Please don’t use White Sage if you’re not Native!
I just read an article by @YourNativeFriend about how non-Natives are commercializing White Sage. (Unfortunately I can’t find the article right now.) This is wrong because White Sage is sacred. It grows in only a few places and is inappropriately harvested, often by undocumented workers who are horribly mistreated and underpaid. The inappropriate harvesting damages the environment, endangers this species, and perpetuates colonial oppression.
I was raised Catholic (although I'm now pantheist) and taught from an early age that it’s wrong to buy or sell sacred things. So it always bugged me a bit to see white sage sticks sold in stores. When I read the article by @YourNativeFriend, I understood why it bugged me. Same with dreamcatchers, sweetgrass, etc. And don’t even get me started on Pipestone — if you’re not Native and don’t know what you’re doing with that, you can get in a lot of trouble with the Higher Powers! As I see it, if you buy Pipestone legitimately, you’re really paying for the hard labor involved in extracting it from the Earth. The stone itself is sacred and I believe that it’s wrong to buy or sell sacred things. Of course, there are thousands of spiritual traditions all over the world, and some other traditions allow buying and selling sacred things. I’m not talking about those. I’m talking about this parallel Catholic tradition that resembles best practices regarding Native sacred things.
Natives use White Sage in very specific ways. There are ceremonies connected with its harvest and use. If you’re not Native you probably don’t know these ceremonies so you’re probably misusing this sacred plant.
White sage has some great powers of cleansing and exorcism, and many people need help with that one time or another. Fortunately, there is a handy substitute: ordinary cooking sage. Like White Sage, it’s in the mint family, and has a similar appearance and scent. Unlike White Sage, it is easy to grow in containers or in the garden, and readily available in grocery stores. The powdered form is more commonly found in the spice section, to burn it you’ll need a heat source such as charcoal disks, hot coals, or a small fire. A coffee warmer (a small hotplate made to set your mug on) also works, sometimes. The whole leaves are easier to burn, you may find them in specialty stores such as herb shops, or in organic, Halal, Chicano grocery stores.
But what if your family — and / or your DNA test — says you’re “part Indian?” Please don’t say you’re Native just because you have some Native ancestry. The one drop rule doesn’t apply here. To be Native you have to be a member of an indigenous nation. Even if there’s stories in your family, even if your DNA test says you’ve got a bit of Native DNA, you’re not Native unless there is a specific tribe, clan, and location where you belong. (This is notwithstanding Chicano folks, who are usually Indigenous also yet not always defined as such. I’m mostly talking about “part Indian” white folks here.)
This was a hard lesson for me to learn. Even though I’m passant-blanc Creole from Louisiana, my family says we’re white, most people see me that way, and that’s what counts. Yet I look a bit off-white, especially in the summer, there’s stories in my family, and my DNA test says I’m about 5% Native. (Also smidges of Asian and African — funny, my family has no stories about that!) My nearest Native ancestors would have been about four generations back. In addition, I’m a medium, a talent that runs in my family, so I hear and feel these ancestors. Sometimes they want me to do things for them, such as relay messages, actively support Native issues, or even make a small solitary prayer or offering. Sometimes, people ask if I’m Native. I used to say that I was before I learned that the one drop rule does not apply; to be Native means to be a member of a nation. So now when people ask I say, I’m not Native, although I have some relations. That’s good enough.
I was talking about this just the other day to a neighbor who claimed to be “maybe part Indian” even though he couldn’t give any specifics. After I got done explaining all this, he said “I still think I’m maybe part Indian.”
I replied, you may well have some Native ancestors a bit ways back but the one drop rule doesn’t work here. There’s nothing wrong with honoring all of your ancestors but I don’t think they want us to play around with feathers and dreamcatchers and smudge sticks or claim to be something we’re not. I think it’s better to honor them by educating ourselves and each other about the real issues that Natives face — such as health, economy, sovereignty, treaty rights, environmental justice — and support these issues. And if you need to deal with things that go bump in the night, use cooking sage.
