Is the difference between Smudging and Recels only the word used?

I argue no, there’s a line of ethics that marks the boundary between the two and it has to do with appropriating a tool and spiritual practice. Smudging is appropriation and disrespect for a few reasons.

Before we get into it I want to add a caveat.

I am not Native American. My ancestry heralds from Wales and Northern Europe. I have no desire to speak for Native American people because that is not my space. Instead, I searched for and am sharing resources by Native American people in their own voices (with two exceptions, one I wasn’t sure of their background and the other is from a white woman taught by a Lakota Elder and shared more for the discussion that arose from her post). Please let me know if you are Native American and would like to share your thoughts OR if you find other articles and resources created by Natives on this topics as I would love to read them and include their voices.

Firstly, the tool of a white sage bundle is one developed for specific traditions and ceremonies. To take it and apply it to a different belief system is ignoring where it came from, how it developed, and its relationship with the first peoples that were gifted its magic. It ignores and abuses the very magic that is attempted to be activated.

For an idea of the ceremonial use that white sage is actually used for:

Adrienne Borden and Steve Coyote share the use of smudge in ceremony. I’m pleased to see that they also share thoughts about abalone shells used for burning sage being disrespectful to Grandmother Ocean. 

Emily shares how smudge and ceremony was taught to her by a Lakota Elder, revealing how intrinsic its use is in ceremonial work and not just some air freshener used willy-nilly. I want to recommend that you also read the comments where thoughts on sharing Native traditions and ceremonies in writing and publicly are discussed with emotion.

Before using a practice or tool originating with an indiginous people, be mindful. Many Native Americans experienced (or recent ancestors experienced) atrocities acted against them for trying to keep their culture and spiritual practices alive. So many were beaten, killed, and had their families torn apart because of colonizers attempting to wipe these very spiritual practices out. Many Native Americans did not teach their own spiritual beliefs or ceremonies and traditions to their children to protect them. So when someone, especially a white person but anyone not of that culture, comes in and uses those tools and practices without honoring the cost of keeping them alive, without giving back to those people, without taking the time to respect and understand those traditions - this is another act of violence against them all in the name of spirituality. No amount of #LoveAndLight or Instagram photos of witches is going to change this fact.

Matt Remle shares: “Lakota medicine man, arrested for practicing traditional sweat lodge healing ceremonies by Father Francis M. Craft, 1880's. Photographed here in iron shackles, ball and chains.”

Julie Lafreniere, on her blog From An Indigenous Perspective puts into words what so many Natives feel when they see their practices and tools appropriated: 

So when I see a non-Indigenous person publicly practicing Ceremony and using Medicines I instinctively want to hoard it and feel protective of it. My immediate reaction is to think, “Why do they get to use Indigenous Ceremony when my family was beat for being Indigenous?” It’s like they get to pick which part of my culture they want to adopt while brushing aside the bad stuff. Bad stuff we didn’t have the (white) privilege to avoid.

Wahji Sanders adds:

I mourn our lost knowledge. I understand the caution of elders to share traditional practices when they can be packaged and sold for monetary gain.

Traditional medicines are tokenized and sold as novelties rather than respected and valued.

Colonialism has worked so well that even when health care for Natives is provided by Natives trained in herbalism it is scoffed at and disregarded as not being real Medicine.

I’ll add here that the atrocities acted against Native Americans is not something from distant history. Its still going on today. 

Still the government profits off of separating Native children from their families and putting them in with white families, stripping them of their culture and the love of their home.  “Despite over one hundred years of cultural genocide disguised as education and care, the Lakota Sioux nations in South Dakota continue to resiliently fight the systems that oppress them.” 2016/2017 Commodities, Conflict, and Cooperation. 

Still the government is forcing their hand on Native soil. Dave Archabault Jr is quoted “Oil companies are causing deliberate destruction of our sacred places.” Read more about the link between Native American Religion and the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests.

Then there is the disrespect to the plants themselves. Due to the popularity of white sage, palo santo, and sweet grass smudging these herbs are being mass harvested by companies looking to make a few bucks off the current witchcraft craze. Its caused some concern among endangered plant species watchers who have seen the same with sandalwood (red sandalwood is now on the endangered list because of mass harvesting for incense and perfumes) and frankincense (Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, president of the Somaliland Biodiversity Foundation, said in an interview, ”Frankincense has been harvested in a sustainable manner for [many] years but the rise in the global demand has completely changed it.”).

How spiritual is your white sage bought from the mall?

Adrienne Keene of Native Appropriations shares, “When I burn them, I remember where they came from or who gifted them to me, and that’s important to me and my practice as well.” Read her full article on smudging, white sage, and the Sephora Witch Kit appropriation.

When building a relationship with herbs for magic and healing, remember you are not the first human to do this. Be mindful of the relationships our ancestors and the ancestors of other have built with them. Be mindful of the history of those relationships and pains that many throughout history have suffered in order to preserve that relationship.

If you would like to aid Native Americans and their continued struggles against oppression here are a few organizations that could use your donations:

Adopt an Elder - helps give comfort and support to Native American Elders including paying for food, shelter, and medical care. 

Native American Rights Fund - has provided legal assistance to tribes and individuals who might otherwise go without representation.

Lakota People’s Law Program - aims to assist in the reclamation of Indigenous lands and to stop all threats to the Lakota culture.