Sure, sage is available to buy, but I think you’re canceling out the healing properties and innate ‘good vibes’ you’re going for by perpetrating unsustainable capitalism and Native erasure,” Walker says. Walker says buying sage also defeats the purpose of the plant’s medicine-many Native Americans say sage should be gifted, never purchased. A Google search for “ethical sage bundles” returned nearly nine million results. is coming from illegal harvests like this, despite brands promoting their sage as being ethically sourced. There’s even a “white sage mafia.” In 2018, four people were arrested with more than 400 pounds of illegally harvested white sage taken from the North Etiwanda Preserve of Rancho Cucamonga, California. is illegal in wildlife preserves and public land.

Then, in 1978, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act restored the ability for Native people to use sage medicinally. That ban extended more than fifty years, and more than 100 in the U.S. According to Bianca Millar of the Wendake reserve in Québec (she’s half Huron-Wendat and half Scottish), the use of sage and other cultural activities was banned in Canada in 1876. Sage’s complicated backstory extends beyond just cultural appropriation. “Smudging is very specific to prayer, so you can burn sage without smudging and you can smudge without needing to light sage on fire.” She adds that not all Native tribes use sage. “Speaking for myself and what I’ve been taught about my Lakota culture, sage is a critical component within Lakota medicinal and ceremonial knowledge,” Walker says. Walker is a Mniconjou Lakota and a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. “Smudging sage has nothing to do with the magical room-cleansing nonsense sold by uninspired capitalists,” writer and activist Taté Walker, told Fashionista. It helps tackle any bad juju you sense looming, clears the energy in your field, and allows you to start anew.”īut Native Americans say this commodification, especially of sacred white sage, is offensive. “Smudging can clear your emotional, energetic, mental, spiritual, and physical body-as well as your environment (home, office, or other physical space). The most effective way to combat an energy traffic jam is smudging,” shamanic energy medicine practitioner Colleen McCann told Goop. Stuck energy can gather like unwanted guests at a house party. “If you’re feeling stuck, negative, sluggish, or perhaps as if a spirit is following you around like a creepy ex-boyfriend…it may be due to some bad energy in your field. Many of us have taken to saging or smudging our homes and bodies to root out unwanted energy or “evil spirits.” Perhaps it’s leftover well-intended hippie habits of the 1960s, but its more likely part of the growing commodification of “spirituality.” Modern appropriation of sage smudging And that’s quite the irony as the holiday celebrates the land stolen from Native Americans.īut we don’t just eat sage on Thanksgiving. Here in the U.S., it’s practically synonymous with Thanksgiving. It’s also widely revered for its unmistakable flavor. And in the Americas, it was valued as a great healer and protector. Charlemagne deemed it so important it was planted on German Imperial farms. The Chinese would trade four pounds of black tea for one pound of French sage. Traditional sage usesĪncient Romans valued sage for its healing benefits. It’s tied to traditions and religions, particularly in Native American cultures. And, in recent years, it’s been commodified and appropriated by the Western ‘wellness’ sect.īut burning sage is more than just a Febreze alternative sage is renowned and respected all around the world for its clearing and purifying properties. It’s been valued as a medicinal and spiritual herb across the Americas for millennia.

The leaves produce an earthy, musky scent that’s concentrated when dried. The sage plant is native to the Mediterranean region but has grown across the Americas for ages. A perennial evergreen shrub of the mint family with soft, gray-green leaves, produces blue and purple flowers. Sage, Salvia officinalis, is one of the most interesting, storied plants in human history. But it comes at the expense of Native communities. Burning sage bundles or “smudging” is big business for affluent white people.

Sage burning