What is the purpose of burning sweetgrass?

Sweetgrass is used in prayer, smudging and purifying ceremonies. It is usually braided, dried and burned. It is usually burned at the beginning of a prayer or ceremony to attract positive energies.

What does sweetgrass do spiritually?

When burned for healing or ritual purposes, the smoke from the braided sweetgrass is thought to attract good spirits and positive energies. It is used as a smudging tool to purify peoples auras, cleanse objects, and clear ceremonial areas or healing spaces of negative energy.

What sweetgrass means?

Therefore, sweetgrass represents positivity, strength, connection to the Creator and all our relations. it represents the Mother, our mother, Mother Earth. It is our connection to the land, to what is around us. Its smell when burned dry is a sweet smell, reminiscent of our ancestors.

Why are turkey feathers used for smudging?

These feathers are used to direct or guide the smoke from Burning smudges (sage, sweetgrass, lavender, etc.) over a person or object and in the direction of the prayers sent to the Creator. Feathers hold a sacred meaning in that they are symbols to help one soar.

What does burning sweetgrass smell like?

What does burning sweetgrass smell like? Its smell when burned dry is a sweet smell, reminiscent of our ancestors. When fresh, its smell is one of grass (a faint one). It smells fresh, it smells like comfort and home.

What are the benefits of sweet grass?

Sweet grass has proven to be a sacred, powerful plant believed by many to dispel negative energy, elicit emotional strength, and engage our minds and senses.

What does it mean when you smell sweet grass?

Everywhere it grows it is prized. The thing that makes sweetgrass sweet is coumarin, a naturally occurring aromachemical that in its pure form has a scent somewhere between vanilla and warm hay. As the grass dries, the scent of coumarin becomes more pronounced.

How do I identify Sweetgrass?

How do I identify Sweetgrass? Many of us have only known Sweetgrass as a dried and braided product used in ceremonies. However, in its natural state as an untamed grass, the easiest and most pleasant way to identify the plant is by its vanilla fragrance that comes from the leaves.

Can you use a turkey feather for smudging?

Turkey Feathers are often used as Smudge Feathers. Hand painted Eagle Feathers are also an option. Abalone shells, Scallop shells or a Ceramic Smudge Bowl hold the burning white sage while a Smudge Feather is used to fan the smoke around a person, object or space that is being healed or cleansed of negative energy.

Does it matter what kind of feather you use for smudging?

Though many people choose to use just a single feather, decorated or plain, during their smudging ceremonies, some people prefer to use a dedicated “feather fan”. Feather fans or smudge fans are made from two or more feathers, bound together to form a fan.

What Sweetgrass smells like?

Herbal notes of rosemary settle into sweet tobacco and honey yellow mimosa flower. All of this settles down onto the smell of freshly cut hay and ambrette seed. This fougerè style fragrance is a re-invigoration of a classic cologne style.” – a note from the brand.

Is Sweet Grass poisonous?

Sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum oderatum) contains some nice-smelling compounds (coumarin and ortho-coumaric acid). Coumarin itself, at high enough doses, can damage the liver, too. I don’t know how much coumarin is in sweet vernal grass, but cattle have been poisoned by it in England and horses here in the US.