...what is Woman Sage??

[Aki]

This is something that came up recently with one of my friends.

I had been in the kitchen making a door barrier with white sage, and he asked what I was doing. I explained, and we started talking about where I got mine, and what types of things it was good for (health-wise and spiritually). He started telling me about how sage-tea what he would drink when he was still Sundancing, and when I started whingeing about how I wish I could just grow my own instead of having to go buy it, he just gave me a funny look and asked

"Don't you know how to find some?"

I replied with another funny look that pretty much said "White girl. Don't got the knowledge". So he started telling me how he and his father used to go out and gather their own, and all the different types that they used to get, and one that came up was Woman Sage. He told me it was used specifically during our Moon Cycle, when we are the most powerful. I had never heard of it, and I have probably never seen it, but I am interested in it. If anyone could tell me more, I would be incredibly grateful, and thankful.

Thank you in advance.

Hello little Sister!

I have two things to share:

A) "Woman" sage, or prairie sage, is a sage plant medicine that I use often in a smudging/cleansing ceremony and to steep in water to make a lovely tea. I think it grows mostly on the prairies/Plains of North America. I googled "prairie sage native plant medicine" and came up with the picture below - it looks familiar to me as what I know to be prairie sage. Except I looked at it ... it looks like the "male" sage plant.

I asked a traditional medicine person I trust about which sage is Men's or women's. He said Women's Sage has little seeds balls on them (I couldn't find a picture of the female sage plant). This is the female version of the prairie sage plant.

It is called "Women's Sage" or "Women's Medicine" because of a traditional teaching which tells us that during our Moon time, we as women are indeed spiritually powerful ... and that our bodies undergo a powerful natural cleansing/healing cycle as a gift from Creator .... so it is recommended that we do not smudge/cleanse by burning/drinking any plant medicines except for Sage during that time. Sage is gentler and thus safer for our female bodies to cleanse with during our Moon time, should we feel we need additional cleansing.

Aki, I've seen Sage in dry prairie areas all throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in Canada, and in North and South Dakota in the US. Dry flat sandy/arid lands ... this is a hardy plant that can thrive in the baking hot sun and driest of climates.

B) Aki, you are who you are and you are perfect as is. Knowledge gets accumulated as we journey along. You know more today than you knew yesterday. So never ever let anyone, including yourself dear little sister, ever insinuate that you do not know "enough"! You know what you need to know each step of your journey, and you will gather more knowledge and put that into your basket as you journey along!

Let me/us know what you've discovered about Woman sage. Also ... if you care to share a mailing address in a PM with me, I would be happy to mail some to you ... hopefully no one intercepts! But I would give it a shot! Sage is a traditional Indigenous medicine and we have a right to share it with others who seek to use it in a good way!

PS - here is another link to a website to a place in Rapid City SD (so coincidental - I was just in SD last week!) that has some authentic-sounding info on locating and harvesting and identifying prairie sage.

http://www.prairieedge.com/tribe-scr...-for-smudging/

[Star Wolf Medicine Woman]

I had to smile a little when i read this subject, as my former NAI name used to be 'Sage Woman'....

My White Sage was purchased in the US of A in Arizona... Although I have purchased other varieties in the Greek Islands in the past.. White Sage is not grown in the uk.. I was given some Australian white Sage on an NAI History n' culture course last year.. australian sage looks different the leaves are a lot larger, but I guess this depends on when it was gathered...

I cannot say I have tried Sage tea at either Moon time or any other time... So cannot comment of its benefits.. I was given some Hopi tea bundles... which to me resembled 'Camomile' but I did not enjoy it and drank it out of respect to my Hopi friend, his grandmother had gathered the herbs herself and as she was 93 it was obviously of benefit to her longivity.. My friend said she drank it every day...

[Aki]

Thanks for the picture and link, Raven. I appreciate it greatly. I'll PM you, and we'll see what can be done, yah? =)

And thank you Star Wolf, for your help, too. I've never looked at pictures of Australian white sage, so I'll have to see how different it looks from what I can get here in the States.

[Makoiyi]

Star you can import the White Sage seed from the US and the plant grows well in the UK. I grew some when I lived there for a brief while. Get a couple of packets of the seed though as the strike rate of it isn't great but once you get a few plants if you care for them whilst they grow through the first few weeks they grow well in the climate.

I'm not in the UK as I now live in Ireland but its a similar climate its just a bit damper yet I've planted several plants outside and have several more in the poly tunnel, all of which are good healthy strong plants.

I also grow my own sweet grass amongst other things. This way I know how the plants are sourced and harvested without damaging wild stocks of the plants back home.

I used to gather my own back home as we always went out as a group and collected our medicines but only ever enough for our needs and from certain areas, never the same area thus the wild plants survived well and were never over picked.

Makoiyi