Natural Medicine - growing Lavender for Smudging

in naturalmedicine •  6 years ago  (edited)

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We are growing Sage and Lavender for our Smudge bundles ...

The summer flowers are all gone but the Lavender keeps growing it beautiful soft fuzzy leaves.

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Interesting I have heard others speak of smudging. I thought it was just new age stuff didn't realize the connection to First Nations culture. Nice picture btw @offgridlife

Yeah ... I think it’s pretty ancient

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Had to pick up some sage. And funny thing is in our traditions I ask family.

So of course my wish is granted after a quizzical look. And I only needed a little bit. But of course the entire bundle had to come off the buffalo skull where it was chilling after being blessed.

In a way my life is total blessings.

Smudge on!

I just recently bought a few new necklaces (amethyst, lapis, rainbow moonstone, etc) I always smudge my new stones before wearing them or handling them too much. Tonight is the full moon so I will be charging all of them as well.

Excellent.

“Smudge sticks?” What do you do with smudge sticks?

That’s sage pictured in the image, isn’t it?

Smudging is a ceremony practiced by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, that involves the burning of sacred herbs, in some cases for spiritual cleansing or blessing. While the particulars of the ceremonies, and the herbs used can vary widely between tribes and nations, many use forms of sage (for example, common sage or white sage) and cedar that is local to their region. Not all Native American and First Nations cultures that burn herbs for ceremony call what they do, smudging. While using scent and scented smoke (such as incense) in religious and spiritual rites is an element common to many different cultures worldwide, the details and spiritual meanings are usually unique to the specific cultures in question... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smudging

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Oh. I knew of the ceremonies, but not what they were called. I’d always presumed each native culture had their own term for the ceremonies.

We just call it smudging here around the Great Lakes.

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Done at different times of the year... Summer Solstice etc. I am only Metis... just learning my ancestors Traditions

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My great great grandmothers were from Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron and Mackinaw Island ...so their traditions are from Ojibwe/Chippewa, Odawa and Shawnee ... probably each different

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It’s so cool that you’ve had the chance to learn these traditions. There’s one Cherokee ancestor back more than 250 years in my lineage. But, I know almost nothing about her accept that she’s there.

I found out through my uncle that we had Ojibwe ancestors... I did a DNA test and learned that my Maternal DNA is X2a - Ojibwe

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Cool. Excepting that one Cherokee ancestor, I have a pretty good handle on my ancestry on the maternal side. It’s mostly Scottish. Back in the 70s and 80s, my Gran traced the family line. She began with family Bibles that faithfully recorded descendants back more than 200 years in America – in fact, the first ancestor set down in the oldest Bible was the one who immigrated to America. From there, she was able to pick up the trail from peerage records because the family was nobility before coming to the States (the Grahams of Montrose). Gran was, herself, a Graham. She also had a family Bible for my mother’s paternal side that was over 150 years old and had the family tree set down in it too, up to her ex-husband’s generation. My own paternal ancestry isn’t as precise, but is known to be Scottish (the Averitt clan) and British and Irish (the Bristoe family is known to be British and Irish).

Awesome... amazing to learn about our origins and family history. Luckily it was recorded in family bibles and places like that... I can’t find much on my dad’s side since my great grandfather was adopted in Calabria Italy. I learned my YDNA Haplogroup is is E1b1b1 and still trying to trace my origins in Italy.

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It is Lavender in the photo...we dry the sage and lavender, bundle them together and light them to create smoke for our Algonquin smudging practices. I am Metis (Ojibwe and French Canadian) we do this as part of a healing ceremony ... giving thanks to Gitchee Manitou. (Great Spirit)

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Excellent..!!!

Is this a medicinal flower?

Yes

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