With having to balance everything in your life from your family, friends, career, and even the stress of politics, it’s no surprise the quest for self-peace and spiritual preservation has developed into the latest trend.

Burning sage, has become the most popular means in finding solace, but are people using it correctly in its purpose? Or is it enough for people to be on a surface level of understanding where there is only a desire for “clearing spaces from demons”??

With its earliest origins linked to Native American rituals, today’s practice of burning sage has evolved into nontraditional methods. Cleansing ceremonies have become less sacred these days while still being centered on the purpose of intentions.

Emotionally heavy situations such as death, arguments, being around people going through hardships or walking into new situations like homes or jobs are all prime “intentions” for burning sage.

How to burn sage:

• Have intentions
• Light the tip of the bundle with fire
• Let flame engulf until white smoke appears
• Blow out the flame, proceed in smudging
• Allow remaining smoke to simmer in smudging bowl

Smudging is a ritual where a person acknowledges their intentions while physically transporting the sage’s smoke across their body and throughout areas of the living space. Windows (or doors) are also opened during this physical removal of negative energy. The remaining sage bundle is then placed in a designated smudging bowl until the smoke is no longer available.

Burning sage should not serve as a daily act for cleansing spaces. The ancestral belief of burning sage is said to rid spaces of both positive and negative energy. If performed daily (and without intention), a person could run the risk of losing any possible good energy acquired.

If a person is in search of daily cleansing, Palo Santo should be used as an alternative to burning sage. Unlike burning sage, Palo Santo is more suitable for daily use because of its ability to cleanse negative energy while still preserving positive energy.

It is our responsibility to know everything there is to know about the practices we adopt. Even when things are introduced to us as trends, we should still take the time to learn as much as we can to ensure they are truly meant for us. Shouldn’t we owe ourselves that much??