10 Steps to Smudging by Lydia Miller

Step One

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Gather the proper materials needed to smudge. This includes an abalone shell, sacred medicine, matches, and an eagle feather.

Step Two

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Chose your medicine and put some into the shell. The four sacred medicines are sage, sweetgrass, tobacco, and cedar. Sage is the most commonly used.

Step Three

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You will then need the match, and it is time to light the sacred medicine on fire. Leave it burning for a short time. This will create a small plume of smoke. The smoke is said to help purify the area and objects around it.

Step Four

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Smudging can be done individual, or in a group. During individual smudgings, you use the eagle feather to bring smoke to yourself. In a group setting, there will be a person with the abolone shell opening towards you, and they will use the eagle feather to fan smoke towards you. You can then use the smoke to smudge.

Step Five

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For the next couple of steps, they are not required, but are often done during smudging. You can choose what steps you feel are necessary. If you wear glasses, you may chose to smudge them. Also smudge the hands, to cleanse them. That is another common way to begin.

Step Six

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Smudge your mouth, and the breath that comes from your mouth. This is where your words to creator come from. Smudging will make it clean, and purify them.

Step Seven

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Smudge your other senses. This includes the eyes and ears for example. You clear out and clean the eyes so you can see properly, and the ears so you can hear without fault.

Step Eight

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Another step you can do is smudge your hair. Hair is very important to Indigenous people, so most chose to smudge it. It is important to cleanse the hair because it is said to hold the DNA of your history.

Step Nine

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The next step is to smudge the feet. The feet are where your body meets the earth. This is an important place to have purified.

Step Ten

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The last step to smudging is communication with creator. This is sometimes called prayer. You can pray in silence or out loud. What you pray for is entirely up to you and your current needs. This time can be used in what ever way you think is right.