HERBS + WOODS + SMOKE + WATER
Intro
For transparency, I’d like to begin with stating who I am not. I am not an academic. I’m not a lettered historian, anthropologist, or folklorist. Nor am I a professional spiritual practitioner or medical herbalist. Who I am is a writer and sometimes educator who weaves social philosophy and cultural theory into a personal practice of folk traditions. Reconnecting to ancestors and traditions is a huge part of that path. I believe that sharing what I learn about this work in my community helps further deeper discussions and action in regards to reclaiming identity, and living in reciprocity and right relationship [1] to each other, ancestors, spirits, and the land.
Many historians, anthropologists, folklorists, herbalists, and spiritual practitioners have written extensively on the histories and practices of spiritual cleansing, purification, protection, and blessing. Therefore, this is not an instruction manual. Consider this the beginning of a conversation with some historic and folkloric highlights to point you in a few directions. My purpose is not to reinvent the wheel, but to help turn it.
If you're reading this, you’re probably aware of the way mainstream conversation around the spiritual use of plants, particularly in the United States, has shifted to ask how we avoid wrongfully taking (without invitation) [2] and profiting from the language and practices of North, Central, and South American Indigenous peoples [3]. Additionally, the large-scale commercialism of white sage, desert sage, tobacco, and sweetgrass has lead to capitalist-driven extraction industries built upon the perceived marketability of these plants and their related traditions [4]. More and more, white folks are coming together to collectively learn, and discuss, how the way to end this cycle is to turn our attention towards our own multitudes of cultures and practices, rather than the cultures and practices of others. This is less about telling folks what not to do; and more about examining what we all have access to.
The predominant question is so often, if not these cultures, languages, and plants, then what?
In response, I’ve been sorting out how these questions become more specific to ask, what are the practices of our various ancestors; what are their languages, and plant rituals? and, why do certain plants and practices carry the symbolism they do? How does this symbolism tell me how, when, and where to use them [5]?
And lastly, how do we appropriately and respectfully honor our ancestral traditions, and any other traditions we’re drawn to?
A good place to start is researching and learning more about the histories of our cultural and familial forebears. Most of us will learn, or already know, that our ancestry is a rich mixture of ethnicities and cultures. This is especially true for those of us working in American folk practices that naturally syncretize [6] multiple traditions together. For those of us without access to our familial histories, this is where we can find our reassurance—no matter who our ancestors were, we most certainly come from a broad array of cultures and places. This can be exciting, but also overwhelming—how do we choose? What is right? This is a much larger conversation, but I would say it begins with finding what remnants of cultural traditions remain in your family life, tracing family names and genealogy, and doing some foundational ancestor work. If you’ve been severed from your family lineage, or if you’re new to these practices; take the time to observe what you feel most drawn to in regards to European traditions, and why you feel drawn to certain cultures and places, and go from there. Chances are, you will find or be attracted to several and your practice will reflect that!
It’s important to acknowledge how hard it is to rebuild these pieces of knowledge for ourselves. There are some real and valid obstacles to finding information about these cultural histories, and this is where a lot of us get stuck. This search is an inherently complicated and challenging task, because those of us disconnected from culture must learn about ourselves and/or our interests through books and online archives. Depending on how deep we go, it could mean sorting through multiple academic materials from genealogy, science, history, and anthropology to art history, culinary history, philosophy, religion, and spirituality. No matter what level your research, just know that some degree of this work is going to be a critical foundation for most things you do. I promise, you don’t need to be an academic, nor do you need to become a rigorous historian. This is really just about finding a healthy balance between the experiences you have, and cross-referencing them with some basis in a tangible history.
There are very few unbroken lines from the far past to the present. Multiple points of cross-cultural merging and syncretism have occurred and affected our traditions along the way. The more diasporic our communities, the less a connection we have to the original cultures from which we hope to learn and benefit. Beyond that, capitalist-colonial-driven new age spiritualism and neopaganism, historical works of either colonial or speculative anthropology, and various books in fantasy fiction [7], have sometimes muddied the waters. Even folklore has at times been documented with a colonial lens and requires examination. These obstacles can make tracing various pieces of information to their origins even harder. Instead, we have to hold the complexity that learning what pieces we can find of historical information may be incomplete; and that we must examine them through various lenses including the ways our contemporary needs are both the same, and different. In doing this work and research, we’re not attempting to preserve ancient ways in amber, nor are we attempting to create a roleplaying fantasy world, but instead take what we learn and apply that knowledge in ways that have meaning to our 21st century lives.
Ultimately, this practice is a commitment to the long and difficult process of finding the foundations we need to root ourselves authentically. It's also about how to ground ourselves respectfully in accordance with our personal philosophies, beliefs, and practices. And it’s about tying these practices directly to our work in actively dismantling white supremacist and capitalist systems. It’s my hope that this project is of interest to you because this is the work you want to do, or that you are already doing.
For transparency, I’d like to begin with stating who I am not. I am not an academic. I’m not a lettered historian, anthropologist, or folklorist. Nor am I a professional spiritual practitioner or medical herbalist. Who I am is a writer and sometimes educator who weaves social philosophy and cultural theory into a personal practice of folk traditions. Reconnecting to ancestors and traditions is a huge part of that path. I believe that sharing what I learn about this work in my community helps further deeper discussions and action in regards to reclaiming identity, and living in reciprocity and right relationship [1] to each other, ancestors, spirits, and the land.
Many historians, anthropologists, folklorists, herbalists, and spiritual practitioners have written extensively on the histories and practices of spiritual cleansing, purification, protection, and blessing. Therefore, this is not an instruction manual. Consider this the beginning of a conversation with some historic and folkloric highlights to point you in a few directions. My purpose is not to reinvent the wheel, but to help turn it.
If you're reading this, you’re probably aware of the way mainstream conversation around the spiritual use of plants, particularly in the United States, has shifted to ask how we avoid wrongfully taking (without invitation) [2] and profiting from the language and practices of North, Central, and South American Indigenous peoples [3]. Additionally, the large-scale commercialism of white sage, desert sage, tobacco, and sweetgrass has lead to capitalist-driven extraction industries built upon the perceived marketability of these plants and their related traditions [4]. More and more, white folks are coming together to collectively learn, and discuss, how the way to end this cycle is to turn our attention towards our own multitudes of cultures and practices, rather than the cultures and practices of others. This is less about telling folks what not to do; and more about examining what we all have access to.
The predominant question is so often, if not these cultures, languages, and plants, then what?
In response, I’ve been sorting out how these questions become more specific to ask, what are the practices of our various ancestors; what are their languages, and plant rituals? and, why do certain plants and practices carry the symbolism they do? How does this symbolism tell me how, when, and where to use them [5]?
And lastly, how do we appropriately and respectfully honor our ancestral traditions, and any other traditions we’re drawn to?
A good place to start is researching and learning more about the histories of our cultural and familial forebears. Most of us will learn, or already know, that our ancestry is a rich mixture of ethnicities and cultures. This is especially true for those of us working in American folk practices that naturally syncretize [6] multiple traditions together. For those of us without access to our familial histories, this is where we can find our reassurance—no matter who our ancestors were, we most certainly come from a broad array of cultures and places. This can be exciting, but also overwhelming—how do we choose? What is right? This is a much larger conversation, but I would say it begins with finding what remnants of cultural traditions remain in your family life, tracing family names and genealogy, and doing some foundational ancestor work. If you’ve been severed from your family lineage, or if you’re new to these practices; take the time to observe what you feel most drawn to in regards to European traditions, and why you feel drawn to certain cultures and places, and go from there. Chances are, you will find or be attracted to several and your practice will reflect that!
It’s important to acknowledge how hard it is to rebuild these pieces of knowledge for ourselves. There are some real and valid obstacles to finding information about these cultural histories, and this is where a lot of us get stuck. This search is an inherently complicated and challenging task, because those of us disconnected from culture must learn about ourselves and/or our interests through books and online archives. Depending on how deep we go, it could mean sorting through multiple academic materials from genealogy, science, history, and anthropology to art history, culinary history, philosophy, religion, and spirituality. No matter what level your research, just know that some degree of this work is going to be a critical foundation for most things you do. I promise, you don’t need to be an academic, nor do you need to become a rigorous historian. This is really just about finding a healthy balance between the experiences you have, and cross-referencing them with some basis in a tangible history.
There are very few unbroken lines from the far past to the present. Multiple points of cross-cultural merging and syncretism have occurred and affected our traditions along the way. The more diasporic our communities, the less a connection we have to the original cultures from which we hope to learn and benefit. Beyond that, capitalist-colonial-driven new age spiritualism and neopaganism, historical works of either colonial or speculative anthropology, and various books in fantasy fiction [7], have sometimes muddied the waters. Even folklore has at times been documented with a colonial lens and requires examination. These obstacles can make tracing various pieces of information to their origins even harder. Instead, we have to hold the complexity that learning what pieces we can find of historical information may be incomplete; and that we must examine them through various lenses including the ways our contemporary needs are both the same, and different. In doing this work and research, we’re not attempting to preserve ancient ways in amber, nor are we attempting to create a roleplaying fantasy world, but instead take what we learn and apply that knowledge in ways that have meaning to our 21st century lives.
Ultimately, this practice is a commitment to the long and difficult process of finding the foundations we need to root ourselves authentically. It's also about how to ground ourselves respectfully in accordance with our personal philosophies, beliefs, and practices. And it’s about tying these practices directly to our work in actively dismantling white supremacist and capitalist systems. It’s my hope that this project is of interest to you because this is the work you want to do, or that you are already doing.
1 ] I have learned the terms reciprocity and right relationship from a broad spectrum of North American Indigenous writers, artists, scholars, and lands and water defenders; as well as other global Indigenous leaders in social and climate justice. It should also be acknowledged we have Robin Wall Kimmerer to thank for the widespread use of the term reciprocity through her book, Braiding Sweetgrass
2 ] If you have been personally invited into a practice by a member of that culture and tradition, that is a gift and of course you should use it well! The point is more that this gift doesn’t necessarily furnish us with permission to turn around and sell it to others.
3 ] You will see throughout the text that the word Indigenous is capitalized when speaking about global Indigenous peoples. Any time I refer to indigenous in the lower case, I am not speaking of Indigenous peoples or cultures but indigenous practices, plants or practices indigenous to a region, etc.
4 ] Depending on where you are in the world as you read this, there may be regionally specific equivalents to this circumstance that I don’t have the words or the names for, but they would still apply. Also just to say, these traditions are not for sale and are therefore not truly marketable or for public consumption.
5 ] We'll get deeper into this later when we talk about animism and building relationships with plants, but just to say: the symbolism itself is a foundation, not the final word in how we work with plants, collaboratively. That comes through learning more about the plant through 1:1 relationships and contact, observing how the plant acts in and interacts with their environment and you, the personality and character, characteristics of the plant, and of course, the knowledge you exchange between one another. We don't just learn or take what we want, that's extraction, and it's non-reciprocal. Like any relationship, we both take and we give back to our plant friends, neighbors, and allies.
6 ] In the context of spiritual belief and practice, to syncretize means to fuse multiple systems together, creating something new. For example, many cultures that have become Catholic blend Catholicism and local indigenous traditions together. Other examples are American folk practices that blend Christianity together with multiple folk traditions from Europe, simultaneously. Some of these American folk practices also have African Diasporic Religion (often syncretic, itself) and North, South, or Central American Indigenous tradition woven into them, as well.
7] Two examples of this are James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough; a speculative anthropological book on comparative mythology from around the world; and Robert Graves’ The White Goddess which was written as a poetic prose piece, but which has been interpreted as a historical account of Celtic folklore. Both of these books are on my own shelf and are beloved and cited as references by many people across multiple generations. But may questions and critiques have been raised about the information provided in these texts; and some of it has even been disproved. The widespread acceptance in popular culture makes any corrections, if needed, difficult.
2 ] If you have been personally invited into a practice by a member of that culture and tradition, that is a gift and of course you should use it well! The point is more that this gift doesn’t necessarily furnish us with permission to turn around and sell it to others.
3 ] You will see throughout the text that the word Indigenous is capitalized when speaking about global Indigenous peoples. Any time I refer to indigenous in the lower case, I am not speaking of Indigenous peoples or cultures but indigenous practices, plants or practices indigenous to a region, etc.
4 ] Depending on where you are in the world as you read this, there may be regionally specific equivalents to this circumstance that I don’t have the words or the names for, but they would still apply. Also just to say, these traditions are not for sale and are therefore not truly marketable or for public consumption.
5 ] We'll get deeper into this later when we talk about animism and building relationships with plants, but just to say: the symbolism itself is a foundation, not the final word in how we work with plants, collaboratively. That comes through learning more about the plant through 1:1 relationships and contact, observing how the plant acts in and interacts with their environment and you, the personality and character, characteristics of the plant, and of course, the knowledge you exchange between one another. We don't just learn or take what we want, that's extraction, and it's non-reciprocal. Like any relationship, we both take and we give back to our plant friends, neighbors, and allies.
6 ] In the context of spiritual belief and practice, to syncretize means to fuse multiple systems together, creating something new. For example, many cultures that have become Catholic blend Catholicism and local indigenous traditions together. Other examples are American folk practices that blend Christianity together with multiple folk traditions from Europe, simultaneously. Some of these American folk practices also have African Diasporic Religion (often syncretic, itself) and North, South, or Central American Indigenous tradition woven into them, as well.
7] Two examples of this are James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough; a speculative anthropological book on comparative mythology from around the world; and Robert Graves’ The White Goddess which was written as a poetic prose piece, but which has been interpreted as a historical account of Celtic folklore. Both of these books are on my own shelf and are beloved and cited as references by many people across multiple generations. But may questions and critiques have been raised about the information provided in these texts; and some of it has even been disproved. The widespread acceptance in popular culture makes any corrections, if needed, difficult.
This piece is adapted from a series of courses taught in 2019 and 2020. Acknowledgements and transparency of resources may be found on the home page for this project.