Happy Spring Friends!
Ours here in Northern Cal. started earlier than usual, in January with rains that are still here (yes!), and ready buds and blooms. In my Natives garden I planted more local sages, and in another sage garden nearby, my first non-Cali native sages, include this beauty from Peru with giant aromatic leaves, that bloomed all winter long.
February to the present has been a bit of a blur; all about planting, preparing for the new harvests of the year, meeting with other harvesters, formulating Moon blends, and keeping the shop running. It’s always a challenge to balance what I love (keeping my fingers appropriately in the spring dirt) with Moon Making and formulating- all while maintaining the shop. And so, I am on Spring Break now! The shop is closed now for some family & down time and…
the next Spring Smudge class!! I am THRILLED to announce one of the first of big changes to Sacred Land Sage is based on requests for more smudge classes. So Seasonal Smudge and ritual classes are here!
As the Earth warms, the snows melt, storms and rains abound… it’s time to honor the change of seasons~ inside and out!
Learn how Sages and your Smudging Rituals can be adapted to Spring Ceremony
Join me for a 4-part Sage and Smudge course that begins with a solid foundation in Smudging Basics, and moves into “Honoring the Medicine,” Seasonal smudging rituals for Spring Equinox, and special Spring days, and lunar cycles.
Teaching Sage Ritual and Smudge classes makes me happy on many fronts; foremost, I get to ‘teach others to fish!’ I have been so blessed over the years to have the mentors I have- from Native American to Asian Traditions; from harvesters, and naturalists, to incense makers. All have shown me how to plant, harvest, conduct ceremony, and honor the earth and her Sacred Medicines along the way. After smudging others’ homes and businesses for over 25 years, I’ve always wanted to find a way to help others adopt their own powerful personal rituals. This is lasting part after all.
There are many layers to working with sacred plants. The more mainstream smudging becomes, we have to make sure the sacred corners don’t get cut too much. Ceremony can be intense. And smudging in all of life’s challenges does take some time to learn to apply. For me, It has taken almost 3 decades and I am still learning every day. Saging (working with Sages in ceremony) is the most powerful personal healing practice I know.
To get a good foundation in smudging is an investment in yourself, your heart, your self-care routine. So we start with the study of energy, the plant spirits, what you bring to ceremony, and basic practices of honoring what is sacred in the everyday. We practice on ourselves foremost. We create a routine of Honoring. This is when the self care, healing and growth can begin.
My Second joy in offering more classes is to answer questions coming from one– for all. In my work growing sages, offering smudge supplies, and making personal smudge kits for others over the years, I get asked good questions every day. This is the basis of my FAQs, and my forthcoming book on smudging. I will be adding resources for others as I go. Offering classes helps me pass on information, and get your reactions in these early stages. So please join me!
My new seasonal smudge classes invite us to tune in to the world around us, to notice what is happening, to invite these energetic influences to our ceremony. Our earth based Saging rituals are empowered by natural events around us (weather, seasons, equinoxes, solstices), by basic planetary influences (eclipses, lunar cycles…)– all of these serve to strengthen our personal rituals, for balance, purification, and for well-being. The main class emphasis is sage and “Saging” (a substitute word for smudging by the way, favored by many in the Native American Indian community). But we will focus as much on the rituals themselves; why we do certain things, use certain tools, focus our intentions as we do. In this spring class- you use whatever you have, in the spirit of Sustainable Smudging. More on that soon.
Registration for the Spring Smudge class is Open, there are still spaces. Each course includes a combination of live streaming and pre-recorded classes (a pre-record Smudging Foundation class video will be provided before the first class starts- Mar. 19.) And we have a private Facebook group for participants. Find more details here.
And lastly, a question for you: What topics do you want to learn more about in the world of saging and smudging? Please respond in comments to this post.
Thank you for reading!
Sacred Land Sage 