Is Smudging Cultural Appropriation? A Clear Look

Smudging is the burning of sacred plants such as white sage, sweetgrass, cedar or tobacco in the ceremonies of many Indigenous nations of North America. Burning herbs to clear a space is not appropriation in itself, because almost every culture on earth has done it. It becomes appropriation when you take the name, the plants and the ceremony of a living people, sell or perform them as your own, and pay no attention to their history.

That is the short answer. The longer answer is more useful, because it shows you how to keep a practice you love without harming anyone. Below I explain where the word smudging comes from, why white sage in particular causes so much discussion, and what smoke traditions your own ancestors probably had.

What does smudging actually mean?

Smudging is an English word that became the common name for smoke ceremonies of Native American and First Nations peoples. In those traditions the plants are relatives, prayers are spoken with the smoke, and the ceremony is usually led by someone who was taught it within their community.

Each nation has its own plants, songs and rules. Sweetgrass, for example, is braided and burned in many Anishinaabe and Plains traditions, while white sage grows only in southern California and northern Baja California and belongs to the peoples of that region. So “smudging” covers many different ceremonies that outsiders lumped together under one name.

Smoke cleansing is the wider, neutral term. It simply means using the smoke of plants or resins to clear a person, an object or a room. That is what most people in Europe mean when they light a bundle at home, so that is the word I would use.

Why do people say smudging is cultural appropriation?

People call smudging cultural appropriation because Native ceremonies were banned for decades, and today the same practices are sold back as a wellness trend by people outside those cultures. The criticism is less about the smoke and more about who profits and who was punished.

In the United States, many Native religious practices were suppressed by government rules from the late nineteenth century onwards. Only in 1978 did the American Indian Religious Freedom Act formally protect the right to practise traditional religions. In Canada, the Indian Act banned key ceremonies such as the potlatch until 1951. So there are people alive today whose parents or grandparents could not openly do what is now sold in gift shops.

If you have read my article on shamanism and cultural appropriation, you will know the basic question I always come back to: am I taking something from a living people without relationship, or am I working with what is mine to work with?

Is it the smoke or the white sage that is the problem?

Mostly it is the white sage and the packaging around it. Burning plants is universal, but white sage is a wild plant from a small region that has been harvested in huge quantities for the mass market, often without permission and without paying anything back to the peoples it belongs to.

Conservation groups such as United Plant Savers have raised concerns about wild white sage, and Indigenous groups in California have spoken out about poaching from their land. When you buy a cheap bundle labelled “smudge kit”, you rarely know where it came from. Palo santo has the same problem: it is being over-harvested in South America.

Here is how the most common situations compare:

Situation	Appropriation?	Why
Burning rosemary or juniper from your garden to clear your home	No	Plants from where you live, used in a way many European cultures have known for centuries.
Calling that practice “smoke cleansing” instead of “smudging”	No	You describe what you do without claiming a ceremony that is not yours.
Buying a mass produced white sage “smudge kit”	Often yes	Wild harvested plant, no relationship to its people, profit goes to outsiders.
Selling “Native smudging ceremonies” as a workshop without being taught by that community	Yes	You market a living people’s ceremony as your own product.
Joining a smudge when an Indigenous elder invites you	No	You were invited. Follow their lead and their rules.
Buying white sage grown and sold by a Native led business	Usually fine	Money and decisions stay with the people the plant belongs to.

Did my own ancestors use smoke cleansing?

Almost certainly yes. Wherever you come from, your ancestors very likely burned local plants or resins to protect a house, mark a turning point in the year or honour the dead.

• Scotland: saining, where juniper smoke was carried through the house and byre at the New Year.
• German speaking lands: Räuchern during the Rauhnächte, the twelve nights between Christmas and Epiphany, with juniper, mugwort and resins.
• Southern Europe: rosemary and bay burned in homes, and church incense of frankincense and myrrh for centuries.
• Slavic and Baltic regions: herbs blessed in summer and burned in winter to protect the household.
• Japan and much of Asia: incense at home shrines and temples for the ancestors.

Mircea Eliade showed in Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1951) how widespread shamanic elements are across very different cultures. Smoke is one of the oldest of these threads. You do not need to borrow someone else’s ceremony to have one.

How can you cleanse with smoke respectfully?

Cleanse with smoke respectfully by choosing plants that grow near you, calling it smoke cleansing, and keeping your intention clear. Respect starts with knowing why each thing is in your hands.

1. Use local plants. Rosemary, garden sage, juniper, mugwort, lavender or bay. Dry them yourself if you can.
2. Use your own words. Say smoke cleansing or Räuchern, not smudging, unless you were taught a smudge by the people it belongs to.
3. Know where bought herbs come from. If you want white sage, buy cultivated sage from a Native led business, or leave it.
4. Set an intention before you light anything. What do you want to clear, and what do you want to invite in afterwards?
5. Open a window. Smoke needs a way out, and so does whatever you are clearing.
6. Give something back. Return ashes to the earth, plant a herb, or support a group that protects wild plants.

If you want a step by step routine for your rooms, my guide on how to cleanse your home energetically walks you through it room by room. For seasonal herbs, see Samhain correspondences.

A word of care: smoke can trouble anyone with asthma, allergies or a lung condition, and it is not good for babies, pets or birds. Use very little, keep the room aired, or place the herbs on your altar unburnt. Spiritual practice can sit alongside medical care, but it never replaces it.

From my practice: the question I hear most

In my circles, someone almost always asks with a slightly guilty face whether they are still allowed to burn sage. I understand that worry. Most people who ask have never meant to take anything from anyone. They bought a bundle because it smelled good and everyone online seemed to use it.

What I suggest is simple. Go outside and look at what grows where you live. Here in Portugal that is rosemary, cistus, lavender and wild thyme on the dry hills, and I would not swap the smell of rosemary smoke after the first autumn rain for any imported bundle. When people start working with their own plants, the guilt usually fades. They stop copying and start getting to know the land they live on.

If you want to practise with others who care about doing this well, the Lightkeepers’ Hearth journey circle is where we meet, journey and talk about questions like this one together.

Frequently asked questions

Smoke cleansing is for everyone, but each ceremony has its own people. Which plant from your own land would you like to try? Tell me in the comments.