SAGE!
It's not just for turkey :)
Sage is awesome!
It can mean a profoundly wise person, describe a color, it is a plant used for cleansing rituals, it is a plant used for seasoning meat.
White sage is typically used for smudging a home, cleansing it of negative energy. It is sold in stick form as a bundle of dried white sage. Some people use culinary sage that is grown in herb gardens just because it is what they have on hand. The other herbs used for smudging that can be combined with the white sage are sweet grass, cedar and tobacco. Sage oil is also used for purification and cleansing of negative energies.
You can buy sage smudge sticks here. Or, you can make your own (see video below).
Using sage in ritual is a very ancient custom. From the Moving Towards Peace site:
"The ritual burning of herbs and herbal resins is common to many cultures in the world. From the rich frankincense of the Church and the Middle Eastern bazaar, to the heady incenses of Asia, to the raw energy of brush burning in many native cultures—the purification of space through this modality is a global phenomenon and one you can benefit from highly.
Burning sage is one of the oldest and purest methods of cleansing a person, group of people or space. While Native American sage burning is the most commonly recognized form of it today, it has nevertheless been a shared practice in other cultures too.
From the ancient Celtic druids who used sage as a sacred herb alongside Oak Moss for burning as well as medicinal purposes, to the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon whose Palo Santo (sacred wood) sage burning ceremonies are still practiced to this day.
Sage is for healing. Many who eschew the burning of incenses and herbs as a cleansing method and think that the only purpose in this tradition is to make dwellings smell nice, have perhaps never smelled sage burning. No one who has smelled the distinct acrid tang of burning sage would say that it could only be for ‘aesthetic’ olfactory purposes.
The Latin for sage, ‘Salvia,’ stems from the word ‘to heal.’ The other qualities of sage when burned, such as giving wisdom, clarity and increasing spiritual awareness, are also indicated in the name. It’s no accident that we refer to wise people as sagely.
The benefits of burning sage can be harnessed very simply by burning sage in your home, office or any other place in need of cleansing."
Some sage advice: