Smudging is the burning of herbs as a spiritual practice. An herbalist and educator, Harvest McCampbell explains and illustrates this integral part of traditional Native American life that she began learning about from her Iroquois Onondaga Oswegatchie grandmother. Learn how to make smudge sticks and identify, collect, and grow a wide range of sacred plants for smudging. Discover how to reclaim your own traditions and find your personal healing rituals. Includes sources to purchase herbs and reference materials.

Learn how to create a sacred space free of negativity This clear and contemporary guide explores the ritual use of smoke and scents to cleanse the energies of mind, body, and home. Here, aromatherapist and long-time herbalist Amy Blackthorn offers the essential tools for creating sacred space--a safe space free of negative energies--using herbs, incense, smoke, and other practices. Written in an accessible style, free of jargon, Sacred Smoke has everything you need to know to get started on your practice of purification and cleansing, including: The importance of self-care How to keep your home and family safe How to protect your home while you are away Adding crystals to your cleansing practice Using essential herbs and recipes for creating cleansing smoke Sacred Smoke is an essential guide for anyone seeking to practice the ritual use of cleansing and clearing to protect and heal themselves, their home, and their family.

Growing up in a gang in the city can be dark. Growing up Native American in a gang in Chicago is a whole different story. This book takes a trip through that unexplored part of Indian Country, an intense journey that is full of surprises, shining a light on the interior lives of people whose intellectual and emotional concerns are often overlooked. This dark, compelling, occasionally inappropriate, and often hilarious linked story collection introduces a character who defies all stereotypes about urban life and Indians. He will be in readers’ heads for a long time to come.

Recently identified as a killer, tobacco has been the focus of health warnings, lawsuits, and political controversy. Yet many Native Americans continue to view tobacco-when used properly-as a life-affirming and sacramental substance that plays a significant role in Native creation myths and religious ceremonies. This definitive work presents the origins, history, and contemporary use (and misuse) of tobacco by Native Americans. It describes wild and domesticated tobacco species and how their cultivation and use may have led to the domestication of corn, potatoes, beans, and other food plants. It also analyzes many North American Indian practices and beliefs, including the concept that Tobacco is so powerful and sacred that the spirits themselves are addicted to it. The book presents medical data revealing the increasing rates of commercial tobacco use by Native youth and the rising rates of death among Native American elders from lung cancer, heart disease, and other tobacco-related illnesses. Finally, this volume argues for the preservation of traditional tobacco use in a limited, sacramental manner while criticizing the use of commercial tobacco. Contributors are: Mary J. Adair, Karen R. Adams, Carol B. Brandt, Linda Scott Cummings, Glenna Dean, Patricia Diaz-Romo, Jannifer W. Gish, Julia E. Hammett, Robert F. Hill, Richard G. Holloway, Christina M. Pego, Samuel Salinas Alvarez, Lawrence A Shorty, Glenn W. Solomon, Mollie Toll, Suzanne E. Victoria, Alexander von Garnet, Jonathan M. Samet, and Gail E. Wagner.

A gorgeously illustrated, essential guide to the energy rituals that will transform your life. Learn how to cleanse and protect yourself and your space, tap into your intuition, and elevate your frequency through sacred smoke, candle, stone rituals—and more. Neelou Malekpour is here to support you for all occasions, whether that’s: • healing heartache, relieving anxiety, and dispelling bad dreams; • cultivating focus, receiving support during travel, and prepping a space for meditation; or • calling in love, blessing others, and connecting to your highest self. With The Art of Sacred Smoke, Malekpour is ready to share the rituals that are essential to aligning and calibrating your energy. Learn how to use the natural ingredients she employs in her practices—and in her frequency-raising business, SMUDGED—from rose petals to palo santo, and how to source them responsibly. At a time when many of us are looking for mindful solutions to the chaos of modern life, The Art of Sacred Smoke offers an empowering new way to connect to nature and to your best self.

In this book the author, an investigative journalist, traces the social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in an ongoing culture war. He describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, Californians voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in several other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. The author draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape: medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures. This book is an examination of the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world's most controversial plant.

Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for the University of Idaho Press In this brilliant exploration of the history, mythology, ritual and symbolism of the sacred pipe, author Jordan Paper breaks new ground in assessing the importance of the pipe in Native American religion. Offering Smoke provides a dazzling introduction to an aspect of Native American culture heretofore never explored in such depth or with such careful regard for the religious and cultural sensitivities so vital for genuine understanding.

The practice of fumigation and offering of sacred smoke, known as sang, uses smoke created according to the instructions of an ancient ritual to purify contamination of the environment and its seen and unseen inhabitants. This contamination is caused by the negative activity of humanity and results in many types of calamity and misfortune. The ritual of sacred smoke purifies this contamination and its negative consequences and create a basis for good fortune and prosperity, and supports positive and harmonious circumstances for spiritual practice and development.

A guide to using smoke and scents to create a positive, healing home for you and your family. Aromatherapist and long-time herbalist Amy Blackthorn offers the essential tools for creating sacred space—a safe space free of negative energies—using herbs, incense, smoke, and other practices. “No matter your faith,” writes Amy Blackthorn, “practicing with sacred smoke is a powerful way to make your intentions known and support change in your life. . . . An argument between friends can be hashed out over calming lavender smoke. A home can find prosperity in the embrace of burning clove powder. Space can be consecrated with the grace and devotional power of cedar. Every ritual or occasion can be tailored to the language of scent.” Written in an accessible style, free of jargon, Sacred Smoke has everything you need to know to get started on your practice of purification and cleansing, including: The importance of self-care How to keep your home and family safe How to protect your home while you are away Adding crystals to your cleansing practice Using essential herbs and recipes for creating cleansing smoke Sacred Smoke is an essential guide for anyone seeking to practice the ritual use of cleansing and clearing to protect and heal themselves, their home, and their family.

"Brilliantly written and jam-packed with practical advice and easy-to-follow recipes, Blackthorn's Botanical Magic is the one book that no magical practitioner can do without." —Dorothy Morrison, author Utterly Wicked: Hexes, Curses, and Other Unsavory Notions Enter the magical world of scent and aromas. Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic is a fresh, groundbreaking guide to the transformative powers of essential oils for use in spellcraft, divination, and the cultivation of ritual power. Amy Blackthorn—the force behind Blackthorn’s Botanicals—guides readers on a journey into the hidden realms of plants and their magic powers, from rose-scented rosaries to the lingering aroma of frankincense and the cleansing energy of white sage. This book is suitable for beginners but also has lots of new information for the experienced practitioner. Within these pages, you will discover: The rich history and lore of scent-related magic and its use in prayer, meditation, and shamanic journeying Over 135 recipes and craft projects for a wide variety of purposes, goals, and desires Clear instructions for creating your own botanical magic starter kit How to create your own personal botanical oracles, as well as how magical aromatherapy can enhance divination from tarot and pendulums to tea leaves and runes. Practical information regarding the purchasing, blending, storing, and safe use of essential oils