Thoughts on smudge sticks

Cedar

Angelica

Redwood

Copal

Redbud

Mesquite

Sweet grass

Oak

Lodgepole

Balsam

Rose

Willow

Fungi

Juniper

Pinion

Lichens

Doug Fir

Yerba Santa

Roots and rhizome

A cuppa water

Tons of resins, all kinds

I could go on. What's missing? "Sage" specially saliva apiana, more commonly known as "white sage"

Been seeing reading lots of people pushing the /smudge stick/ thing, I'm like "why?" I personally don't use "sage" like that. Sometimes people bring us some. It lasts a long time, still have that same "smudge stick" from 5 years ago. Good in a throat gargle for the cough, cold, flu season. I've made infused oil out of it to combine with chaparral, resin and cannabis to make a antibiotic salve. But to "smudge" with? No. I don't even really smudge. Dislike the word right now, overused, tired, unnecessary. And we don't always have to /banish/cleanout/ often we need to welcome and call in. We can utilize so many other flora and fauna. I personally prefer utilizing palos. Sticks, wood, from my region or some given to me. Medicine from my own nec of the woods is more powerful and in better shape then something I would have ordered and had delivered through the mail and then again I also have a relationship to these plants out here. Bioregional medicine. Most powerful. We can refrain from always thinking we need to clean, banish, scour, purge, colonic, enema, douch. Enough with the bloodletting and use of leeches already. Use what's growing around the place. Get to know it. If you must clean out, learn and get to know what's in your area. Doesn't always have to the burned and smoking either. Making an infusion, either hot or cold will be powerful and effective. It can be used as a spray, a floor and house wash, you can even just use your hands and flick the waters around your home, sweep it over your own self. Or just keep some of the plant around the place, just sitting there. Marigolds floating in a bowl of water know what to do and are already doing it.

Just my two beads worth.

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Medicine Bundles

It’s often thought that medicine is an elixir, pill or tincture and sometimes it is. I’m referring to medicine as something one takes when ill or imbalanced. I am also referring to medicine which brings us back to our original song and being. A spiritual tonic, tea or talisman. Let’s remember tonight that Medicine Bundles, both physical and spiritual are also places on earth.

Joshua Tree, March 1, 2019 

Joshua Tree, March 1, 2019 

A few things Oya has taught me Heykua hey iya mi...

A few things Oya has taught me


Heykua hey iya mi, hekau hey Yansa. Oya is in and around me. She has always taught me the impermanence of things and to be right, Right meaning as opposed to wrong or contractive/contraction. Yansa says be here now and move in ways that are in the present. She reminds us of our short, unpredictable time on earth and requires us to walk in balance and in a good way in the strength of our youth and vibrance as well as our feebleness and declining years on earth. Humans often become cocky and too self confident in the time of their good health and youth.They can become rude, mean, selfish and self centered and only become loving, empathetic, receptive, quiet and giving when they have a health crisis or lose their job, home, their mind, their bodily abilities and the lives of loved ones. They see and fear the gates of the cemetery at that point or get a glimpse into loss and begin to correct their imbalanced way of living on earth. Sometimes they revert back to their contractive ways then suddenly they have a recurrence of the diagnosis or trauma that spurred them into change in the first place and they begin the cycle all over again. Oya’s winds are usually not predictable or calm and she reminds us that we don’t always have time to make it up, redo, repair things, say things. Suddenly we are out of time and life.

Oya is not patient and is part of the cutlass/machete posse and wears fire for a skirt. She severs things, strikes them down, puts an end to them, takes away to make room for necessary growth. Her winds can change on a dime. She is secretive and serious and hard to get to know. Her location on earth isn’t where you think it is, physically or otherwise. Arrows cannot easily find her. When she is not assisting her children in battle or balancing things in the world, she is deep in the woods. Oya dislikes greed, monopolies, meanness, deceit and dishonesty and brings unexpected change for everyone. She speaks the truth even when it’s hard to hear and guts the belly of the liar. Initiates of Oya often rile people up and they become rattled in her presence. Change often makes people anxious and uncomfortable and Oya kicks up the winds of people’s //stuff// When asking an initiate of Oya for their opinion or advice, make sure you don’t have an answer in your head that you’d like to hear. Chances are likely that their words will be unexpected and cut like a knife. To fear change is to fear the essence of Oya, and many are afraid, understandably. It’s common for one to be in the presence of an initiated priest of Oya for a quick chat or visit and then directly after, find their world has quickly changed. She brings transformation to people’s seen and unseen worlds so that they may move from stagnation, calcification and inflexibility into movement growth, healing, evolution and elevation.