Shaman Herbs "Cedar"

Thank you for your patience regarding my lack of articles over the last month. I took an unplanned, but highly needed vacation.

The next herb I will be covering in my Shaman Herb series is Cedar, more specifically Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) There are many types of cedar in North America and many are used in spiritual practices. Red Cedar is the one I am most familiar with living on the West Coast (the photos in this article are from my back yard).

Western Red grows on the northwestern coast of North America from shoreline to the coastal range. It can grow up to 60m tall with a wide buttressed base. I remember as a child standing, arms stretched, holding hands with about 20 others to form a ring around the base of an ancient Red Cedar. We barely made it. That tree was estimated to be about 800 years old. In some areas there are Cedars estimated to be well over a few thousand years old! This is often because when an old one falls down its branches will root and grow as trees continuing its life.

Western Red has been called “The cornerstone of Northwest coast [native] culture"*. The wood and fibrous bark was used for everything in daily life from clothing to baskets, to dugout canoes, housing planks, harpoon shafts, spear poles, and baby cradles. It was used for ceremonial masks, rattles, and drums and carved into totem and mortuary poles. Life was possible on the wild coast because Red Cedar grew so abundantly here.

The Cedar was used for a variety of ailments. Its scaly leaves are high in vitamins and minerals. It is very astringent and tea from its leaves can be used as an external wash for cuts and scrapes. The tangy spicy scented wood can be used in closets and drawers to keep clothes moth free.

“Its power was so strong that a person could receive strength by standing at its base with their back to the tree”*. The wood, bark, and dried leaves burn aromatically are used for purification and cleansing of self and home. It can be used for protection and to banish nightmares. I sometimes dry cedar with sage in a smudge stick, the two burn very well together. I often use it alone as well.

Because it does not drop its needles as pine and firs do, Cedar makes beautiful decoration in the home at Yule time. It’s been said that bringing in sprigs of cedar and holly at wintertime gives a home for fairy’s to keep warm and out of the snow.

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