Sage Vs. Palo Santo
Sage Vs. Palo Santo
Are you looking to add new tools to your spiritual tool box to keep you zen, boost your good vibes, and keep your energy clean and clear? The two most popular energy cleansing herbs are sage and palo santo. Sage is a pretty familiar herb used to clean and clear energy and continues to grow in popularity. While not a new thing by any means (it’s actually very ancient), palo santo has made it’s breakthrough into the main stream but is not as familiar as sage. Let’s take a look at the differences between sage and palo santo and how to use them.
Similarities between Sage and Palo Santo
Both sage and palo santo are energy cleansing tools used by the native inhabitants of the Americas. Sage was commonly used in Native American culture during ceremonies and rituals to clear away negative energies and for purification. Palo santo derived from Mexico and South America and is also used in purification and to clear away negative energy. Both sage and palo santo can be used to purify your personal energy as well as the energy in you spaces (home, workspace, garage ect.).
Differences between Sage and Palo Santo
Sage is made from the leaf of the sage plant and has a strong pungent smell when burned. If I had to compare sage to a common cleaning product I would put it in line with bleach; it get’s all the dirty energy out. It can be used for heavy-duty purification such as when your ex moves out and you need to get rid of every trace of their existence including their vibes or for those small, day to day personal rituals such as meditation, prayer, or when someone pisses you off and you need to let it go. The reason I call sage the bleach of the energy cleaning tools is because, like bleach it will get rid of everything the good and the bad and leaves a clean energetic slate so to speak.
When you burn sage, it is a MUST that you add good energy vibes back into your space. If you don’t you are essentially leaving your energy naked for anything to come and settle in. Adding good vibes is as simple as burning an oil, incense, or some other fragrance. I suggest skipping the pumpkin spice candle and using a natural fragrance or herb such as cinnamon (good luck), bergamont (grounding), frankincense and myrrh (purity and spirituality), or jasmine (attraction and happiness). Incense are a good choice too and are made with specific purposes in mind such as love, money, purity, abundance, protection ect.
Palo santo literally means holy wood and is the wood from the bursera graveolens tree. Palo santo comes in sticks and when burned has a pleasant balsamic-woody fragrance. Palo santo would be the lemon sentenced Lysol clean-up spray of spiritual cleaners. It definitely gets things clean, smells good, and leaves you with a pleasant feel. I recommend palo santo for daily rituals and for quick and easy personal energy clearing. Since palo santo purifies, adds good energy, and smells good you don’t have to burn anything else after it. Many people burn it solely for the fragrance and the energy cleansing is a bonus.
How to Burn Palo Santo and Sage
The burning process is very similar. You light them on fire, allow the flame to catch and then smolder out, you will be left with a blanket of white smoke. If it takes to long, you can blow the flame out. Remember you cleanse with the smoke, not the flame. You hold both palo santo and sage in your hand or you can place them in a dish or other heat resistant container. Palo santo is not like fire wood, it won’t burn up into ash. It burns for a bit and goes out; you can use one stick for a couple weeks depending on how often you burn it. Sage usually has to be extinguished. I usually gently rub it into an abalone shell where I store it, similar to how you would rub a cigarette into an ashtray.
My final take-away: there is no wrong choice to cleanse your energy; however, between the two one maybe a better choice depending on your needs. Both sage and palo santo are effective at getting rid of negative energy and purifying the aura of a space.