Smudging and its significance
Among First Nations people smudging is a sacred ceremony meant to bring about change. Smudging helps to purify our bodies, aura and energy; cleanse ceremonial spaces and personal articles; clears the negative and attracts the positive; is used to help centre and balance body, mind and spirit; and promotes healing. You see, our bodies are not only physical, but vibrate with those invisible silent energies that come when all the elements and their medicines are working together. This is what makes smudging so powerful, using all the elements together and understanding that purpose is our responsibility to self during ceremony.
PHYSICAL - EARTH - MEDICINES
- CEDAR-Wards off sickness
- TOBACCO-Connects us to spirit realm
- SAGE-Clears negative (clearing the mind)
- SWEETGRASS-Attracts positive, brings beauty and sweetness around us into our sacred spaces
Understand that every medicine has many purposes, we need to state clearly what it is we need, but that the medicines know better than us what it is we truly need. We have to be open and allow and trust them to work for us in a positive way to create a positive change. So when we use the medicines we call on their spirit and the element of earth to help us.
MENTAL - AIR - FEATHERS
"The bridging of the heavens & earth together." Because of the way a feather is constructed, it has the ability to "comb" someone's aura or energy of blockages allowing a cleaning and a cleansing to happen. So when we use a feather we call on the strength and gentleness that it holds and the element of air to help us.
EMOTIONAL - WATER - SHELL
The shell represents all our waters. Water cleanses the earth of the negative, quenches our thirst in times of need and brings life to the world. The medicine that water holds is the most powerful medicine of all. It is both gentle and calm, yet ferocious and turbulent. It brings about change in many ways naturally and emotionally. This medicine is carried within the shell. So when we use the shell we call on the element of water to help us.
SPIRITUAL - FIRE - SMOKE
When fire is used to light the medicines within the shell it awakens the existing powers at work. It also brings a male energy into the ceremony for balance. The smoke carries our prayers to all of Creation and to our Creator of all things. So when we use the smoke we call on the element of fire to help us.