Culture's Heavy Cart

Juggernaut - The Symbol

Can you recognize a juggernaut? The other day a member of our Lucky Six Farms staff pulled a crumbled piece of paper she had found lying on the ground from her coat pocket and spread it out before me on a table. I recognized the displayed line drawing at once: it was the first-ever smiley face. No, I don’t mean the 1963 version penned by commercial artist Harvey Ball. I’m referring instead to the redoubtable image of Jagannath, Lord of the World, venerated for countless centuries in his temple at Puri, India and elsewhere. Scholars of British India were quick to give this cheerful divine visage some very bad press. In particular, they claimed that devotees would throw themselves beneath the immense wheels of his huge cart as it was pulled by countless celebrants from one place to another during the deity’s annual festival. Thus, Jagannath soon morphed into our colloquial juggernaut, transmogrifying a traditionally creative avatar into a thoroughly modern, implacably malevolent force.

Juggernaut - The Reality

It is no wonder the concept of juggernaut conveys such trendy resonance. One of the most important founts of today’s social anomie lies in a pervasive feeling of impotence, a conviction of utter personal irrelevance. Social, political, and economic powers appear too immense to offer any reasonable handhold for the individual, who is seemingly cast adrift on a dwindling raft of his own meager resources. Even organized religion, long a solid bastion of uplifting material and moral support for even the most benighted, appears to have succumbed to the ponderous immobility of its own affluence. There is, of course, a terrible irony in all this, for only a truly great culture could have finally grown so immensely powerful that it is no longer capable of providing material, intellectual, or emotional shelter to the frail, foible-ridden individual human beings who are its sole constituents.

Juggernaut - Alternatives, Old And New

My regular readers can undoubtedly see where these observations are heading. The impressive interest in and concomitant growth of both traditional and alternative spiritual paths during the last half-century provide eloquent testimony to the incredible resilience of the human spirit. We believe humanity can soar high above our hidebound juggernaut, far beyond our culture’s tragically overburdened cart. By offering reasonably-priced, pure, certified organic White Sage products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves - we actively cater to this trend. May all our customers and clients thereby benefit from a perennial source of uplifting energy!

By Alan Beck

 

Serpents Of Lucky Six Farms

Myths and Legends - A Gift Of Culture

Snakes play important parts in myths and legends worldwide. We have a chance to observe them first-hand as several types are frequent visitors to the expansive White Sage fields of Lucky Six Farms and their adjacent high desert acres. We never molest them, as we value their vital place in our local ecology, specifically their role in organic pest control. But we respect their other connections, too, the mythic and spiritual ones which reflect realities other than strictly mundane and material ones. Indigenous southern California Tribes held that, in vanished ages, a great serpent had come from the depths of the sea, taken up residence on land, and was killed by people who had been rudely displaced by his intrusion. As his huge body burned up, smoldering pieces landed and immediately transformed into various cultural components, like knowledge of fire-making and ceremonial protocols. Thus, all subsequent myths and legends here ultimately derive from the serpent.

Myths and Legends - Serpent Symbology

Stories of this kind are rooted in primordial symbology, a graphic language capable of speaking to the deepest, most dynamic regions of our psyche. On virtually every continent, serpents represent certain vital interfaces between human civilization and the untamed forces of nature. It is especially common to see serpents or serpent spirits as guardians of hidden treasure or special knowledge. Standing as intermediaries between humanity and the potent unknown, they must be completely overpowered or understood and diplomatically courted for their secrets to be ultimately accessed. In a similar vein, it was none other than Albert Einstein who asserted, “Nature is subtle, but she is not malicious.”

Myths and Legends - Serpents As Nature Personified

Perhaps the most popular legends regarding snakes have them representing principal natural forces which manifest highly dichotomous effects on our lives. Intimately aligned with winds and water, these serpentine entities can bring life-giving rain or devastating floods, refreshing breezes or ruinous storms. Finally, and most importantly, serpents embody the notion of perennial rebirth and resurrection, ideas which have supported spiritual insights and commitments since time immemorial.  We are proud to note our pure, certified White Sage products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves - provide open avenues through which we can all perceive our own personal connections to the life and love empowering all of our natural world.

By Alan Beck

 

Smudge Symphonies

White Sage - Smudge Melody

Sensitive, intelligent use of White Sage may be fruitfully compared to making beautiful music. Lucky Six Farms, which for decades has served as preeminent supplier of pure, certified organic White Sage products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves - knows the analogy is not nearly as far-fetched as it might first appear. In ages past, alchemists stressed that their operations, both material and spiritual, were more art than science, more akin to living performances of instrumental harmony than mechanical duplications of cut-and-dried formulae. The act of smudging, too, partakes of this rhapsodic character. As we have emphasized previously, White Sage embodies an empowered, vibrant plant spirit who should only be called upon when time and circumstances are right. White Sage’s melody is uniquely penetrating and clarifying.

White Sage - Smudge Harmony

Although White Sage products are traditionally employed alone in the context of purificatory rites undertaken prior to religious or juridical ceremonies, they have often been combined with a stellium of other herbs for synergistic effect. An excellent example of such aromatic harmony can be found in the smudge combination of White Sage and Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon sp.). When smoldered as a single bundle in appropriate proportions and situations, the pair are reputed to enhance psychic powers, especially insights generated as the result of focused divination. This complementary duo of well-known, sacred U.S. Western coastal plant spirits has become increasingly popular in recent years throughout Wiccan and alternative spiritual communities. It is a fantastic example of how our burgeoning noumenal awareness has given rise to novel creative understanding.

White Sage - Smudge Counterpoint

In music theory, counterpoint has always been regarded as the most sophisticated form of integrative harmony. Certainly, this is also the case with the intimate smudge combination of White Sage and Cedar (Thuja occidentalis). The latter, normally used by many North American Tribes to assist contact with benevolent ancestor spirits and banish malevolent influences, is traditionally conjoined with White Sage for very special occasions, when unusually intense purification must be reliably called forth. Nor does this exhaust fruitful aromatic combinations wherein White Sage plays a key role. By carefully researching how White Sage has been linked to other herbs, it is possible to uncover much interesting, hitherto obscure, knowledge.

By Alan Beck

Opening Chakras

Chakras In The Body - The Role Of White Sage

Most Asian meditative traditions - and more than a few schools of Western esotericism - note the importance of discrete energy vortices or chakras in the body. Usually appearing to our inner vision as akin to rotating wheels or dynamically petaled flowers, they are arrayed along the body’s central axis. Each serves to concentrate a distinct life-current, so directing psychic focus upon it may give rise to insights or abilities germane to areas governed by that particular energy. Numerous techniques may assist such programs, including visualizations, yogic postures, breathing exercises, and external aids. White Sage purification belongs to the latter group, and the entire integrated process is often understood as “opening a chakra.” Madre Grande Monastery and Lucky Six Farms often receive accounts of our White Sage products successfully employed as adjuncts to opening chakras in the body.

Chakras In The Body - The White Sage Audit

Although traditions may differ on the number of chakras and their precise locations, most recognize seven primary ones: root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown. Ideally, opening chakras should be carried out in a reasonably balanced fashion, with no single center receiving an overabundance of attention. Thus, in the initial stages it is advisable to conduct an internal survey of all seven so as to ascertain which seem most energy deficient or unduly closed off to the healthy circulation of living currents. By simply preceding this spiritual audit with a formal White Sage smudging, clear understanding of the overall situation can be efficiently enabled. Repeating the procedure once or even twice after an interim of a few days will further concretize your understanding and increase your confidence in the information obtained.

Chakras In The Body - Cleansing, Clearing, Purifying

Once particular chakras have been recognized as needing opening, you can make each  in turn the center of meditative focus. Your approach should be gentle but firm. White Sage smudging via suitably sized bundle, cone, or hydrosol mist may be used during periods of prolonged or intense concentration. By stabilizing the mind on a particular chakra, the dynamic vision of that hub will grow vivid so its supporting channels of energy can be harmoniously cleaned, calmed, and ultimately normalized. By allowing White Sage’s naturally purifying influence to be conveyed and accurately translated inward, each chakra can be empowered to its full potential.

By Alan Beck

Smudge Is Not Incense!

Intellectual Bad Breath

We at Lucky Six Farms like to characterize popular confusion of incense with smudge as intellectual bad breath. Why? Because this foolish conflation seriously offends both the academically well-informed and the spiritually aware. I’ll focus on the former group first. Incense and smudge have explicitly divergent definitions. Incense is any material burned to fill the immediate environment with a putatively pleasant scent. Smudge is a sacred plant smoldered or otherwise employed for ritual purification. The difference is immediately apparent. There is virtually no conceptual overlap at all between the two substances.  And for those who stubbornly refuse to acknowledge or respect this fact, their mental situation is as appalling as terminal halitosis. Like its physical counterpart, intellectual bad breath is socially repellent.

Spiritual Bad Breath

For those accustomed to appropriate employment of ceremonial smudging, mistaking incense for smudge is tantamount to interpreting wrong-doing as virtue. Although miscellaneous incenses and perfumes have long played public relations roles for various organized faiths, such fragrances usually performed those duties more to overwhelm the smell of large crowds than to directly enhance connections with the Divine. In addition, substances traditionally utilized as smudge are also linked to manifested respect for the sacred in numerous other ways. For example, many Native American Tribes wrap or cushion the Holy Pipe with White Sage leaves. Salvia apiana leaves are also worn by Sun Dance participants and carried on journeys as a link to benevolent, protective spirit influence. For the indigenous wise men and women  of America, substituting some nominally nice-smelling material for White Sage in such contexts would be ludicrous and possibly dangerous.

White Sage Fights Ordinary Bad Breath

Interestingly, keeping a small White Sage leaf in the mouth is reputed to keep the physical breath fresh even as it energizes the mind while calming the body. White Sage leaves were often used in this way to provide extra energy during periods of protracted exertion or minimal food intake. Any way you look at it, then, smudge is most certainly not incense: the two are not even close in character or purpose. We are proud to provide certified organic White Sage products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves - to those who are knowledgeable about what they are, what they do, and why they are universally regarded as sacred. White Sage is smudge and should always be treated appropriately.

By Alan Beck

What's Eating You?

The Deep Roots Of Eating Disorders

We at Lucky Six Farms have noted that anorexia and bulimia along with a host of other nonspecific eating disorders are mentioned more and more frequently today. Certainly these are troubling trends, perhaps because they are now making their presence evident among hitherto resistant demographic sectors. Clearly, the rise and ever increasing prevalence of these conditions derive from much more than general food availability coupled with high caloric content. Obsession with attaining unrealistic body-image models appears to motivate most sufferers, but this observation only begs the question of why such peculiar psychological foci have attained power enough to wreck lives. Could there be further reasons yet to be uncovered? In fact, a wide range of studies indicate that the prevalence of eating disorders in post-modern society stems from deep rooted feelings of alienation and apathy. 

Eating Disorders Reflect Interpersonal Disconnect

We believe the blatant artificiality of post-modern life, its characteristic emphasis on mere superficiality and veneer, is a principal contributor to eating disorders today. In particular, we have learned to be concerned with objects at the cost of relationships and to value manipulation over interpersonal integrity. We long to cover our true selves with masks and thus strive to emulate images which best actualize such obscurantist goals. What is needed most in these circumstances, of course, is personal authenticity, that is, the desire to expose who we really are both to our own consciences and the opinions of others. Are there any ways we can actively encourage an honest approach to ourselves?

Pushing Eating Disorders From Our Table

Indigenous American Tribes plus a good many others who are seriously affiliated with Earth-centered spirituality have traditionally believed that mental clarity brought about through purification drew basic authenticity along in its train. The primordial linkage between one’s true self and surrounding life-forms, human and nonhuman, often manifests intensely following sincere efforts at purification. And realization of this true self invariably undercuts all self-destructive illusions, especially those which set problems like eating disorders into motion. Vanguard science itself has recently seconded those venerable concepts by illuminating remarkably ramified interconnections at the heart of our material existence. The certified organic White Sage products we offer - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves - have long served as respected adjuncts of various purification regimes. We present them in the hope they can help uncover the true, empowered self within every person.

By Alan Beck

Reducing Post-Modern Pressures

Ubiquitous Stress And Anxiety

I find it both disturbing and fascinating that elevated levels of stress and anxiety are pretty much taken for granted today as standard features of post-modern life. The underlying causes for this condition are not hard to ascertain. Western civilization has encountered more profound changes during the last two centuries than at any other period throughout its colorful thousand-year reign. Prescient commentators have noted how so many pervasive technological innovations expressly designed to ease stress and anxiety have inadvertently magnified them instead. Our psychological predicament can be likened to squeezing one end of a balloon. Tension dissipated at the compressed end becomes instantly evident on the other. Often, a balloon will burst under repeated treatment of this kind, because rapid escalations of stress eventually prove too much to bear. The computer I’m typing on now provides a perfect real-world example: the wonderfully facile communication it enables is balanced - and perhaps offset - by the inherent stress and anxiety of corporate cubicle culture.

Traditional Approaches To Stress And Anxiety

Although we labor under burgeoning amounts of these irritants today, stress and anxiety are hardly new or unique. Problems they pose have long challenged both individuals and cultures. Traditional approaches to their alleviation invariably included prayer and ritual purification. Lucky Six Farms is dedicated to offering products capable of powerfully assisting the latter. We understand that effective purification is a multidimensional process. Since humans exist simultaneously on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual planes, reducing stress and anxiety is necessarily a highly integrated process. Over eons, wise women and men learned which plant helpers could best balance and cleanse energetic currents flowing through and between these life-sustaining arenas. Perhaps the most prominent and potent is the southern California White Sage (Salvia apiana).

Reducing Stress And Anxiety Naturally

Our White Sage essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves provide numerous avenues for attenuating the burdensome titer of stress and anxiety generated by ever-familiar barrages of hectic demands and unforeseen obstacles. Whether you choose our smudge stick’s measured, formal ceremonial or our hydrosol’s quick mist near pocket or purse, you may always rely on the organic purity - the very quality so valued by indigenous peoples - required for White Sage to work its ancient magick.

By Alan Beck 

Cosmic Cycles, Human Cycles

Eternal Life And The Mystery Cults

Ironically, mature civilizations inevitably focus on issues of eternal life. Western thinkers, both modern and post-modern, have shown great interest in the ancient mystery cults. No doubt such curiosity is justified by numerous historical parallels linking those troubled times with our own. Cults of the Magna Mater, Isis, Dionysus, Cybele, Mithra, and others flourished most in an era when daily vicissitudes generated by a newly formed and rapidly burgeoning empire emptied traditional belief systems of their relevance and emotive power. Life became precarious; death loitered menacingly around every corner. History provides ample evidence of the problem, as all hope of secure, let alone eternal life receded into a glowering distance.

Oppressive anomie coupled with a general feeling that something new and spiritually vibrant was needed filled the psychic atmosphere of those bygone days. When this yearning became almost palpable, the mystery cults proffered their intriguing solution. The question we ask today is: exactly how did those strange rites fill the yawning inner void which extended across lines of class, gender, and learning? Precisely what could they offer that comforted and satisfied so many whose hearts, under the baneful Roman eye, had grown cynical and cold? Could their hidden treasure be the confident assurance of eternal life?

Eternal Life Through Organic Vision

When our Lucky Six Farms staff raised these questions with monks and friars of nearby Madre Grande Monastery, the resultant discussion proved provocative and illuminating. Because both groups have long been involved in day-to-day issues of organic farming in the service of sacred vegetation, certain answers presented themselves with unusual vigor. One aspect of the mystery rites was shared in common by virtually every cult: an apotheosis wherein a sheaf of grain or similarly common plant was presented, bathed in radiant glory, to new initiates. Although forbidden to give clear voice to the principal mystery doctrines per se, all devotees agreed that the central concept involved new life after ostensible death, rebirth  after burial, resurrection following destruction. Both the Monastery personnel and those at Lucky Six Farms are well acquainted with such notions, since they lie at the very hub of ecologically sound organic farming.

Eternal Life Via Practice And Product

When such matters are broached, it is all too easy to lose the thread of meaning in a labyrinth of semantics. It is a maze in which today’s academics too often flounder. However, in whatever terms it is couched, the critical point here is simply this: Cosmic cycles so evident in our farming do not stop at the soil but, in fact, infuse every aspect of our lives and thoughts. We are profoundly connected to the Earth and share the essentially perennial nature of all her living forms. It is indeed in that spirit of eternal life and the purity underlying it that we offer our White Sage products. 

By Alan Beck

Earning Earth-Friendliness

Putting Down Our Ecological Footprint

What is the real size of the Lucky Six Farms ecological footprint? Recently, several industrial manufacturers of low-grade, synthetic incense inaugurated a campaign against the purchase and use of White Sage smudge bundles and allied products. In particular, they rail against traditional aromatics made from wildcrafted leaves, proclaiming that such harvests decimate long-established, indigenous stands of California White Sage, thus moving this precious vegetative resource close to extinction. In addition, they assert that entire native ecosystems are being trashed by small wildcrafting enterprises. Are these horrifying allegations true? Are we ruining our natural environment and ravishing Mother Earth? Does our ecological footprint resemble an oversized hobnailed boot more than an earth-friendly moccasin?

Defining Our Ecological Footprint

Interestingly enough, the root of all these allegations lies unobtrusively within the dictionary, in the precise definition of the term “wildcrafting.” We cannot speak for other ventures, but for Lucky Six Farms wildcrafting means now exactly what it always has always meant: purposeful hand cultivation from heritage cuttings and seeds on carefully prepared beds. Thus, we first till and naturally enrich the soil of expansive private fields leased from Madre Grande Monastery, then prayerfully plant our Salvia apiana one at a time in the earth. Because White Sage is a perennial, most stands cultivated in this way will sprout new leaves and flowers several times per year for quite a number of years after initial planting.

Our Ecological Footprint - Fact Versus Falsehood

The fact is that false representations of what actually constitutes American wildcrafting usually emanate from large-scale fragrance industries specializing in cheap, lab-created synthetic scents and exceptionally dubious sources of natural aromatics. By leveraging their advertising budgets as new-found champions of environmental integrity, they believe they have hit upon a wonderful way to undercut genuinely earth-friendly competition. We at Lucky Six Farms know that such falsehoods have a very short shelf life for savvy customers. We are proud that so many Native American Tribes - foremost authorities on what does and does not respect our Mother Earth - continue to purchase our offerings even as they shun those of our detractors. So the ecological footprint of truth and love always proves the lightest of all.

By Alan Beck

Sage Wisdom About Sage Herbs

White Sage - Plant Personality

Each plant species is like a person, unique and individually focused. This point is not always well understood. Staff at Lucky Six Farms are frequently asked to clarify issues regarding the proper place of White Sage within the general family of sages. Queries often run,”White Sage is just a strong mint, right? Aren’t all mints pretty much the same anyway, like peppermint and spearmint? So it should be OK if I substitute one for another.” While such confusion is certainly understandable, we believe it should be dispelled before it can motivate imprudent enterprise. There are more plants classified as salvias then are found in any other genus of the mint family (Lamiaceae). In turn, each salvia species is a very special plant in its own right, with uses and caveats applicable to itself alone.

White Sage - Plant Power To Be Respected

Some of the characteristic vagueness surrounding sages is simply a consequence of old Linnean taxonomic designations indiscriminately rolled over into our current system of biologic classification. The sage genus as whole originally derived its title from the Latin verb salvere, which meant to experience well-being and health. Most people are familiar with sages through their renowned culinary representative, Salvia officinalis, usually called cooking or common sage, available on the spice rack of any grocery store or supermarket. On the other hand, White Sage (Salvia apiana) is a much rarer and infinitely more formidable plant. Too strong for casual ingestion under any circumstances and too spiritually potent for use as a throwaway incense, White Sage has earned a worldwide reputation as cleanser par excellence of lingering negative impressions and fast-acting psychic energizer.

White Sage - Plant Of Purity

White Sage has also been traditionally employed by Native Americans and professional herbalists in a variety of targeted medicinal contexts, where its intensely penetrating character can be carefully monitored and controlled for optimum effect. A reasonably safe way of exploring these potentials is through brewing an ultra-light tisane: leave one White Sage leaf in a cup of water for several hours, remove the leaf, and drink plain. No more than a single cup of this infusion should be taken per day and never by lactating mothers, as compounds in White Sage may attenuate their flow of milk. Apiana tisanes have long been reputed to alleviate symptoms of irritated respiratory and digestive tracts, but authorized medical practitioners should always be consulted in serious or protracted cases.

By Alan Beck 

New Senses, New World

Metaphysical Perception

An erstwhile correspondent once chided me for expressing interest in metaphysical topics. “No such things even exist,” he remarked ruefully. “If stuff doesn’t register on our regular five senses, it simply isn’t there.” For good or ill, my retort appeared to render him nonplussed. “But there are seven senses,” I noted, “and it’s those additional two that matter the most.” Of course, my assertion merely echoed century-old observations by Theosophical Society founder Helena Blavatsky, author G.A. Barborka, and others. These luminaries used both personal experience and logical inference as eloquent testimony for the presence of two additional senses: memory and spiritual insight. Of course, only an ineluctably metaphysical perspective would allow such arguments for the reality of nonphysical faculties.

Metaphysical Understanding

What does this putative pair of supersensory vehicles have to do with our White Sage products? Actually, quite a bit! At Lucky Six Farms the noumenal sits as close as the phenomenal. At times, the former’s relevance to real-world considerations may far outstrip the latter’s. When delicate issues of planting, optimum growth, pest control, maturity, harvesting, and distillation lie outside the narrow, blinkered purview of factory-farming - as they inevitably do with White Sage - we must draw upon evidence flowing from channels outside the mundane five. Since we employ no petrochemicals, pesticides, or industrial techniques to assure organic quality and purity, we have become aware of subtle information sources and ancient methodologies unavailable to those who must rely on mechanical instrumentation and coarse interventions.

Metaphysical Results

For customers across the globe, our uniquely purifying White Sage products have come to function as much more than conventional aromatics. With Native American Tribes, our clients have learned to appreciate the many dimensions of life benefited through the use of our essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves. In fact, I can state categorically that the primary channels through which White Sage works its wonders are metaphysical. By rapidly energizing minds while calming bodies, it magickally opens psychic portals hitherto closed or inaccessible. Such metaphysical results are undeniable: see for yourself!
 
By Alan Beck

 

Organic Perspectives

True Wisdom In Theory

Where does true wisdom lie? As many readers already know, Lucky Six Farms leases all of its White Sage fields from world-renowned Madre Grande Monastery. In addition, all of our products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole White Sage leaves - are processed according to rigorous standards first set forth by the Monastery. The arrangement allows for a continuing exchange of opinion and information between the two organizations, an ongoing and often remarkably fruitful discussion forging links between pragmatic aspects of organic farming and esoteric Theosophical principles. Key components of the latter include belief in extremely long evolutionary cycles or waves, wherein immutable hubs of conscious being are carried across immense gulfs of time and space in a cosmic process encouraging constructive change. The wisdom of this approach has been recognized by cultures as diverse as the western hemisphere Maya and eastern hemisphere Hindu. 

True Wisdom In Practice

Farmers who personally participate in their profession can find much with which to identify in this perspective. Such an expansive view is directly at odds with most popular notions of progress largely derived from post-modern corporate demands. Instead of catering to inflexible, narrow time-lines set by requirements for quarterly profits, farmers must cultivate patience, genuine adaptability, and openness marked by a keen awareness of seasonality and yearly yield. Stately movements of sun, moon, stars, and clouds against a solid background of soil gradually unfold the stage on which successful cultivation thrives. Thus, the difference in thought patterns between farmer’s market and commodity market are clearly evident and often stark.

Fruits Of True Wisdom

At Lucky Six Farms, we are - and have always been - firmly committed to the living Earth that supports us, the welfare of all her children, and the long-term spiritual satisfaction of our customers. Profits are merely a vehicle for achieving these ends rather than ends in themselves. Whatever the bureaucratic arrangements necessary for our enterprise, we acknowledge the fundamental validity of traditional views: in the final analysis, our blue planet and her wondrous resources cannot be owned by anyone. All we can hope to do is ethically manage those elements that lie temporarily under our aegis. We know that responsibility alone constitutes a serious charge as well as an unparalleled privilege.

By Alan Beck

Understanding Purification

Wisdom Is Self-Insight

Unlike most enterprises, Lucky Six Farms has learned what wisdom is. Why is this so? Our certified organic White Sage products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge sticks, cones, and whole leaves - are well-known for their spiritually purifying properties. But there exists much popular misunderstanding concerning exactly what such purification entails. As with many concepts rooted in actual spiritual experience, purification may easily be approached one-sidedly or erroneously. That’s where our years of wisdom come into play. When potential customers ask questions such as: “Can purification wipe out the consequences of wrong-doing? Will others ignore any harm I commit if I purify afterwards? If I hurt someone, will subsequent purification make it alright? Does a rite of purification cleanse my karma?” we can reply authoritatively. We understand the beginning of wisdom is self-insight.

Wisdom Is Moral Clarity

The wise truth abut what purification is and isn’t can be communicated quite vividly through an illustrative example. Suppose a person plans to attend a ceremonial purification at a sanctified site, a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or monastery. Prior to the sacred service, (s)he steals a valuable relic from a nearby shrine. The rite of purification will in no way obviate their crime. Instead, when the chain of cause and effect - the karma - set into motion by the theft matures days, months, years, or even lifetimes later, the perpetrator will not be able to remain oblivious. They will have a sudden, possibly even preternatural, insight into the underlying reason for their intense suffering. While they may not be able to identify the precise act that created their painful predicament, they will nonetheless be made explicitly aware of the negative inner quality that has generated their misery. This is because the purification rite ultimately provided cleansing insight. The purifying environment entered near the time of their crime worked to create an unusual sense of moral clarity. 

Wisdom Is Empathy

Traditional forms of spirituality operate on the principle that no one is perfect. Thus, they all stress a central tenet which we usually identify as the “golden rule.” They advise devotees not to treat others in ways they themselves would find loathsome were they to end up on the receiving end. Although chains of causality may often appear interminable to those who disregard empathy, this perception is illusory. What is proudly and exultantly grabbed at another's expense will eventually be received with a tearful face. Purification provides a powerful tool whereby irrelevant and superfluous impressions may be readily cleared away, thereby opening space for our own inner Light of the Divine to shine through. Lessons we learn through such a process may be extremely hard, but they ultimately devolve to our lasting benefit.

By Alan Beck