How to purify the house with sage

The sage (sage officinalis) is a plant up to 80 cm tall, with erect stems, elongated leaves with a pubescent underside, and beautiful violet flowers, which are grouped from 4 to 8 in terminal inflorescences. It grows in poor meadows, field margins, ditches and rocky slopes, generally in dry and sunny environments.

This plant is highly valued by herbalists for its medicinal properties

. It is indicated for oral conditions, sore throats and also as a digestive and nervous tonic. It is common to take it in the form of an infusion or decoction, although it is also found in the form of a tincture, extract or essential oil.

To all these uses we can add a quite different one. It is about burning the sage leaves to purify the air in the rooms.

If you are interested in the subject of essential oils, do not miss this video:

4 steps to purify the house with sage

He purifying ritual a space with the smoke of a sacred plant is a universal practice. The sage officinalis It is one of the most used plants for this purpose, normally for energy purposes, but its properties justify it: its essential oils have proven their ability to enhance intellectual abilities.

By infusing a space with sage, the mental claritythe happiness and the calm. To burn the sage and purify the house, follow these steps:

Preparation: You need a bunch of dried sage tied with cotton, a bowl to collect the ash, and a feather or fan. In some places you will find a bundle of sage already prepared, which you can burn as if it were an incense stick.Switched on: light the sage inside the bowl, blow to stoke the fire and let it go out. Watch out for sparks!Smudge: You can bring the smoke closer to the people who participate in the ritual. Direct it to the head, arms, legs, back…Cleaning: slowly sweeps the bowl across the space, dispersing the smoke with the feather. Make it go where your intuition guides you.

Instead of an ordinary bowl, you can use a smudge, which is like a small “botafumeiro”. With a piece of coal, you put the plant to burn and pass it through the house with undulating movements to clean and purify the environment.

If you do not want to resort to smoke, you can always purify the home environment by spraying the sage essential oil diluted in waterlike an air freshener.

You can also perform cleansing rituals with other plants, such as palo santo, a sacred Peruvian wood that produces a whitish smoke that is also attributed purifying properties.

How to get sage to burn

To burn sage you need to use the dried plant. In herbalists and online shops you can find ready-made sage bundles to burn, usually California white sage (sage apiana). It is often combined with palo santo in home purification kits. Also sage incense.

like the sage officinaliswhite sage extract also has antimicrobial properties according to a study published in the Argentine Journal of Microbiologyalthough there is no evidence of its effects when burned.

you also have the option to grow the plant and dry it at home yourself. Ask for watering in moderation, when the earth is dry and avoiding waterlogging, about two or three times a week. When cutting it to dry it:

Don’t pull it off, cut only the leafy twigs you need. Make sure it’s grown long enough and you have enough twigs so that if you cut a bunch, the plant won’t be too weak and can continue to grow. Bunch the leaves together to make a tied, tie with twine and hang in a dry place to release moisture. Time will vary depending on conditions. To know if it is dry enough, squeeze the leaves with your fingers and see if it breaks and falls apart. If so, it’s ready.