Medicine Wheel Blessing

The next step in building the medicine wheel garden was to consecrate the earth where the garden will be. To do this we smudged the area using a bundle of sweet grass and sage that I bought in a shop at Cherokee, NC when we visited a few years ago. Sweet grass and sage are sacred to Native Americans. When you light it, it smolders, releasing a smoke that purifies and blesses whomever and whatever it contacts.

So we lit the smudge stick and waved the smoke around our heads, purifying ourselves. Then Michael used it to smudge the entire circle. As you can see, he really got into it, smudging high and low around the circle.

Smudging is not a tradition that we grew up with, but it's something I've wanted to try for a while. I bought the smudge stick, thinking I would use it someday--you never know when something will need smudging! This was the perfect opportunity. There's something about doing something so tangible to give life to your intentions. Lighting a match, seeing and smelling the smoke, allowing the smoke to float over and around you, and seeing Michael dance around the circle trailing smoke. It was a very meaningful experience.









After smudging, we sat on the ground, listening. Comet helped Michael listen. This was a nice time just to sit and be. We are supposed to do this to ask permission for building the garden in this spot. My sense is that this piece of earth would love to be a well-tended healing garden. Prior to this, this area was where Gabe built his batting cage. Putting this garden here reflects the evolution of our family. A different kind of play will happen here and that is good. Building this garden means less mowing, which is good. This listening sort of set the tone for our gardening experience. Rather than just plowing ahead, so to speak, it allowed us to proceed with the work in a more mindful way.