Smudging

A note on this page. Smudging is a ceremony of Indigenous peoples, described here mainly as it is practised in Canada. This page describes it for Australian readers from published sources. It is not a guide to performing a smudge. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking ceremonies are a separate practice and are not described here.

Smudging is a cultural ceremony practised by many Indigenous peoples in Canada and elsewhere, in which sacred plants such as sweetgrass, cedar, sage and tobacco are burned, usually with prayer. Practices differ between nations, but smudging is used in spiritual ceremonies and for medicinal and practical purposes. It belongs to the peoples who practise it, and non-Indigenous people who wish to take part are asked to approach those with Indigenous ancestry and ceremonial knowledge with respect.

Description

The ceremony

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, Indigenous nations have their own smudging traditions but share common teachings. The plants are carried in a vessel, such as a special container, shell, smudge stick or ball, and burned in small amounts. Each step carries meaning. The smoke is believed to carry people's prayers to the Creator, and is moved over the face and body of the person being smudged with a feather, ideally an eagle feather, or by hand. When a room or place is smudged, the smoke is carried around it while the person leading the ceremony prays for negative energy to leave. The ashes are placed outside on the earth rather than thrown away.

A smudge is often led by an Elder or spiritual leader, although people may also smudge themselves, especially at times of prayer. Indigenous peoples have their own words for the practice; the English word "smudging" comes from "smudge".

Its place in Indigenous life

Smudging is more than a way of clearing a space. The encyclopaedia describes smudging as connecting people to the Creator and as a way of seeking spiritual protection and blessing. It has long been part of times of crisis, illness and death, and since the harms of residential schools and other colonial policies it has been part of healing through renewed cultural practice. Colonial laws and policies in Canada broadly suppressed Indigenous religious and cultural practices, of which smudging was often part.

Scope

What it includes

• Burning sacred plants, usually with prayer, to smudge a person or a place, within an Indigenous ceremonial tradition

What it is not

• It is not a product or a wellness trend. The Canadian Encyclopedia notes that non-Indigenous interest has led to the sale of fake smudging tools and to ceremonies that are culturally insensitive and inauthentic, and that non-Indigenous people wishing to take part should respectfully approach people with Indigenous ancestry and ceremonial knowledge.
• It is not the same as an Aboriginal smoking ceremony. NSW Health describes the smoking ceremony as one of the most significant ancient ceremonies of Aboriginal people, involving the smouldering of native plants, and says it is only to be conducted by Aboriginal people with specialised cultural knowledge.

Traditions and lineage

Suppression and survival

Smudging is part of many Indigenous traditions in Canada. In some teachings it is linked with the Four Directions of the medicine wheel, with sweetgrass, cedar, sage and tobacco among the medicines associated with the directions. Canada's Indian Act did not ban smudging by name, as it did the potlatch and the Sun Dance until 1951, but it broadly outlawed Indigenous religious and cultural activities, and residential schools forbade Indigenous cultural practice. Smudging has continued through Indigenous resistance. The encyclopaedia's separate entry on shamans gives a different account, saying that an 1880 amendment to the Act prohibited taking part in certain traditional healing ceremonies, including smudging.

Knowing this history helps explain why care is asked of outsiders: the ceremony survived despite laws that sought to end it. In Canada, some governments now support the practice: the encyclopaedia notes that Ontario's Human Rights Code requires organisations under provincial jurisdiction to allow Indigenous spiritual practices such as smudging.

White sage and over-harvesting

White sage, a native plant of Southern California, has become closely associated with smudging in popular culture. In 2022 the Los Angeles television station ABC7 reported that commercial demand for white sage bundles was feeding a black market in which the plant is poached in large quantities from wild habitats, and that an Indigenous-led campaign, "Saging the World", was working to educate buyers. A tribal representative told the station that inappropriate use harms the plant, the earth and Native culture.

Context

Within Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking smudging with Spiritualism.

In Australian Spiritualism

The Spiritual Mission of Noarlunga, south of Adelaide, which the SAcommunity directory lists under "Spiritualist", includes in its 2026 programme of Friday development evenings several nights of meditation with singing bowls and smudging. The listing doesn't say what the smudging involves or how it relates to the Indigenous ceremony described on this page. Spiritfold has found no Spiritualist source that treats smudging as part of Spiritualism.

A Spiritualist perspective

Smudging is a ceremony of Indigenous peoples, and a Spiritualist teacher would treat it as theirs. It is not a Spiritualist practice, and Spiritualism has no need to borrow another people's sacred ceremony to prepare a room or a circle. We would not encourage non-Indigenous people to perform a smudge or to use its name for something else. If a centre burns herbs or incense, it should say plainly what it is doing and not call it smudging.

The same respect applies closer to home. An Aboriginal smoking ceremony is a separate practice, conducted only by Aboriginal people with the cultural knowledge to do so; a church wishing to mark an occasion that way would approach the local Aboriginal community and follow their guidance. Good practice also means thinking of people who are sensitive to smoke, and of the harm that commercial demand for white sage has caused.

Smudging in Australia

Smudging comes from North American traditions; Australia's own First Nations practice is the smoking ceremony, which NSW Health says should be conducted only by Aboriginal people with specialised cultural knowledge, usually at major events, and for which its staff are encouraged to consult the Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Safety and good practice

Smudging produces smoke and uses fire, so where it is held indoors, practical care is needed alongside cultural respect. Universities in Canada that support smudging on campus have published guidance for ceremonies held indoors. York University in Toronto, for example, asks organisers to:

• give notice and arrange a test with fire inspectors, so that the smoke doesn't set off fire alarms
• know where the nearest fire extinguisher is
• never leave burning material unattended, put it out as soon as the ceremony ends, and not let it smoulder through the event
• tell people nearby in advance, because some may be affected by the smoke or scent, and make arrangements for them

The University of Victoria's guidelines, prepared by a team of Indigenous staff, faculty and graduate students with non-Indigenous staff, likewise ask that participants be told in advance so that they can leave if they have allergies.

Related modalities

• Sweat lodge

Further reading

• Robinson, Amanda. "Smudging". The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada, 2018.
• NSW Health. Aboriginal Cultural Activities Policy. 2019.