Harvesting Sage
 

I found some sage in the wild while hiking and harvested some of it. Not the whole plant. When I told someone who I later found out is native American they seemed to have a problem with me harvesting it and said it was disrespectful.
I don't use it just for something to burn, I use it sometimes in meditation and to cleanse the house of bad energy.
I said a prayer before I took some.
I don't know the native American guidelines but I did what I felt was right.
But still this woman said it was disrespectful and that I wrongfully took it from the earth.

I will admit I don't know much about native American spirituality.

Did I wrongully harvest the sage?

no harm would have been done except your own traces of guilt on which they most likely reacted

How much had you harvested?

If you had eradicated all that was there on the plant, I would have taken it as a sign of disrespect.

If you had taken only a little you had wanted and left the rest- that is fine.

The actual idea is to leave the earth and plant life in good health and condition- so if the sage was not massacred you've done nothing in the wrong.

The only reason I could see the Native having a problem would be if they were convinced it disrespectful as they were not proper Native prayers or Native ways- but why would they want that? Cultural appropriation right?

In all honesty as long as you did not over harvest the land, and do not harvest too frequently, I see no wrong with your action, and you did offer to say a prayer.

It may not be the exact prayers used in the past by Natives, but isn't that the point? To be true to ourselves?

Point is you offered prayer in gratitude.

Not everyone does.

Being a defender of Indigenous Spirituality.

A story.

In the village where I lived, ‘we’ were a 50% White population and 50% Aboriginal.
‘We’ had this bar that had two sides to it – the ‘Black Bar’ and the ‘Non-Black Bar’, but of course ‘we’ did hang out in both. No boundary.
Most of the Whites in that village were/are ‘assimilated’ to Aboriginal Spirituality, which in practice means non-dualistic unconditional love/acceptance of everyone and that also means having a good laugh at each other’s eccentrics, idiosyncrasies, neuroses – what have you.

I think that there was this fear among White Australians about land rights – like Aboriginals taking over your back yard, the image being fruit bats coming to roost on your ‘white icon’ hills hoist clothes line:
https://www.theguardian.com/artandde...ite-work-video

But in this particular community, the 'bats' had already landed (had always been there) and invaded our psyches and the ‘Whites’ had already surrendered to it and were being proud of it.
So somebody had put a sign up in the non-black-bar side – a sign pointing to the black-bar saying:
“Psychiatric Ward 10”.
Well, ‘we’ all thought it was soooo funny and ‘we’ all just partook in the mirth, the cosmic joke about ‘separateness’ ….. until one day when an urban, educated (conceptual identity) Aboriginal from a city, from somewhere down South entered the non-black-bar, saw the sign and went ‘all ‘indigenous on us’ – he was so deeply offended and started to spit these hate ‘sermons’ about Whites disrespecting Aboriginals, when in fact he couldn’t have been further away from the truth.

My own ‘Indigenous’ upbringing was an Unconditional Space aka “Psychiatric Ward”, so I was feeling very ‘back at home’ within that community.

IF it was planted and used by the Native people and you took some then that would be be considered disrespectful. saying a prayer before taking it and giving thanks for what you took is native ways.


Namaste

This is only my own opinion....okay? Conservation laws may not agree with me.

But if you didn't burn it or destroy the root system, and didn't tear off flowers that bees and pollinators need, and didn't take more than a sprig or two of the leaves -then you have done no harm.

And if you respected it as a sacred thing then your heart is in the right place.

But of course if everybody did that.....etc there would be no Sage plant.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...Olay+Ale+Loya+

When “I” and “my people” were with absolute hatred and with *………* intent - attacked and accused of culturally appropriating Native American “Circle Dance” (whatever that is?, as I had never seen nor heard of it before) ….. it left me utterly shocked, like a deer in a headlights - because the truth is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHiU36GDaEA

This was a ‘lesson’ about Native Americans and their cultural appropriation campaign - which is not all that easy to forget.

(My respects to Littlewolf and his youtube comment. Thank you.)

A gift is often given to plant ( often tobacco ) in trade for plants help along with prayers.
But I think a respectful correction would have left you with a respectful answer of what was disrespectful.
Or they (N8tive ) would have liked you to gift them some sage. Maybe the answer to your question lays with the source. Ask the N8tive what was disrespectful. If you can't ask N8tive I would just say a prayer with the plant and creation/creator that you be taught any thing you need from the plant, experience or creation. Then drop any guilt and move on with willingness to correct the situation when and if you can if anything needs corrected.