Black sage (Salvia mellifera, Artemisia nova, Artemisia douglasiana) also known as mugwort, dreamweed, magical sage is a unique herb used for space cleansing and purification, dream enhancement, inducing restful sleep, trance workings, introspection enrichment, astral traveling and protection.
It's also used for clearing out foul or unpleasant odors in the home. Some people burn it in tandem with white sage for a synergistic cleansing effect.
The smell of black sage is often described as having an attractive, spicy peppermint fragrance with a hint of green tea-like, damp, pleasantly musty wood notes.
The plant has several cultivars with some of the leaves turning dark during droughts. Other cultivars can be confused with blue and purple sages because the plant can hybridize with these herbs. Therefore, this can often be a hard and tricky plant to identify.
Some forms of mugwort contain thujone, the same trance-inducing compound found in traditional absinthe liqueur. However, the amount of thujone occurring in some forms of mugwort is very small.
These bundles are each 4" to 4.5". They are burned the same way other smudge bundles are burned and are best placed in a smudge bowl when lit.
*To put out a smudge stick, it is ideal to place a little sand at the bottom of your smudge bowl or pot. When you are ready to extinguish the smudge stick, place and hold the lit end in the sand and it will naturally go out.
Avoid using water. Putting out your smudge stick with water can not only eventually lead to mildew developing on your smudge stick but also present problems with lighting it in the future.
Also avoid attempting to put out the smudge stick by blowing. Blowing actually increases the burn and can cause embers and lit flakes to spread around and drop on the floor, which presents a hazard.