[Today we sit down with Dawn Leith Dougherty, author of Sage Advice, A Practical Guide to Energetic Smoke Cleansing and House Blessing. Here we discuss her book; the research that went into it; and her upcoming projects.]

Forests Haunted by Holiness: How do you define your personal spiritual practice? Does it have a name or is it more intuitive and experimental?

Dawn Leith Dougherty: My practices are for the most part eclectic and solitary. I am Pagan and an early modern traditional witch and cunning woman in the Elphane Witchdom, and I have a lot of interest in Norse/Scandinavian paganism. I hold Animist world views, and am a Reiki Master-Teacher and a Priest in the Order of Melchizedek. Much of my practices are generally intuitive and experimental, and I draw a little from other practices including a little chaos magic and folk magic. Divinatory work with tarot and oracle, pendulums, and runes is one of my favorite pursuits. I do quite a bit of healing work for a worldwide energy healing network I have been part of for many years, and this is one way I try to be of service to others, and something I truly enjoy. 

FHBH: Which Deities, powers, or other spirits do you honor?

DLD: I enjoy doing a bit of devotional work with the local land spirits here, and speak a lot with the plants, animals, and trees, as well as my ancestors. I am a devotee of the Witch Lord and Lady of Elphen, Hekate, and Loki.

FHBH: You recently published Sage Advice: A Practical Guide to Energetic Smoke Cleansing and House Blessing. First, congratulations! Second, how did you come to write this book? Why a text on cleansing and blessings?

DLD: My husband Ed and I own our own business, Tree Of Life Designs. He crafts handmade wooden Native American-style flutes, pendulums, wands, and other wood crafts. Early on, we decided to include incense and smudging items in our shop and at our festival booths. I have been creating my own hand-blended loose incenses/smudge blends for years and working with burnable herbs, woods, and resins because I wanted to explore the world of energetically potent plants available to us all. I wanted to see what worked in addition to, or besides, white sage, what my own ancestors may have used.

I wrote this book originally a few years ago as an ebook for our shop, because I receive a lot of similar questions about smoke cleansing, and thought it would be good to direct folks to a bit more in-depth information about this subject. I also wanted others to know that smoke cleansing is not something unique to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and talk a little about other herbs and traditions worldwide. 

I had decided to edit and add a lot more additional information to the book, and submit it to a few publishers to gauge any interest, as I thought the book would do well with folks who needed a bit more information other than “light a sage bundle and wave it around” type of stuff. I really wanted people to know that there are so many more herbs to burn other than white sage, which seems to be the most common and one most are familiar with. Some of the blends I make are made without this ingredient, and I wanted to highlight the healing and spiritual properties of other plants.

My goal with the book was for it to be accessible to all people, regardless of their spiritual leanings (or lack thereof). This is why the title states that it is a practical guide. I believe smoke cleansing practices work for anyone who chooses to use them, so I wanted to de-mystify, and “un-woo” some of the information surrounding smudging and house blessing, to again make it more appealing to anyone who may be interested in upping their incense game. 

Much of the information already out there seemed to be very New Age, Native American, or related to plants used in Witchcraft and ritual (many of which are toxic to burn). I studied quite a bit and used the information, along with my own thoughts, work, and experiments with blends, and UPG (unverified personal gnosis) to create a book from which I feel most people can gain knowledge and insight. I included some ritual and exercises, as well as some basic blends one can create on their own, along with little charms I wrote that folks may find helpful, but also let the readers know these are not required of them should they choose to leave them out. I encourage folks to create their own words and rituals or adapt the ones in the book, and make them their very own. I wanted people of all traditions and cultures to know they are allowed to use herbal smoke to cleanse and change the energy in their homes and personal lives, and to let them know how and why this actually works for everyone! 

FHBH: Many in the Pagan, polytheist, and witch communities are concerned with the ethical sourcing of ritual items. What advice can you offer folks? What should we look for and what should we avoid?

DLD: This is a great question! I do believe people should absolutely care how and where any items they bring into their home come from and how they are harvested or sourced. This is actually one reason I don’t collect many crystals and stones anymore, unless I know how they were obtained. I try to be somewhat conscious not only of where items I purchase are from and the footprint that is created by the factories, labor, and shipping concerns. While this isn’t always feasible, and we all also love the instant gratification we get from placing an order for something cutesy for our home decor with next day delivery (I am definitely guilty of this from time to time), it is something to greatly consider whenever possible. 

I try to source materials I use in my crafts from sustainable and fair trade companies if I can. The plant materials I do grow in my own garden or purchase are sustainably grown and harvested if at all possible, preferably with fair labor practices, not just for practical reasons because I care about people and the planet, but on an energetic level. I feel that any item obtained and used in a spiritual practice should be thought of this way. It doesn’t seem very high vibration to use something you know was unceremoniously mined or ripped from the earth by possibly exploited people with no regard for the spirit of the plant or mineral.

Specific to the growing and harvesting of plant material, I would consider avoiding purchasing from people who aren’t clear about where these items came from, and especially those that wild harvest herbs. White sage is a particularly contentious one for multiple reasons, because it is not sustainably wild harvested much of the time, and is also becoming endangered due to habitat loss and overdevelopment. Many people that wild harvest plants do not know what they are doing when cutting, harvest at the wrong time of year, or just kill plants or decimate colonies of plants to get what they need, and do not do this in any kind of sacred or spiritual way. The sage grown for the trade (which is what I purchase) come from sage farms, which are managed properly and are helping create habitat and sustainability for this plant. Woods and resins such as Palo Santo, sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, etc. are also protected, controlled, and harvested in sustainable ways for the most part, as they have done for centuries. 

People have specific reasons for not wanting to use white sage, as they consider it to be sacred and part of a closed practice to indigenous peoples of the southwestern Americas. However, the main thing to remember with this plant is that is is an herb that grows on the earth for all its peoples, it is not a “practice.” Closed practices would mean using this plant in a sacred smoke bowl smudging ceremony that is distinctly Native American that you do not have access to, if you are not native. Respect is key here, respect for the Earth, respect for any peoples and land you are on or hunting/harvesting on, and respect for the plants themselves, as they are “people” too with their own consciousness. Never appropriate other cultures’ practices and rituals, create your own! 

I grow a few herbs myself organically in my garden that I use in my blends (such as mugwort and lemon balm), but for the most part, I have to purchase most of them since it is not possible for me to grow most of the things I use. When I do buy them, I have sources that sell organic and fair trade as much as possible. When I create my blends, I sway and speak to the herbs, bless them, and mix and crush them with my hands. I do try to do this in a sacred space with my own incense burning. My advice is to vet your sources as much as you can, and ask questions, there are a lot of sources these days for most things you can buy and many good ones from which to choose. I always encourage to buy from local crafters, makers, and growers whenever possible! 

FHBH: Hypothetical scenario: suppose my friend needs her apartment cleansed asap. What can I grab from my kitchen shelves for a “quick and dirty” cleansing just to get the process started?

DLD: Kitchen herbs and spices can be perfect for this! What one may grab would depend on the purpose and situation at hand, but most people have some of the following in their cabinet: rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, cooking sage, cinnamon, basil, chili powder, oregano, etc. Herbal tea bags work great too, many of these have energetically potent herbs in them as well including chamomile and peppermint. Generic cleansing may be as simple as sprinkling some rosemary and sage on a coal and going for it! An abundance blessing may include rosemary, basil, cinnamon, and bay leaf. Store-bought kitchen herbs should be swayed if at all possible, especially since we do not know their source. Place them in your hands to give them energy, give them a few breaths and speak to them, tell them their purpose. Drop them on a charcoal tablet (in a heat-safe dish or censer, of course) and go for it. Remember, as fresh as possible dried plant material is always best not just for smudging, but for cooking as well. Compost that dusty five year-old rosemary and pick up some that is fresh and potent (your ancestors and your roast chicken will thank you)! 

FHBH: Which is better for a cleansing: resin or incense? Or does it depend on the situation, the type of cleansing, and the location? 

DLD:  The sky’s the limit in regard to this. Sometimes whatever you have on hand is exactly what you need. As stated in the above answer, it really just depends on the purpose of the cleansing, but many work in similar ways, just have different energies. Most people are used to white sage, and this usually works fairly well in many situations. However, sage or other herbs and resins paired with it, can amplify greatly the outcome of your cleansing. For example, if you use Dragon’s Blood with other plant material, it can be a great amplifier for the properties of the other herbs. Used by itself, it is good for neutralizing energy; either calming chaotic energy, or raising low or heavy energy. I personally enjoy blends of herbs, woods, and resins, together these create powerful combinations. 

FHBH: There is a lot of discussion in the community about “positive” energy and “negative” energy? Is one better than the other?

DLD: It is common to use the terms “positive” and “negative” in the ways we mean them by saying Positive = Good, Negative = Bad, but that can be a bit reductive. Energy is just energy, just like in magic, it just depends on how you are working with it. People consider positive energy to be light, bright, happy, good; negative energy to be low, slow, dark, sad, etc. However, negatively charged ions in ozone from storms and air purifiers, or salt lamps, can be good for you. But when we say “my house is full of negative energy after that nasty person visited” we understand what this means, and want to cleanse it to lighten up the feeling of the space and eliminate the bad feeling energy of that person. Sometimes when speaking of smoke cleansing and energy work to get rid of negative energy/“bad vibes,” it may simply mean getting sluggish and stuck or blocked energy cleared up and moving again, which seems to create positive energy/“good vibes.” 

I also want to point out that sometimes people think spirit activity is negative; however as witches know, we want to sometimes attract them, not banish them. Most spirits and energy forms are simply neutral and moving through your space with little interaction with you, we are swimming in a soup of spirit energy at all times, in my opinion. If there is a particularly “negative” being in your space, believe me you will know it. In a previous home in which I lived, I had these experiences and did a lot of work on a long-term basis to lighten up the space and call in more light spirited beings with regular magic, smudging, and Reiki. It worked beautifully, changed the energy to where I needed it to be, and returned my home to “positivity” and light.

FHBH: What sort of research went into Sage Advice? Big stacks of books? Long discussions with other practitioners?

DLD: When I originally wrote Sage Advice, I drew upon my own experience and experiments with incense ingredients, along with a couple of well-respected magical herbal guides and healing/medicinal herbal guides, which also helped inform my smudge blend ideas as I was creating them before this. The internet was only a bit of help, but mostly just echoed (and drew from) these previously existing books. I had no other practitioners in my life at the time who had herbal experience from which to draw, so it was a long trial and error process involving taking information and deciding if this information worked for me personally, and how burnables made me and my home feel afterward. I did get a bit of feedback from friends, gave them some of my blends (and still do), and noted how they felt after burning certain herbs and resins in their presence. When I edited and re-wrote the book, I had a bit more experience under my belt, so I wrote a few thousand more words and a lot more information and a bit of extra magical advice.

FHBH: Which book fairs, conventions, or other events do you hope to attend in the foreseeable future?

DLD: I really would love to attend Mystic South and am considering trying to make it this year. My husband and I are doing a holiday market, by which time I will have my books to sell! We are looking into doing a few smaller local craft and pagan type events, and I am looking into local bookshops and metaphysical stores to see if they are interested in hosting a workshop or book signing. We used to do flute/music conferences and festivals and did very well with my smudging items, but we do not do that kind of traveling much anymore, and would prefer to stay fairly local now. 

FHBH: What other projects are you working on?

DLD: Besides planning another couple incense/smudge blends I have ideas for, I am working on creating clay altar spoons and moon spoons to sell. I love making these and it is a fairly new pursuit of mine. I continue to take short courses and further my pagan studies, as well as add more tools to my spiritual toolbox. I am a singer and vocalist in a Black Sabbath tribute band and do a couple musical theater projects from time to time now. I am on the committee for a local troupe, and I’m always looking for more opportunities to sing and perform. I write songs occasionally, which seem to evolve as more personal devotional works, but I would love to co-create music with others, as I have done in the past. I am also currently writing guided meditations, and hope to collaborate on music for these with a friend sometime soon. I am trying to finish up a short horror story I wrote, and hopefully work on doing more fiction writing at some point. I am also tossing around ideas for another book. What this decides to become is still a mystery for now!