To Smudge or Not to Smudge

What is Smudging? Smudging is a ritual that is used by many cultures and many traditions. The Catholic Church uses incense burners during high mass suspended from long chains which the priest then swings over the congregation…the Priest waves the therafur in which they burn any combination of aromatic herbs…in the old days it was frankincense and myrrh. The story of its beginning dates back to the Black Plague. The Priests used the incense to cleanse the people, and cover the smell of death.

In the Native American Culture smudging is used for cleansing spiritually and physically. The four main herbs used are sage, sweet grass, cedar, and tobacco. Although others have been utilized also. There is an old story of where it came from on the East Coast….after the smallpox was introduced to the people, a young man of mixed ancestry (Cherokee and black slave) found he was immune to the disease. Everyone around him was dying…..He went out into the swamp and prayed to Creator for the healing of his people. He had a vision where he was shown holding a large clam shell with smoke spiraling from it. In the vision he fanned the smoke over the sick, and slowly, one by one, they got better. He returned home joyous that Creator had given him a vision that showed how to heal his people. He proceeded to collect the cedar, the sweet grass, the sage, and the tobacco and smudge his people. Lo and behold, they slowly arose from their sick beds healed.

But in all I have found one constant……smudging smoke carries the prayers of the petitioner to Creator God.

Smudging may be done several ways: with loose herb in a fire-proof container, or using smudge sticks.

To make a smudge stick is not difficult. You need to select the herbs you want, being sure you know for certain the plant is the one you believe it is (you Do Not want to smudge with a toxic plant). You may cut and hang to dry, or as some people do, make the smudge stick then let it dry. I personally prefer to use dried herbs (since the herbs shrink when drying, the wraps could get too loose if tied before drying). Also drying before hand ensures that the herb actually dries and does not mold…you Do Not want to burn moldy herbs, you could get very ill.

Next take the ends of the herbs (stem ends together) and tie snugly with a thin twine or thread. I personally like embroidery floss, 3 strands thick. The colors can represent the herbs used in the bundle. Then wrap around the bundle, spiraling down to the other end. At the other end, again tie the bundle off. Do not cut the threads, instead spiral back up the bundle to the beginning, it will end up looking criss-crossed. Once you reach the beginning end, tie off again.

The final stage is just tiding, cut the ends straight across, for better lighting capability. Trim the side the length of the bundle, if anything is straying to the outside, unless you like the look.
You can use Sage straight (not Garden Sage, some people have bad reactions to it burning, it has been known to set off asthma attacks in those sensitive) or combine it with cedar. Straight Lavender is nice too.

Good Luck and have fun with your smudging!

Recycle for Christmas

It’s not too early to begin planning for Christmas (Chanukah, Kwanza, Yule) now. And it is never a bad gift when your hands make it; your love and creativity construct it therefore you make it personal.

Start keeping jars for recycling into your treasures. Old spaghetti jars are just the right size to put all dry ingredients for bean soup in. Just place the ingredients, including spices into the jar, seal it. Cover the lid with a scrape of cloth and ribbon leftovers. If the different kinds of beans are layered to show off the colors , it is very pretty. Next make a nice label, either attached to the jar or hanging from the ribbon. On the label place the name of the soup, gifted by, and full directions for cooking the soup, including ingredient list. The label becomes a recipe card at the same time!

6 Bean Soup

Ingredients for Jar:
¼ cup baby lime beans
¼ cup small white beans
¼ cup black eyed peas
¼ cup garbanzo beans
¼ cup pink beans
¼ cup pink beans
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup dehydrated onions
½ cup dehydrated celery
½ cup dehydrated carrot
¼ cup dehydrated green pepper
½ cup dried parsley, minced
¼ teaspoon powdered garlic
½ bay leaf crumbled
½ teaspoon fines herbs
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 envelops chicken noodle soup (opened and poured into jar)

Ingredients for Label:
Parmesan Cheese grated

Directions for Label:
To soak beans: For each pound of dry beans, any variety, add 10 cups hot water.
Up to 2 teaspoons of salt per pound of beans may be added to help the beans absorb water more evenly.
Heat to boiling, let boil 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from heat, cover and set aside for at least one hour, but preferably four hours or more.
The longer soaking time is recommended to allow a greater amount of sugars to dissolve, thus helping the beans to be more easily digested.
Always discard the soak water.
To maintain color integrity, soak beans separately.

Drain beans.
Combine vegetables with soup mix, 2-1/4 quarts water, bay leaf, fine herbs and soaked beans. Simmer, covered, about 1 hour to desired tenderness.
Serve hot sprinkled with cheese.

Note: a small zip lock baggy can be attached to the label filled with the cheese. Another zip lock baggy can be used inside the jar to hold and separate the spices and soup from the beans. Also note this is a large recipe and a larger jar will be needed.

Keeping the same idea, you could make up all the dry ingredients for brownies, layer it so the flour is white with the cocoa’s brown separate on top. On the label add directions for assembly and cooking- but do not forget to tell them what “wet” ingredients they have yet to add!

Brownies for Jar

Ingredients for Jar:
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup cocoa
1/3 cup red candy covered pieces (like M&M’s)
1/3 cup green candy covered pieces (like M&M’s)
½ cup chopped pecans
1 cup brown sugar packed
1 cup white sugar

Ingredients for Label:
¾ cup softened butter
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions for Label:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place mix from jar into large bowl
Add butter and eggs
Mix until completely blended
Spread into lightly greased 9x9 pan
Bake for 35 minutes or until brownies just start to pull away from sides of pan
Cut into 16 pieces, 2x2


Another suggestion for the spaghetti jars you are recycling is to make bath salts up and place in the jar. Again the lid can be covered with fabric and ribbon with a label telling them what they have, how to use it and what the ingredients are (in case of allergies).
Making a bath salt is as simple as adding essential oils to some Epsom salts and….voila! instant bath salts. (In the next post I will put several different bath salt recipes, some far more complicated.)