09/22/2025
We do NOT carry white sage (salvia apiana), or products containing white sage in our store.
**WHY?**
**OUT OF RESPECT TOWARD NATURE**
White sage is only native to Southern California and Northern Mexico.
Because of its popularity, it has been drastically overharvested and its population damaged.
It is illegal to harvest white sage from nature reserves, so most of the white sage on the market is obtained illegally and unethically, despite the claims of those selling it.
**OUT OF RESPECT TOWARD INDIGENOUS PEOPLE**
White sage is extremely sacred to the Indigenous tribes of Southern California/Northern Mexico, and they have less access to it since it has been in such high demand.
Indigenous Peoples of this land teach that this sacred plant should NEVER be sold. Many believe it ceases to be medicinal once money is exchanged to acquire it.
Indigenous Peoples of this land have been asking non-indigenous folks to stop using this plant.
Using the sacred practices of Indigenous People without permission is cultural appropriation.
**WHY DOES CULTURAL APPROPRIATION MATTER?**
Between 1492 and 1600, at least 55 million people native to the Americas were killed from disease and violence brought by European settlers. They continued to struggle for the next 400 years due to displacement, land theft, war, racism and oppression.
Indigenous People of the US were forbidden to practice their beliefs and traditions until 1978, when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed.
Until then, they were forced to attend "Indian Boarding Schools", where they endured neglect, abuse and forced assimilation.
It is disrespectful and harmful to appropriate the spiritual practices, hairstyles, crafts, regalia and medicines of Indigenous People when they have suffered such massive cultural loss and separation from their ancestral traditions. We are not entitled to their tools and medicine.
"Smudging" is a very specific act practiced by certain Indigenous tribes in the US. Many have asked non-indigenous folks to stop using that word to describe smoke cleansing, as they are different.
We do not use the word "smudge sticks" to describe bundles of herbs meant for burning.
Smudging is a spiritual practice that requires training and initiation. People from outside the culture cannot just decide to practice it.
Anyone can cleanse a space with smoke, just remember to open a window!
**ALTERNATIVES TO WHITE SAGE**
Any other kind of sage! Garden sage, black sage, common sage, etc.
Lavender, bay leaves, mugwort, rosemary, pine, lemongrass, eucalyptus.
Fair trade incense sticks (not containing white sage).
Investigate your own ancestral traditions for ideas; many cultures around the world use smoke cleansing medicine and you may find something even more fulfilling for you in your goals to "clear the air".
