Smudging Ceremony
Sunday, November 12, 2006 (03:28:54)

Posted by Cougar

Smudging Ceremony
Smudging is used in several spiritual traditions as a method of cleansing. Smoke from burning herbs is fanned over the body, usually with a feather, cleansing the energy field of the person. The room or space outdoors used for the ceremony is smudged also.
The herbs most commonly used in smudging are the plants of the Spirit Keepers:
Sweetgrass
Tobacco
White Sage
Cedar

Sweetgrass stimulates positive energies. Tobacco absorbs either positve or negative energies. Sage gets rid of negativity. And Cedar is cleansing. Lavender, rosemary, and other plants may be added to your smudge mixture also. This enables the specific energies of the plants to become incorporated into the ceremony.
For this ceremony you will need:
Sage, Sweetgrass, Cedar, or Tobacco, or a combination
a shell or fireproof dish
a fan or feather
matches
Choose the plants you want to use, mix them in a shell or bowl and light them.
When they are burning, use a fan or feather to put out the flame.
Once the herbs are smoldering, draw the smoke to your heart, then over your head, down your arms, and down the front of your body, then the back of your body toward the ground.
Now offer smoke to the six directions: up to Creator, down to the Earth Mother, to the North, East, South, and West.
Walk around the area you will be using during your ceremony ~ your sacred space ~ wafting the smoke with the feather. You may want to leave a window open.
Adapted from "Dancing With the Wheel: The Medicine Wheel Workbook" by Sun Bear, Wabun Wind, and Crysalis Mulligan