Sweetgrass - Purification, prayer

Sweetgrass (Hierochloe odorata) can be found growing in the Plains of the United States, as well as in some areas of Alberta in Canada. It's a distinctive green grass, being tall in stature with wide blades and a reddish tone at its base.

It's got similar properties to sage, popularly being used as a purifier of places, objects and people to encourage positive energy and dispel old and negative vibes. It was often used in Native American sweat lodge ceremonies, where the sweet scented herb was sprinkled onto the hot rocks to improve the energy inside the lodge and fill the air with a sweet aroma.

Traditionally it was plaited into long braids - ideal for using during cleansing, prayer and smudging - and is still often found sold like that today. Belief has it that when sweetgrass is burned, a prayer is sent to heaven on the smoke. It's properties make it ideal for using in quiet moments of contemplation, as well as when wanting to create an air of purification.

Native Scents -

Native Scents is a company centred in New Mexico, USA and is made up of a network of Native American wildcrafters from Canada to South America who collect plants in an ecological and respectful way. Wildcrafting is a term which means that the herbs and plants are collected in such a way that the source is sustainable.

For example this means not pulling up root systems, harvesting just enough so that the plant will continue to thrive and generally caring for each plant source. Because of the scarcity of some of the traditional Native American herbs and plants we feel this attitude to be absolutely essential as some companies are actually damaging the environment because they are putting profit first.