White sage HEM incense sticks from the Ritual Botanica series fill this hexagonal box. The box is white and grey with fine botanical drawings and reads “White Sage” in English and “Salvia Blanca” in Spanish. It is made in India, and one order brings you one box.
Sage scent without a bundle
White sage (Salvia apiana) is native to western North America, mostly California. In the Native American tradition there, the smoke of its dried leaves is used to clear a space, a custom known in English as smudging. This is what “Smudge Incense sticks” on the box refers to. White sage is not the common garden sage, and its scent is fresher, with a hint of camphor.
A dried sage bundle is held in the hand or set in a bowl while it burns, and it often needs relighting. You only need to light this stick once and it burns on its own in the holder, so you do not have to hold it.
For a new home or a new season
Many people first light white sage when they move into a new home, carrying the holder from room to room. Others light it as the seasons turn, at the end of a long winter or summer. If you would like to do the same, keep the stick in a heat-resistant holder, do not leave it unattended, and air the room afterwards.
There is a palo santo stick in the Ritual Botanica series too. Tradition often mentions the two together, as the smoke of both is used to clear a space, and many people burn them in turn. Keep an opened box somewhere dry, in a drawer.