Ceremonial Kinship with Plants - Smoke Medicine

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Among Indigenous Peoples across the Americas, smudging is a culturally specific act of ceremony. Within the diaspora of Indigenous Peoples globally, there are also other plant or smoke-based practices with medicinal, cultural, social, and spiritual purposes.

While cultures vary in their protocols, I hope to convey that now is a time to remember and reclaim relationships with traditional medicines in a manner that is respectful and authentic to the more-than-human relatives we connect with and the Peoples tasked with knowing and caring for them.

Ceremonial & Kinship Ties to Medicinal Plants

The smoke medicine offered by our Plant Kin helps us maintain energetic hygiene and often reawakens blood memory through scent and sensation.

Depending on the intention and the Plant Kin, smudging helps to clear emotional or mental heaviness in a space or the body and even calls in spiritual energy to uplift prayers and bring healing.   

Ultimately, smudging should be honored and respected as an act of prayer and kinship.

For non-Indigenous individuals, this may look like using terms, protocols, and medicinal plants that align with their cultures rather than engaging in co-optive behaviors that can be harmful to human and more-than-human communities.

Ranging from cultural exploitation to overharvesting, the health and well-being of ecosystems, the Plant Kin, and the Indigenous communities that care for them suffer due to ignorance and negligence.

If you choose to engage in a relationship with a medicinal Plant Kin from a specific culture other than your own, honor its lineage.

• Learn about the Indigenous Peoples holding deep relationships with the medicinal plant you seek to work with.
• Additionally, learn about the Native lands you live on and support any efforts by local Indigenous Peoples, organizations, businesses, and governments. Support can be through time, money, mutual aid, connections, and awareness-raising.
• Engage in ethical or (as Robin Wall Kimmerer says) honorable harvest.
  • Share why you need the Plant Kin's medicine, harvest only what you require to ensure its health and well-being, and offer something in return, whether it be a song, a moment of deep gratitude, or the gift of tobacco.
• Try planting a garden of medicinal plants and share them freely with others who may need them.

1. Open a sacred space by speaking a prayer or a request that asks for assistance from helpful, aligned beings, especially the Plant Kin being worked with.

Always be clear and direct about who you are allowing into the space to assist and why. During this opening statement, share your intentions for the ceremony and thank the Plant Kin for being present. Additional spiritual assistance can come from the cardinal directions, your ancestors, guides, or any other divine energies or beings you wish to call in for the ceremony.

2. With gratitude, light the Plant Kin for its Medicine and place it in a fire-safe, heat-resistant vessel. Once lit, run your hands in the smoke of the Plant Kin to ensure your hands are clear channels.

Traditionally, this is done with a match and abalone shell, but use what is accessible to you.

3. Use a tool (e.g., your hands, a feather, or a fan-like object) to help move the smoke around your body or the space.

Be sure to be in a well-ventilated area or have an open window or door to direct the energies carried by the smoke.

4. Close the space with gratitude or another prayer as you allow the Plant Kin and its Medicine to burn out completely.

Remember, properly closing a ceremony is just as important as opening a ceremony. In this closing, reiterate your intentions for the ceremony, thank the Plant Kin for their Medicine, as well as any other Spirit helpers you called upon.

Thanks for reading INDIGENEXUS!⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆