Smudging History

Smudging is a common practice through which people seek blessings from a sacred smoke bowl. It is a very powerful Native American cleansing technique. The smudging technique calls on the sacred plants to remove the negative energy and restore the balance by bringing in the positive energy. This technique is the art of cleansing people and the environment around them through a ceremony and a ritual. Smudging has been a part of Native American tradition for many years but now it’s getting more and more famous among people.

Though smudging seems to be a modern process, it has been there for thousands of years. There are many city highfliers using the process to sell their apartments and also improve their luck in business. When a person lights a smudge stick he gets connected to a spiritual tradition that originates from depths of time.

Power of Smudging

Smudging can be a very powerful ritual in the world of spiritual energy. The human body and the environment around us are not made of just physical matter they also contain some invisible energy. The process of cleansing our body and home with the help of smudging can clear away all the emotional garbage that would have gathered around us over the years. This process can also be called spiritual spring cleaning. The effects of smudging are great and surprisingly swift. The rituals involved in this process help in attract love, banish stress, give you energy and sooth you. They help in bringing the family together and adjust to the healing seasonal rhythms. They have the capacity to turn a place into a soothing sanctuary.

Smudging Tradition

It is impossible to say when actually the smudging process began. May be the early civilizations realized that burning certain herbs would be beneficial for humans. Aside from other practical aspects humans have also realized that smoke ascends to the heavens and to the world of spirits as if it was a spiritual messenger.

Almost all the traditions in the world use some cleansing element or herbal smoke mixtures from India, China, to Europe and the western world.

Native American Method

Originally the mixture of resins and sacred herbs were dried and burned in a special bowl. Then the smoke was fanned around the person or the place which needed cleansing and purification. However the smudge sticks offer an easier way to smudge effectively.

The herbs which are used often in making smudge are sweet grass and sage. Sage helps in removing negative energies and negative thoughts. Sweet grass helps attracting positive energies after negative energies are banished.

Native Americans use the smudging process to shift from one level of reality to the other which connects us with the physical world and subtle realms of spirit.

Smudging process

The best way is to get a shell as any heat proof container is more than useful. Then light the sage and let it burn for a minute. Then extinguish the flame so that the sage is smoking hot. After this pick up the smudge container and move it in clockwise movements, encircle the person or the place being smudged and ask all the negative energies to go away.