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 

Earthlight

Our Network Of Life

We have always lived and had our being via a network. Contrary to popular opinion, widespread networking did not begin - and will not conclude - with the World Wide Web, let alone cloud computing. Rather, from our beginnings in the mists of a historical time we have been intimately interlinked with entities near and far, great and small. Thus, cultivating a plant as purifying as White Sage irrevocably changes those who do it. This is especially true for the staff of Lucky Six Farms who are wholeheartedly committed to manifesting the Earth's illuminating wisdom. Having little faith or trust in popular reductionist methods that increase production at the cost of organic integrity, we seek to bring ourselves into enlightening communion not only with the Plant Spirit but also the immense network of natural connections supporting it.

Network Of Energy

Plants, like people, never really exist as isolated, wholly autonomous islands of being. It is an illusion to imagine otherwise. Like individuals playing out their roles in high cultures, plants rely on a functional network of others for protection, nutrition, stimulation, information, and energetic support. A plethora of animal, vegetal, mineral, elemental, and spiritual entities link one to another in a spectacular array of connections for the White Sage to thrive. We actively participate in that process, so that our ultimate goal - the finest, purest White Sage aromatics possible - can be realized consistently, day in and day out, through every season of the year.

The Divine Network

We believe that our relationship to the White Sage and those who appreciate its power have made us better somehow. Perhaps because we feel humbler in the face of the extraordinary Mystery infusing and sustaining all life. And because we believe that the compassion and openness shining through our White Sage products can open a window of Divine truth to the customers we serve.

By Alan Beck

Lucky Six Farms' Multitude of Brilliant Suns

What Creates A Symbol?

Can a meaningful symbol be penned by the hand of Nature? The old Doctrine of Signatures isn't referenced much today, indeed few of us are even familiar with the name. Widely known and believed from the earliest days of Imperial Rome until the waning years of the Renaissance, the Doctrine held that a plant's form often symbolized its worldly function. Post-modern science dismisses the whole idea as superstition, yet Paracelsus - one of Nature's closest observers and a founder of experimental medicine - put as much stock in it as the mystic Jakob Bohme. Apparently, this concept ultimately springs from theological roots, specifically from the notion that Divine Intelligence placed plants here with just as much purpose as people. Thus, a plant's shape and color might well embody a key symbol indicative of its unique practical value.

I am certified neither as a scientist nor a saint. Nevertheless, as I take my daily stroll through Lucky Six Farms, I'm forcefully reminded of this ancient notion at virtually every turn. Why? The White Sage itself, whether burgeoning in countless numbers through immense wild-crafted fields or rising solitary from the high-desert soil, first makes its presence known as a perfect, symmetrical whirl of leaflets: a miniature, vegetative sun bursting with blue-green luminance.

Clarity Of Symbol And Meaning

Even a child would be instantly struck by the similarity. The resemblance is clearly delineated. It stands out prominently wherever it appears, even in dense chaparral; many visitors have remarked how it almost appears to be glowing: quite unusual for such a small, low-lying young plant!

White Sage As Symbol

Interestingly enough, Lucky Six Farms' White Sage serves much like a friendly, easily-portable sun. Tirelessly purifying, energizing, invigorating, and ever supporting our own variegated pursuits, the White Sage has earned its reputation for facilitating all positive and wholesome works. For me, our life-giving star has long been accompanied by spirit allies that assist its work: one of the most efficient is the White Sage: it symbolizes a better world for all.

Walk on the Grounds

 By Alan Beck

Confidence In The Earth

Each morning as I touch the soil, my confidence in our planet's holistic healing power increases. Every day I walk the grounds of Lucky Six Farms, marveling at its expansive, organic White Sage gardens. I especially enjoy working directly with White Sage and contemplating its venerable power. It is a privilege to maintain a personal relationship with its remarkably cleansing, energizing, and uplifting spirit. Such feelings reflect more than superficial sentiment. I believe our California White sage offers a truly unique array of useful gifts to those seeking paths of authentic betterment today. In particular, for those lacking confidence in themselves, their society, or their world, the White Sage provides a unique remedy.

White Sage Rewards Our Confidence

Virtually all societies acknowledge the vital role played by plants; this is especially true in communities where profound, earth-centered traditions have long been maintained. But no matter what our personal beliefs may be, plants proactively support our lives: our physical, intellectual, energetic, and even spiritual states are closely tied to the living plant life around us - so much so, in fact, that too many inadvertently take that wondrous bounty for granted. The confidence we place in the Earth as our home, our primordial support is most directly evinced through our trust in the plant life that serves us. Nowhere is this better illustrated then in the ancient respect indigenous peoples had for the plant we today call the California White Sage.

Confidence Is Rooted In The Plant Spirit

Native communities, in particular, viewed their daily relationship with White Sage as particularly vital. Through it, even stubborn negative energies could be cleared away in a relatively brief period. It was understood that White Sage was consistently allied with the community's highest and best goals, as the beneficial Sage Spirit worked to open each individual's heart energy to abundant flow. And abundant energy translates into self confidence. Nothing of this has changed over the centuries. Thus, White Sage can, even now, be an important adjunct to our heart's most authentic expression. No wonder this remarkable plant spirit has been sincerely venerated by so many for so long!