Tag Archives: cleansing ritual

White Sage Smudging – Shelby S

• (co-opted) Indigenous American practice

Whenever Shelby moves into a new place, permanently or just for a short period of time, as well as after an occurrence thats makes her feel her space has been “dirtied” with negative events or emotions, she “smudges” by burning white sage with the window(s) and door(s) open to “release” the negativity.

This is a ritual among Indigenous Americans on the West Coast, where Shelby grew up (she is Black), which is performed to remove harmful spirits, forces, and “energy” from a structure, place, or person. As she’s gotten older, learned about the endangerment of white sage due to the spirituality industry’s overharvesting, as well as the general problems with appropriating Native American religious traditions, Shelby put effort into developing a sustainable and thoughtful relationship with white sage smudging and other practices only known to her because of the Indian-mania of American culture during the mid-late 20th century in which she was raised. 

She also burns other leaves and barks, such as cedar, that are used for smudging in places like West Africa. She says various affirmations, sometimes out loud and sometimes in her head, that call in protective spirits and forces while expelling harmful ones. The change in smell alone makes the space/person/object feel anew, and bugs tend to not be fans of aromatic smoke, illuminating potential origins of the belief in the “cleansing” powers of white sage, and smudging in general. 

Coffee Enema Can Clear You of Worms

Background

Informant: K.M. – 21 year old female, born and raised in Los Angeles

Context

When talking about health remedies and ways to eat better, K.M. presented this wives tale that has gained more attention due to the internet and the claims about this “healing treatment.” Told to the informant by a friend, she then researched and found multiple variations of the treatment and the benefits, even expressing that she herself would like to try it. I have transcribed her telling below:

Main Piece

“So I’ve heard that humans have a lot of toxins in their bodies and that due to all of the processed food we eat, most of us actually have parasites living in our intestines. So then I asked my super health freak friend about it and she showed me this thing called a coffee enema. I was super skeptical at first but then she showed me all this stuff about how it’s an ancient technique used to clear the body of the toxins. And then I started watching all of these videos of people who did it and got rid of their worms, so now I’m not sure if I should do it.”

Thoughts

This is an example of a homeopathic remedy, which are quite common both in folklore and in a number of cultural communities. Using natural techniques to clean the body and rid it of toxins and outside invaders is a common folk belief that has recently surged again due to overall consciousness of our health and the things that we put into our body. However, most science actually states the opposite, that there is no method humans can use to clear the body of these “toxins” and that the liver and kidneys actually physiologically do this already, as long as they are healthy. However, this specific belief  and others like it may be a call back to the times of widespread spiritual cleansing. Many believe in the power of burning sage to clear bad energies and spirits, perhaps the coffee enema is an extension of that desire to create a pure state for ourselves. An enema quite literally forces the body to expel waste, and this could be seen as a parallel to a spiritual cleansing ritual. However, what was interesting to me was the spread of this belief among our group of friends after she shared this folk belief, with most of us in the group initially believing the claims and then sharing it with others in our community.