The Smoke Medicines of Your Ancestors
Your ancestors have been using sacred smoke medicines for millennia.
From ceremony to celebration, the magic and fragrance of special plants have played an important role, and there has never been a better time to learn the sacred smoke medicines of your ancestors.
As Palo Santo and White Sage grow in popularity, we can protect them and their lineages by reconnecting with our own. In this blog you will find the sacred herbs of many lands to inspire you on your journey of reconnection.
Though Palo Santo and White Sage may seem like the best and only options to burn, they are often over-harvested or taken from Indigenous land without proper harvesting methods or permission.
This hurts native communities today by limiting access of these sacred ancestral plants from the cultures and peoples that most need their medicine. This can further cultural harm, and even contribute to cultural appropriation.
It’s time for us to turn towards the smoke medicines of our own ancestral heritages.
Sage and Palo Santo also offer only a fraction of the rich ancestral medicine YOU can receive when you peek into the history and the spiritual ways of your own ancestral lineages. Your ancestral lineages hold a unique healing medicine for you that no other culture can give you.
Ancient Ancestral Healing Herbs and Resins
Whether it was the use of temple incense in Ancient Egypt; the burning of resins for funerary practices during medieval times in Europe; or civilizations of Ancient China using plant smoke in practices of worship, burning herbs and resins has been a powerful part of our history.
We can take the ritual of burning sacred plants to a deeper, more personal level by including the wisdom of our ancestors that courses through our veins. Reconnecting with the rituals of your lineage is a sacred gift that offers alignment not only to your life but to those who follow and those connected to you.
We have the beautiful opportunity to become great stewards of this Earth, protectors of plants, and great ancestors to the rest of our bloodline.
Treasured and used throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, dried yellow Impepho flowers are burned in ceremonies, at traditional feasts, and during offerings to invoke communication with ancestors. Though this tradition has predominantly been practiced by male healers, as the times change, it is now ceremonially burned by women as well. It has been said that Impepho, or “the licorice plant”, should be used infrequently and very respectfully as it opens the gate between this realm and that of our ancestors in the spirit realm.
Both the land and the people of Egypt have been steeped in sacred fragrances for centuries. From burning the potent resins of Frankincense and Myrrh to bask in the presence of the Gods to fumigating mummies, Ancient Egypt was a mecca of medicinal smoke medicine. It was common for rare and exquisite resins to be imported at any cost for use in temples across the land. Incense trees like Frankincense were highly cultivated and lotus flowers offered their sweet scent all along the Nile River.
After the Reformation, the use of incense has been widespread and consistent throughout the churches of England. The Biblical tale of the Three Wise Men offering gifts of frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus upon his birth is known far and wide.
The burning of herbs such as sage and thyme to prevent illness and the spreading of disease was a prominent practice during medieval times. It has also been said that women would gather around the smoke of mugwort to bring ease to their moon time.
In Scotland, Saining is a traditional method of folk magic purification. A midwife would Sain a newborn child by lighting a pine candle and twirling it around the bed in a sunwise (clockwise) direction three times while speaking a traditional charm. Juniper and agrimony were also frequently burned in Scotland to create sacred space and to bring prosperity. In Ireland, pine was burned for grounding and purification, juniper was burned to cleanse and purify, and mugwort for connection with nature and journeying in the realm of dreams.
In 754 AD a Buddhist priest named Ganjin brought incense from China to Japan, where it came to be known as “Koh”. The Japanese believed incense facilitated communion with the divine, purity of the mind + body, and moments of peace. The art of Koh-Do, the way of incense, involved artfully combining herbs of clove, camphor, cinnamon, agarwood, galangal, and sandalwood. Imported herbs that were not in alignment with Buddhist practice were used only for enjoyment outside of spiritual ritual.
If you are an avid admirer of plant smoke, you might think of India as the home of sacred incense. Ayurvedic practitioners and priests have been formulating intoxicating smoke medicine for so long that India is often considered the origin of incense. Daily offerings with plants like sandalwood are practiced to this day by those of the Hindu religion. The smoke of the incense if lovingly offered before a deity as a gift of respect and devotion. Star anise, cedarwood, frankincense, myrrh, ginger, cassia, vetiver, Indian spikenard, and patchouli are often used in spicy and sweet combinations.
Copal has been revered by the Indigenous peoples of Mexico for centuries, as well as in much of Central America.
The name Copal originated from the Nahuatl word for incense, “Copalli”. Its ceremonial uses vary from sacred sweat lodge ceremonies to spiritual psilocybin mushroom ceremonies. Ancient clay incense vessels have been found adorned with fiery serpents, representations of Aztec God Xiuhcoatl, along with the foundations of a temple.
In the Philippines, pausok, the practice of fumigation, is used to cleanse a space or bless a new dwelling. The elaborate altars in the Catholic churches often hold an abundance of smoking incense as prayers and songs are offered in combination with the smoke. The Polish have always had a deep relationship to amber, burning it for the general wellbeing of their bodies. In Russia it is tradition to burn “lump incense”, resin typically made of frankincense and occasionally other herbs. On Raunaechte in Germany, the longest night of the year, it was believed only on this day you could drive evil spirits and energies out of your home with candles and incense. As with many other cultures, frankincense and myrrh were among the most loved traditional herbs in Germany.
The history and use of herbal smoke medicines are long, fascinating, and alive with magic. There is a ritual, ceremony, or tradition of your roots waiting for you to reclaim it! As something we instinctively know but often seem to forget, spiritual practice and connection with our ancestors enrich our lives.
Studies continually show that those who have a connection to spirit or practice religion are statistically happier. The word religion itself comes from the Latin word religio, meaning “to bind together”. Connection to our ancestors is one infinitely important aspect of living a spiritual life.
3 Steps You Can Take To Reclaim a Ritual of Your Ancestors
1. Begin a Simple Search for the Sacred Plants of Your Bloodlines
Start this journey with a simple search on the internet for any and all traditional uses of plants in the lands of your origin. Every bit counts, from medicinal plants to celebratory herbal decorations. Try to find ceremonies and rituals of the ancient religions and spiritual practices held there. Once you’ve collected this information, you’re well on your way to connecting to your ancestors and the plants they cherished.
2. Ask Family Members about the Oral Traditions of Your Ancestors
If you have living grandparents or even great grandparents, they may have a wealth of traditional knowledge to share with you. Other relatives may surprise you with rich familial history, too. If this is not an option, seek friends, online groups or forums, or even religious temples with people of similar ancestry or traditions. If this is not an option either, consider connecting with the medicinal plants that grow in your area. This is a beautiful way to honor the bioregion you live in and it fosters a deeper connection between you and your surroundings. Local plant walks are a fun way to learn about the native herbs and their uses.
3. Make the Ritual Your Own
Now that you’ve discovered the rituals and plants of your ancestors, it’s time to make the ritual your own for an even deeper reconnection. If you’ve found a specific ritual, follow in the footsteps of your ancestors as closely as possible at least once to get to know the ritual. During the next ritual, you can modify it to make it your own in any way that feels good! If you found a plant but not a ritual, try combining prayer, song, meditation, dance, or any combination of these, and lighting a candle and burning the sacred plant in honor of your ancestors. Ask your healed ancestors to be with you during the ritual and thank them for their presence, then thank yourself for the gift of this reconnection.
It’s time to put down the White Sage and Palo Santo. There will never be a more potent time to reconnect to the sacred plants and ancestors waiting to join us in ritual.
Do you want to step into ancestral healing?
