Smudge • Giving Thanks
This little booklet gently helps you become familiar with Indigenous spirituality as it pertains to the act of burning your medicines, smudging or prayer.
To burn our medicines is to speak with the Natural and Spirit Worlds. While I cannot speak for all Indigenous nations, generally our spirituality encompasses Creation. Creation is a spirit and creation is everything. Grandmother Moon, Brother (or Grandfather) Sun and Mother Earth, the waters, animals (feathered, crawlers, swimmers, four legged and sliders), the winds, thunders, plant and medicines, our ancestors the rocks and stones and us, the people. Remember that Creator is not one thing, one man or one God; Creator is Creation. If you collect all of the spirits of the natural world together together, you will have a sense of Creator.
The Indigenous practice of giving thanks, asking for guidance and cleansing to go forward in a good way is often called ‘smudging’.
Calling it in your ancestral language is best - ‘smudge’ is not our word, ‘prayer’ is not our word. But do not let words stop you - what you are doing is born from a more complex language than any human could ever speak.
Past the highest flying bird, past the clouds, Sun and Grandmother Moon is where the smoke rises. We are taught that the smoke is a direct link to Creator, Ancestors and the Sky or Spirit World. You must burn medicine with a good mind - it is not something you do thoughtlessly or out of habit.
None of our ceremonies are valuable unless you are carrying love, respect, courage, truth, wisdom, gratitude and most importantly humility. Humility is knowing that you are a small part of Creation, that everything is connected and you are reliant on the health of Mother Earth to survive this part of your journey.
We burn sacred medicines that were planted here on Mother Earth at the time of Creation. They help us maintain physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health.
When we burn any of our 4 sacred medicines, the smoke created will rise up to the Sky or Spirit World; it is from there that Creator and our Ancestors watch over us. The smoke is a passageway and we use that to send our messages of gratitude, our worries, our good intentions and the promises that we will do better.
In the morning, it is traditional to burn sage to begin a new day with gratitude and a fresh start. It is okay to burn medicines whenever you want and as often as you want - as long as it is with good intentions.
North | Cedar | Mental Health
Burning cedar encourages mental health and physical healing - a sharpening of thought and reason, a strengthening of body and is a guardian. Cedar behaves medicinally and is valuable in healing. Cedar is used in lodges and fasting ceremony and sits in the north.
West | Sage | Physical Health
Burning sage in your personal spaces and environment will clear the mind and encourage good emotional health. It cleanses from illness in any of the four forms. Sage sits in the west.
East | Tobacco | Spiritual Health
Burning tobacco is to create a sacred connection between you and Creator - a spiritual health. Tobacco is our first and most sacred medicine given to us by Creator. Tobacco sits in the east.
South | Sweetgrass | Emotional Health
Burning sweetgrass is aromatic, calming and comforting, promoting emotional health and sits in the south. It reminds us of community; the love, kindness and kinship that we should have for ourselves and others. It is the sacred hair of Mother Earth - one strand if fragile but a braid of it is strong and unbreakable; unity and respect.
Smudge Medicine Bundles (Kits)
Smudge bundles (kits) are a valuable tool when communicating with Creation, clearing your thoughts and freshening your space.
Creation gave medicines to everyone. It is my teaching that where your ancestors walked, is where you'll find your medicine. Mine walked here, on Turtle Island (North and Central America) and so I can access these medicines here on this land. Everyone has the right to practice their own spirituality anywhere they like and I understand that many people do not have access to traditional tools and desire to use them to enhance their spirituality. If I can help people better understand our Indigenous spirituality, and give them access to the information and tools that they want, I will always do so.
This is your own personal bundle. Remember when you were little and you had a little stash of things you love the most? It could be a stone, a memory or a gift from someone special...that is a bundle and it's yours.
You also have a sacred bundle in your body and spirit and you arrived here from Sky World with that bundle inside of you. It contains all of your secrets; your gifts, your strengths, your weaknesses and above all, your purpose of being.
Make your smudge kit just like that - a bundle of all things that are special and healthy for you. All good things are medicine.
Important:
You can make your own smudge kit. You do not have to buy any tools for this spiritual gesture.
You can use a dish, bowl or pan instead of a shell. Creator is not judging what you use - it's what is in your heart - it's your good intentions that matter.
If you want a kit from this site, you will get medicines from my garden. I do not sell medicines.
Abalone Shells
Abalone is a mollusk or sea snail that clings to rocks in coastal waters. She carries the spirit of the ocean and embodies the sacredness of water. She is tied to the cycles of the moon and cleansing energy of the tides.
Historically, inland Indigenous communities traded with Coastal Nations for these shells and they became the beautiful vessels that we still use today for burning our sacred medicines, creating tools and jewelry.
Abalone was overharvested in the 1970’s and 80’s when restaurants sold the expensive mollusk as an aphrodesiac. Abalone quickly became endanged and totally disappeared from north american oceans.
All Abalone shells are now imported (Mexico/Asia/Australia, etc.) or acquired from farms. While some fish farms can be beneficial, many are detrimental to the natural environment by intruducing genetically modified species, disease, waste and upset to shoreline ecosystems.
With this understanding, Pass The Feather in partnership with Millside Ceramics have created an alternative: ceramic smudge bowls.
Creation/Creator, Ancestors and the Sky/Spirit World will hear you. It doesn’t matter what kind of bowl you use in your ceremony.
Pass The Feather Smudge Kits Now Include Traditional Clay Pinch Pot Smudge Bowls
PTF will no longer buy abalone shells simply because the origins are not North America - even if they are, it is not guaranteed that the farm is safe and not environmentally detrimental.
Your Pine Feather Keeper Smudge Kit will now contain hand made, traditional clay pinch pot smudge bowls. These bowls are hand made by Iehstoseranon:nha. They take longer, but we know it is an ethical and safe alternative. I am willing to do the work to ensure the health of Mother Earth and her all of her children - our relatives.
Pine Feather Keeper
This feather keeper is made specifically for Pass The Feather. It cannot be found anywhere else.
A tree is planted for every box made. Find your feather keeper on this website's shop page.
Wooden Stand
It is unknown how these stands became part of our traditional smudge kit.
These stands or 'Cobra' stands are made in India. They are usually hand carved from one piece of wood. They are beautiful but are not traditional to our people.
For this reason, we are no longer offering the wooden stand with our smudge kits.
* kit no longer comes with this wooden stand.
Choose your medicines well and with care. Respect the medicines.
Our practice of burning medicines or 'smudging' is not to be confused with what is done in many Pagan and New Age communities - that is where the definition has been adopted and modified.
Indigenous ways are old, since time immemorial, they began with our ancestors and are alive and well today.
It is my personal opinion that if you are doing something with good intentions and your actions do not cause physical, mental, spiritual or emotional harm to you or others, then continue.
Burning any of Creator's medicines (plants) should be done carefully and with some authentic knowledge given to you by a knowing source. You should always ask permission and then give back to Mother Earth when using anything she offers.
This practice of burning medicine is not for sale, neither are Creator's medicines. Medicines are not to be wasted or overused. Keep them sacred.