What is Californian White Sage? Spiritual, Mental & Physical Benefits

Plant history

Californian white sage also known under the names of Salvia Apiana, White sage or sacred sage. It is a Perennial shrub that is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is a small green shrub that likes to grow in dry heated conditions and can grow anywhere between 1 and 3 feet high. Sage takes around 2-3 years to grow to its full size and should never be pulled out from the roots when harvesting. The roots allow the plant to re-grow and the seeds that naturally recoup from the plant will grow and expand the plants growing radius.

Sage has been used for thousands of years by the Native American tribes and is popular in the cooking industry. In shamanism sage is used for ceremonies, cleansing energy, purification and healings. Sage should be consciously considered when purchasing as there are lots of dark, sad hidden truths about the ethical sourcing. You can read our blog post about the pros and cons of sacred materials.

Sage smudging over the years is growing in demand within the spiritual community. It is also very popular in the herbal/plant medicine field too. Ethically sourced sage is harvested correctly during the right seasons as its main survival period are in drought like conditions, sage is not evergreen all year round depending on the condition of the soil and weather, it can survive through some wet conditions. When it does rain it nourishes the roots of sage and wont totally end the life of the plant.

Plant Identification

• Origin: Mexico or USA
• Growth: 1-3 feet tall and can take 2-3 years to fully grow
• Plant family: Lamiaceae
• Scent: Earthy, deep yet light aroma
• Colour: Evergreen, but can also show tinting of blue-grey, depending on the environment some sage is purely "white sage" (blue-grey)
• Harvesting: Harvest sage in spring and summer when plants are actively growing and before they begin to blossom.  Sage leaves tend to lose some of their aroma after flowering, so it is best to harvest before this time.
• Endangered: Red alert to the wild grown sage. Only purchase from farms who harvest there own and small businesses who specialise in the plants.

Benefits 

Californian white sage has many holistic and spiritual benefits, pretty much most of the plants we live amongst can support our health and well-being in so many diverse ways. 

Spiritual

Sage Cleanses and purifies your energy field and space. It can be used during meditation to enhance your experience and visions. If used correctly you can use plants like sage to support astral projection and divination work. Sage is also used to cleanse objects, crystals, homes and entities. In shamanic and native traditions white sage is used before any healing or ceremonial work. It is known as the master plant in teachings and delivering its cleansing benefits. Sage is also used as an offering to the land or ceremony that you are performing. Plants hold lots of ancient knowledge and teachings, when you work and understand plant medicine you can connect and communicate with the plant for higher guidance.

Sage disburses lower frequencies like entities but also negative energy such as anxiety, fear, anger. In paganism you would use sage brooms (clusters) to broom away negative energies. Ancient cultures also considered it important for protecting spiritual sanctity. They believed that sage could keep evil spirits at bay and is still being respected this way in todays age. 

When working with sage it holds much wisdom, it is not an easy exchange receiving sacred knowledge, but working with the plant enough can show you how wise they are. 

• Sage is connected to the element; Air and carries masculine energy
• Associated with the Zodiac sign; Sagittarius

Medicinal

Sage has many wonderful attributes for medicinal purposes. Naturally sage is anti-bacterial you will find in many cleaning products sage is used. You can also create your own remedies with sage for anti-bacterial needs. Sage is a natural anti-septic and pesticide. White sage is often use for as a natural deodorant and allergy repellent; Allergens such as pet dander, pollution, dust and mould. This property of sage is said to improve the quality of air, which affects asthmatics and general allergies, room must be ventilated before entering.

Herbalists use a small amount of white sage as a tea. White sage is used to soothing sore throats (contains eucalyptol, a natural compound that contains cooling properties) aid relaxation and to support for hormonal imbalances, for diarrhoea, for indigestion, ulcers and for treating congestion in the respiratory tract. When we are burning natural sage it releases stress from our bodies and aids relaxation for sleep.