Sacred Trust Family Remedies Contest

A month ago, I talked about a sacred natural remedy which was entrusted to me in an article linked below. I realize that many of my readers are guardians of other remedies which have been entrusted to them by their families or by friends. Some of them may never have been written down, and the contest which I am launching today will give all of you a chance to share those remedies with us. This is the first day of the fourth annual Natural Health contest. This article introduces the significance of the prize, a sweetgrass braid which I made this summer after picking the reeds near the shores of Lake Winnipeg. The contest will be accessible from my topic page as well as from the links near the end of this article, and I have not yet decided how long the contest will run.

Smudging and Burning of Incense

I like to think of smudging as the equivalent of the burning of incense. People have different reactions to smudging as they do to incense, and I believe that those reactions are largely dependent on our attitude toward them. I did not grow up with either incense or smudge, but knowing that natural ingredients are used in them, I have always kept an open mind to them and have never had a negative reaction. People are always amazed how sage smudge helps me to breathe when I am suffering from seasonal asthma problems. On the other hand, I know someone who has no respiratory problems, yet he complains that smudging gives him a breathing problem and makes his eyes burn. People are also amazed that I can sing with ease in a church filled with incense when other singers claim to get a dry throat and burning of the eyes. I therefore suspect that both incense and smudge may be beneficial to people who accept nature's healing and harmful to those who have closed their minds to it.

Plants for Smudging

The following four plants are used for smudging by Manitoba aboriginal people.
• Sage: Not cooking sage but any artimisia plant which is found growing wild all over Manitoba. Its smudge is used for the purpose of cleansing. I have found it to be most beneficial in relieving congestion of the breathing passages.
• Tobacco: Originally not the plant which is used for making commercial cigarettes and cigars. Used as a thank offering. It is offered to the earth in exchange for taking something from her, like picking sweetgrass. I do not participate in this practice, because I get very sick near tobacco. I also figure that I give back more to the earth than I take from her, because I compost far more than just my own compostables.
  The copyright of the article Sacred Trust Family Remedies Contest in Natural Health is owned by Traute Klein, biogardener. Permission to republish Sacred Trust Family Remedies Contest in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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