The Sacredness of Juniper

Miles White , this is one of the best stories I’ve read on Medium lately.

One of the main reasons I liked it so is because you invoked the scent of juniper. To me, that is a very, very, very holy, sacred olfactory essence.

There are 4 sacred ‘herbs’ to Native American Turtle Islanders. They are sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco.

For those living in the sacred lands of the American Southwest desert, it is desert sage that is used as opposed to California sage which is used by those Turtle Islanders on the West Coast. Sage is burned to dispel negative vibrations.

There are no giant cedar trees growing in the Southwest desert as there are in the Pacific Northwest, so what is used is cedar’s cousin, the juniper tree. Juniper/cedar is burned to attract positive vibrations.

Sweetgrass grows in the northern reaches of the Great Plains of Turtle Island. It is burned for purification.

Tobacco, which to native Turtle Islanders was a combination of natural herbs as opposed to the chemical-laden tobacco used by cigarette manufacturers, is burned for prayer. One inhales tobacco while saying their prayers to the Creator and as one exhales the smoke, the smoke takes those prayers up into the sky to the Creator.

Each of these four sacred herbs have a dual olfactory essence. There is the essence of the ‘herb’ and the essence of the ‘herb’ as it is burned. And there is also the essence of the ‘herb’ during daytime and the essence of the ‘herb’ at night time.

For anyone who has wild-harvested dried juniper leaves, it is obvious that the vibratory pinnacle occurs during the very hottest part of the afternoon. For those burning dried juniper leaves, the vibratory pinnacle occurs AFTER desert sage has been burned and BEFORE the sweat-lodge ceremony commences.

While it is the dried juniper leaves that are burned in ceremony it is the wood of the juniper that is kept among valuable possessions and near the bed in which one sleeps.

While the nighttime essence of unburned wild juniper is strongest at the full moon, the vibratory essence of burned juniper is strongest at the new moon. The opposite is true of desert sage. Both sweetgrass and tobacco are neutral in regard to lunar phases as well as daytime/nighttime phases.

The vibration of juniper, whether daytime or nighttime and whether burned or unburned, is a vibrational key that unlocks the doors to perceptual barriers and limitations. It simultaneously connects us to both the planet and the universe (both within and without).

For me personally, it is one of the grandest smells on the planet.