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

Aromatherapy In Three Easy Lessons

Simplicity in Intent

Although inherent in aromatherapy, simplicity often gets lost in the shuffle. Books, pamphlets, lectures, and reports needlessly complicate what should be fundamental. Stated in its most basic form, aromatherapy confirms the age-old observation that certain scents retain the capacity to generate exceptionally powerful effects on our mind-body complex. Marcel Proust, among a host of other authors, documented how a single seemingly ordinary aroma called back a veritable avalanche of emotion-laden memories and associations. We have all experienced similar encounters with evocative smells - sometimes even with fragrances that ostensibly have never been experienced in this life! Given these facts, we can employ aromatherapy without compromising the simplicity of its operation.

Simplicity in Means

Aromatherapy works because our sense of smell is more primordial than either vision or hearing, the two senses usually deemed most critical for seamless function within our ramified post-modern society. In the insect world, for example, smell reigns supreme, governing all aspects of matters as diverse as colony organization or finding a suitable mate from miles away. Thus, scent and only scent is key to aromatherapy’s success. Whether we apply gentle heat to essential oil, burn a small amount of dried herbs, spray a hydrosol, or simply work in proximity to a fresh aromatic source, we will perceive a benefit. What is important here, however, is not to mix too many scents together at once. A single, well-proven aroma is often more potent than a hastily compounded, overly eclectic mix.

Simplicity in Product

Finally, use products from a vendor that has established a solid reputation for quality, purity, and environmental concern. An excellent choice would be certified organic White Sage aromatics from Lucky Six Farms. Because White Sage has deep Native American traditional roots as a uniquely purifying aroma, it can be utilized in a wide range of aromatherapeutic contexts, both for individual and social purposes. White Sage also offers those merely curious about aromatherapy’s ultimate value to test things out for themselves.

By Alan Beck

Health’s Many Dimensions

Health Takes Physics’ Cue

We have finally realized that health is multi-dimensional. While such a vision may appear self-evident for us today, most medical authorities resisted its full implications until they were too weighty to ignore. Ironically enough, the first steps toward a wider perspective were taken by physicists. Although science didn’t seriously begin mulling over the proposition of an inorganic universe embraced by multiple dimensions until the opening decades of the Twentieth Century, the idea has recently gained incredible currency with CERN’s discovery of the Higgs Boson. If gross matter embraces many dimensions, how about us? As usual, biology and its handmaiden medicine have arrived quite late to the party. Long assumed to mean merely “disease free,” health is now understood to denote a complex of many dynamically interrelated factors.

Our Picture Of Health Comes Full Circle

Psychological and spiritual elements figure prominently in our new understanding of health. As any professional hypnotist or psychotherapist can testify, deeply held beliefs, tenacious attitudes, and subconscious assumptions can - and often do - make the difference between relaxed adaptation or unbearable discomfort. Even simple opinions, when grasped vigorously enough, have the potential to create Heaven or Hell for their proponents right here on Earth. In particular, our perception of purity as freedom from conflict and confusion is seen to gain increasing importance for health-conscious individuals. Indigenous societies have traditionally emphasized purification as a primary requisite for both group and individual empowerment. Now we are beginning to fully comprehend the wisdom of their view.

White Sage And Health

The California White Sage consistently played - and continues to play - the signal role of natural purifying agent for Tribal peoples throughout North America. Employed to quickly banish negative energies prior to ceremonies both great and small, White Sage was embraced as an indispensable adjunct to societal as well as personal health. A growing body of Internet testimonials ratify this knowledge, expanding it as well to other dimensions of wellness like energy and creativity. At Lucky Six Farms we are proud to actively facilitate this process so as to foster the health of our entire planet.

By Alan Beck

An Elder Speaks

American Heritage

Our company and its employees revere our American homeland and all of its people. We recognize, too, that this heritage is immensely complex. It can never be reduced to bumper-sticker slogans or simplistic philosophies. But when our historical memory tends to be short, our enthusiasm readily fills in the blanks, whether factually or erroneously. It's a familiar trait that is only human. Too often, people speak of relatively recent practices as if they were firmly rooted in a venerable heritage. So I am sometimes accused of placing too much emphasis on the importance of White Sage in Native American ritual. Do indigenous cultures really respect White Sage smudging as an indispensable means for quickly dispelling undesirable psychic influences on special occasions? Is the purifying energy of White Sage really part of our incredible American heritage?

American Purity

To answer this question authoritatively I will take the liberty of citing a recent statement by Anthony R. Pico, tribal council chairman of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians just prior to the singing of their famous, powerfully spiritual bird songs: “The smudging blessing is a cleansing ceremony that rids us of negative emotion and negative energy. From our perspective the joy and electricity it creates causes us to be in the frame of mind of goodness and forgiveness of one another.” The simple clarity and eloquence of his declaration requires no further elucidation.

American Products

Lucky Six Farms has been firmly committed to making the purifying current of White Sage available throughout the world. Our essential oils, hydrosols, smudge bundles, proprietary ultra pure smudge cones, and whole leaves testify to the wisdom of Native Americans who have recognized and sought out the benefits of this rare plant for thousands of years. When you employ our White Sage products, you can be confident that its legendary strength - undiluted, unpolluted, unmitigated - will always meet your highest expectations.

By Alan Beck

Love's Labors Won

All You Really Need Is Love

Love is a word that endures quite a bit of use and abuse. Pop stars make us focus on its overtly romantic or lustful connotations, while advertisers prefer to target its ties to sensual enjoyment. But isn't love also a vital component of simple, harmonious living? Psychologists from Freud to Maslow have emphasized the role love plays in the lives of healthy, happy, productive individuals. I believe our post-modern concept of love is unrealistically constricted, since true love often embraces much more than a simple one-on-one relationship. Wouldn't we benefit in spiritual ways if the things we incorporate in our daily lives were actually produced by those who love - and thus deeply respect - their labor?

Our Products Embody Love

The managers and workers of Lucky Six Farms have always believed in the power inherent in spiritual love. They love the work they do to grow, maintain, harvest, and process their remarkable products, which simultaneously calm the body while energizing the intellect. Because they work intimately with the White Sage Spirit, they have first-hand experience of its living beneficence. Indeed, their fervent belief supports the consistent purity and ceremonial viability of their White Sage products for use in a broad spectrum of Native American contexts. In fact, we feel our love reaches out through our products so as to positively change and illuminate those who make use of them, no matter what the context.

The Intrinsic Power Of Love

Love is not a commodity but an attitude informing a concrete process. Although mass-marketers and cheap industrial producers make the word love more vacuous the more they employ it, a small minority of spiritually-aware suppliers are not so sanguine about the term. Working from a solid ground of genuine love, they slowly but surely spread its true meaning and power with every product they ship. With this in mind, I humbly and sincerely invite you to look into the products of Lucky Six Farms!


By Alan Beck 

Valuing Paths Less Traveled

Seeker's Psychology

Euclid implies the straightest path between two points is also the quickest, but psychology offers very different testimony. I've learned some unusual life lessons by treading the vast, uniquely beautiful southern California acres of Lucky Six Farms. Case in point: threading my way through the thick, often thorny brush so typical of the high desert landscape. How should we go about finding the best paths to our most important goals? Often, when my interest has been aroused by a particularly striking geological formation or topographic vantage point, I've trusted the seemingly ironclad conclusions of plane geometry and sought to reach the place via the most direct trails. At first blush, this approach certainly seems to be sober, clear-eyed, rational, and eminently sensible, given the wilderness of rough terrain dotted by spiny undergrowth separating me from my ultimate destination. Yet psychology wins over math almost every time.

Desert Psychology Is Subtle

How can I draw such a peculiar conclusion? Indigenous intelligences which blazed those trails understood that paths obvious to travelers would be equally clear to predators. So, in terms of desert psychology subtlety is a cardinal virtue while transparency can be a deadly sin. From my more mundane position, I've found what appears as the shortest, most obvious route usually proves to be nothing but a dead end. Thus, after a taxing series of laborious trials and errors, I find that the quickest, least precarious way is one that initially seemed quite obscure or even nonexistent. In much the same way, although we may long to experience the full benefit of energetic purification, we hesitate to make use of venerable yet unfamiliar aids like White Sage essential oil, hydrosol, or smudge sticks.

Lessons From Natural Psychology

The potent White Sage lovingly grown and harvested in the imposing shadow of Madre Grande monastery manifests its assistance via a number of little-known but amazingly effective products. By taking just a bit of extra time to travel the paths each one of them opens, it becomes possible to approach an empowering luminance with surprising ease.

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.

Healing with White Sage

     
                                                                By Monica Maghiar
                                           

         
       White sage is one of the most sacred plants to Native Americans. For centuries, it has been used in folk medicine as well as in religious and healing rituals. Today, white sage is used by people that are interested in natural remedies, alternative medicine practitioners, artisans for: soaps, candles and lotions making and everybody else that wishes to cleanse homes and people of bad energy or influences. The native belief is that all ceremonies, tribal or private, must be entered into with a good heart so that we can pray, sing, walk, dance and live in a clean, sacred, honest  manner.


   Physical Healing - Feel Your Roots

   Make a tea using dry white sage whole leaves. Add to a cup of hot water and let it sit for at least four minutes. This tea can be used to treat stomach troubles, arthritis and headaches. It has also shown to lessen the painful effects of heavy menstruation, but should not be used by pregnant or nursing mothers as it can also decrease lactation production.

   Add a couple of dry or fresh leaves to a bottle of water. Use purified, filtered or mineral water for better results. Close the bottle and let it sit so the healing properties of the sage mix in with the water. This can be used as a day-to-day drink or given to those who are recuperating from an illness as a tonic. Adding lemon and xylitol makes it very refreshing.

  Put a dry or fresh leaf in between your teeth and cheek and let it soak to soothe a sore throat. Make sure you use organically grown sage. Don't swallow the leaf. Instead, replace it with a new one when it feels like there's no flavor or juice left. Leaves are also good to chew on when one fights heatstroke.
   Mash fresh or dry leaves and mix them with water to create a paste. Wrap it using a cheesecloth and use it as a poultice over sore muscles, skin eruptions and rashes. You can also use it on the forehead to lower fevers, or on the lower stomach to relieve menstrual cramps. Leave the poultice in place until it has dried or cooled, or until the symptoms have subsided. Reapply the poultice as necessary, using a fresh cloth and fresh herbal preparation every time.

   Crush and add dry or fresh leaves to boiling water. Remove from the source of heat and let it steep for at least one hour for use as a soaples shampoo, dye and hair straightener.


    Spiritual Healing - Tread lightly

   White sage has been used by the Native Americans for thousands of years in order to primarily heal the spirit, which they believe in turn aids to the body’s ability to function properly.
   Use a white sage smudge cone or smudge wand and fire to burn the end so it starts smoking. Walk from room to room, making sure the smoke reaches every corner. Use a cleansing prayer or make up one yourself. Think about asking the bad energy to leave the area and ask for protection and peace to come over it. When cleansing a room, light a smudge cone and leave it in a corner to burn off.
Keep the room closed so the smoke doesn't wander out, but make sure the wand or cone is placed on a heart burner or clay surface to prevent fires and to protect your furniture and upholstery. White sage has a pleasant sweet aroma, so you won't need to air the room afterwards. The smoke attaches itself to negative energy. As the smoke clears it takes the negative energy with it, releasing it to regenerate into something more positive. Tests have also shown that the smoke of burning sage literally changes the ionization polarity of the air.
   Smudging is very effective when you've been feeling depressed, angry, resentful or unwell or after you have had an argument with someone. When this is the case, your entire energy field will require cleansing. At times it will be possible for you to perform this ritual for yourself, with the use of a lit white sage smudge wand. At other times you may detect the need for some assistance, both in terms of spiritual intuition and because it can be tricky to sweep the smoke over the entire outline of your body, front and back, head to toe. In a sympathetically conducted ritual, your helper will gather the smoke with their hand and draw it into the perimeter of your body. Special attention will be given to areas of stress and unbalance so that cleansing and protection can be experienced.

   Use the plant to the highest of your abilities, showing with all your power, gratitude and respect for the benefits that you receive. Try to apply the same attitude in relationship with yourself, others and the world.

   Follow your bliss!

  All the wonderful products that you might need to create the suggested herbal experiences can be found at our online store at http://luckysixfarms.com

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!

Morning Surprise at Lucky Six Farm

Morning Surprise at Lucky Six Farm

 

By Corey Hale

It’s harvest time. Our White Sage has reached its peak potential, the time when the leaves are most aromatic and plump. The healing oils will soon fill the Sun Center with their aura cleansing properties. The beauty of the morning dazzles us as we gather at sunrise to begin.

The White Sage grown and harvested here, while common to this area of Southern California, is still a rare find in its cultivation and distillation. Located high in the mountains east of San Diego, CA., overseen by the monks of Madre Grande Monastery whose continuation is our mission, each plant is tenderly cared for on pesticide-free land, handpicked, and only organically composted.

Our most exciting news this first day of harvest is the discovery of a bird’s nest cradled into the sweet-smelling arms of a mature plant. The amazing protective properties of White Sage extending beyond the spiritual and metaphysical world in order to weave a velvety green cocoon of sparkling, sun-drenched branches around the nest, keeping it safe during last night’s crazy storm.

Back to the dazzling morning… 

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