So I've been taking pics of the leaves I collect when I lay them out to dry but today's leaves my dog kept stealing the show. 

Eventually I got a shot without the dog to go with the others.

Also. I had every intention of (re)organizing my coat closet, specifically my shoes and scarves, but the dog and cat have been taking turns laying directly in front of it all flipping day..... okay then. Fine. I'll do it tomorrow then. I'm not going to move stuff around and potentially knock stuff over this late at night on my downstairs neighbors.

I did just finish bundling the tricolor sage, rosemary and lemon verbena bundles for me and my friends Alana and Maddie. (It's actually rather perfect timing as it's been done by a Libra sun and Libbra Mercury at the Libra New moon, finished at the Aries Full moon, to be gifted to a Libra moon and an Aries sun.)  Because of that, my fingers smell strongly of sage oils and it's definitely noticeable while eating an apple just now. Which, surprisingly, was remarkably pleasant! I like to include rosemary and lemon verbena for protection and purification as well as cleansing -- I'm a firm believe that after you cleanse a space, you protect it so that the negative/vampiric energies cannot easily re-enter. I have better tools of raw energy work personally for cleansing/healing/blessing/warding a person or space than smoke cleansing -- but I like the smell of certain herbs when burned same as I like the smell of incense so I don't mind rituals with tricolor sage, rosemary, lavender, bay leaves, thyme, calendula, roses, fragrant woods, etc.  And when I saw how much sage I had this harvest (I harvest herbs for drying/bundling at the new moon, bundle 2-3 days later, they're ready for use after the next full moon -- it's an easy way for me to remember timing for drying herbs.  It's also the proper way to do it, but I started it intuitively as a kid as "the way it's done" rather than as a ritualistic thing. I'm an intuitive elemental magick worker -- I do things by raw force of will manipulating energies and natural intuition rather than ritual or scholarly learning. But whenever I look into anything or discuss my intuitive habits with other styles of witches/priests/priestesses, they're always astonished how right my choices were even though I didn't plan them to be right. I rarely use ritual though my intuition tends to align with the old ways of my past selves that have become ritualized beliefs that are followed but not understood by many people.)

I don't have issues with smoke cleansing itself, but I have INCREDIBLY strong feelings against using white sage or palo santo for it because both plants have bad consumerism driven harvesting practices that have placed the plants onto the endangered list due to concerns about the rate of their declining numbers or involve clear cutting sections of specific rain forests to harvest young palo santo trees rather than ones that died naturally and aged in the forest the appropriate decade to get the wood/oils at the right stage  And the over harvesting of both species is 100% due to white colonial cultural appropriation for "smudging" which isn't even the proper phrase unless you're having it done by an authentic tribal shaman...If you're not a tribal member trained and accepted into a tribe's shamanic practices following the ritual of the 4 elements/directions, you're not smudging, you're smoke cleansing. Don't call it smudging unless you're following a shamanic tribal ritual as a member of an actual Native American tribe. It's like you don't take communion, even at a Catholic wedding mass, if you're not Catholic in a state of Grace according to that religion's beliefs. You respect the beliefs of others, even when they are not your own.  

When it comes to white "spiritual" people using white sage and palo santo for cleansing (as opposed to protection/centering the self) my feelings are strong enough that I get angry enough I don't let me touch electronics or do anything energy sensitive after seeing anything to do with those particular plants being used ritually by white people who claim to be yogis or spiritually in tune. I just get so angry at the habitat destruction and species over harvesting that their choices/actions are enabling....  If you ACTUALLY know a damn thing about shamanic energy work and plants, you know that you can cleanse/protect with pure intention without the smoke ritual or if you are a person who needs ritual there are PLENTY of other plants/herbs you can use rather than endangered species or plants harvested with environmentally harmful practices.  Any sage works the same as white sage for cooking or smoke cleansing -- and you don't need to fucking over harvest a culturally sacred plant to extinction. that is the antithesis of the tribal shamanic way where you make sure you leave more of each plant than you take from it so the plant will continue to be there for future shamans not just yourself. I get so fucking infuriated at the cultural appropriation of white sage and palo santo for smudging and "auric cleansing" work -- you can't fucking cleanse your aura or energies by taking part in the genocide of an entire species, fffs.  How fucking white supremacist colonialist Roman Empire cultural appropriation mindset do you have to be to think that there can be anything redemptive or healing in using something you've harvested to extinction and done your best to wipe off the face of the planet?! You can never get to a good end by rationalizing a path of evil means..... I firmly believe that. There are no spiritual shortcuts - the karma of your every choice and every action will catch up with you....

Like I said, I have intensely strong feelings about the use of white sage and palo santo. By anyone for any reason unless you are a member of a tribe with shamanic ritualized usage of these particular species. For everyone else -- find another fucking plant with similar purification/cleansing properties ffs. There are PLENTY of them in the world's cornucopia of natural bounties.... You probably have some in your spice drawer tbh.

And anyway, anyone who knows any damn thing about magic the very BEST practice for bundling is to grow the herbs yourself, pouring your love and intention into the plant for the entire growing season so that every cell of the plant is KNOWN to be imbued with literal light an love and care throughout its life.  Then you make sure you are in the right inner space at the new moon and harvest with the desired intention and bundle with the proper focus of energies and intention.  But the more of yourself and the good of your intentions you can put into any/everything you do, the stronger the power and energy in it. If you grow your own sage plants (I like the tricolor as it's the most beautiful, imo, but any sage plants you like or will grow where you live is good) and you know that they have always been cared for and loved and filled with your delight in them and care of them, they will have so much more positive energy infused in them than if someone focused on profits and money making rips out wild white sage plants that have fought for their very existence and are now nearly extinct due to over harvesting for profit.... if you have the time/energy to grow with intent, your spell work will have better energy in it and I swear to all the gods you can taste it in your food same as slow cooking to get the flavors right doing every part of it with intention while filled with positive emotions makes the best tasting food.  Plants and animals raised with love and respect then harvested with gentleness and gratitude will always make for the best quality of anything you intend to do with them. 

That said, my tricolor sage-rosemary-lemon verbena bundles tied with variegated blue thread, made from plants that I grew myself all summer long, harvested at the Libra new moon, to be fully ready and gifted at the Aries new moon, are full of wonderful positive protective energy and smell really fucking amazing!!! Alana and Maddie are super excited I offered and asked if they wanted me to make them some.  I just like to go in and smell them right now, lol.

On that note, I'm going to go roast a buttercup squash and a CSA eggplant gifted to me and make a fried rice because I haven't eaten anything except apples since brunch after taking the dog on a walk in the fog.