Cultural Appropriation is a major concern for us at "The Bat Witch Cavern" but also for the spirituality community on the whole. To Indigenous tribes in North American, smudging is an important ritual for many. Smudging is traditionally a ceremony for purifying or cleansing the soul of negative thoughts of a person or place. When non-native people burn sage to “smudge” their homes or other spaces, it can minimize the cultural importance of this ritual, and have a negative impact on how the herbs are grown. White sage is a sacred plant (medicine) given by Mother Nature for us to use, we must start becoming mindful about the energy that is behind how it is being harvested. The plant itself grows wild but due to the increased use of it, it is being over harvested and/or not harvested properly. It is ESPECIALLY important to ensure that, if you are buying White Sage, that you are buying from a place that sources ethically grown White Sage grown specifically for commercial use. Or even better, grow your own if possible. Our White sage that is sold on our online store is commercially grown and ethically harvested. We do NOT sell any wild harvested White Sage even though a lot of our other herbs we sell are wildcrafted.
The most important part of this is education and the fact that you are reading this means a lot! At the Bat Witch Cavern, out of respect for Indigenous tribes everywhere, we do not call any products we sell with the word “smudge” unless it is part of commercial packaging such as books or accessories. The owner of the Bat Witch Cavern is mi’kmaq by family linage originating in Newfoundland, Canada.
