified,
By the smoke of Palo Santo
In a way that carries your prayers to
The heavens of acceptance.
Mantra to Call in Inspiration and Creativity
I’d like to invite in the divine abundance of
Inspiration, creativity, and productivity to my space.
May the ________ (artwork, project , contract) I feel within my heart
Come to the fruition in a form that benefits my greatest good.
I ask that it shows up for the greater good of all.
Things to note
It is important to conduct these rituals with respect and reverence.
Take time to get yourself in the right frame of mind and set time aside to carry the ritual out with the energy and time it deserves.
Cleanse yourself before you cleanse anything else. You wouldn’t clean your floor with dirty feet so the same applies here.
It is believed that the smoke carries with it any negatively energy so you will want to open a window or door if you are inside so the smoke can escape.
Close the ceremony when you are done by holding palms together and saying “namaste” or “thank you, thank you, thank you.”
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