Description

Palo Santo holy wood

Palo Santo means "sacred tree" ("holy wood") when translated from Spanish. The use of this tree comes from the indigenous culture of Central and South America, as does the use of white sage. For centuries, Palo Santo has been used to cleanse the aura and get rid of negative influences.

Over time, Palo Santo has also become very popular in Europe, where it is mainly used for energetic cleansing of your house, belongings and crystals, and yourself, or sometimes just because of its delicately sweet vanilla scent and pleasant warm woody aroma.

Compared to sage, which is also used to cleanse homes and has a very intense aroma, Palo Santo gives a very soft and mild scent. Did you know that Palo Santo is often used in Finnish saunas and in various home fragrances and massage oils due to its earthy and natural aroma?

Where does it grow?

Palo Santo (Bursera graveolens) is a wild tree in Central and South America. It is found from the Yucatan Peninsula to Peru and Venezuela.

The tree belongs to the same plant family - myrtle trees or Burseraceae - as frankincense and myrrh. It has been widely used in shamanic cleansing rituals and healing ceremonies since ancient times, and in folk medicine as a sweat inducing medicine for abdominal pain and as a salve for rheumatism.

Palo Santo is an extremely rare tree, so the living trees are not cut down anymore. In the meantime, the tree was even under protection, as it was felled en masse by forests for sale, leading to the extinction of this tree species. However, efforts are now being made to preserve this rare species of tree, and only the naturally fallen branches of the tree are harvested for use.

What can be made of Palo Santo?

Dried tree branches can be used in different ways:

• as wood

Palo Santo wood is available in sticks, shavings or powder. Wood is burned in the same way as incense.

• as resin

Palo Santo tree contains a very pleasant aromatic resin. The resin can be extracted from wood and used for aromatherapeutic purposes by burning it in the same way as incense.

• as essential oil

To obtain the essential oil, it is extracted from the wood of Palo Santo or the fruit of the tree. Essential oil is also used to make Palo Santo incense . The oil can be used for aromatherapy by adding it to an oil burner or aroma diffuser, or it can be used as a healing salve by applying it topically to the skin, diluting it with a carrier oil or adding it to a neutral skin care product.

How to use Palo Santo for energetic cleansing?

As I wrote earlier, Palo Santo has been used since ancient times in cleansing rituals and healing ceremonies by indigenous healers and shamans in Central and South America.

Shamans believed that burning Palo Santo is capable of restoring energy damaged by negativity or conflict. It is also believed that it can neutralize problems before they arise. Palo Santo can also attract solemnity and benevolence.

Palo Santo can be used to cleanse yourself, your home or your belongings. Smudging with Palo Santo helps clean the air, relieves stress and anxiety, and attracts positive energy. Use Palo Santo if you want to cleanse your energy field or the energies around you, especially if you feel that you have visited a place with low vibrations or have come into contact with a person with a negative aura field.

Burn Palo Santo wooden sticks followingly:

Light a Palo Santo wooden stick with a candle, lighter, or match.

It would be convenient to use a white candle, for example, because during each cleansing ritual, a white candle should burn at the same time and after the ritual, so it will charge you and your home with new clean fresh energy after cleansing and removing negative energies.

It would also be good if you kept at least one window open during the cleansing ritual, so that negative energy could leave the room!

Hold the stick at a 45-degree angle to ignite and then slowly swirl it in the flame to allow the wood to catch fire properly. Let the stick burn for about 30 seconds and then shake the stick until the flame goes out. According to the wisdom of the indigenous people, neither the Palo Santo wooden stick nor the sages used for the cleansing rituals should be blown to put out the flame, because for them it meant that you blew your soul away.

The stick can then be placed on a smudging dish or other heat-resistant tray (a bowl is also suitable).

Keep in mind! Cleansing should only be performed with good intentions. Be sure to think positive thoughts before and during cleansing and pray or just ask the smoke of the tree to remove all negative and bad energy that is not in your best interest and for your highest good.

Every ritual must begin with yourself. This means that first you must cleanse your own aura and energy field and only then can you start cleansing the home, crystals, or other items that need cleansing.

Start cleansing yourself from your hands, moving them inside the smoke as if you were washing your hands. Then lift the palms with the smoke (as if you were taking water with your palms) and cleanse your ears, so you could hear good things, then your mouth, so you could say good things, your eyes, so you could see good things, and your heart, so you could feel good feelings. If you wish, you can also use the smoke to cleanse your hands and arms, so you could do good things, and also your knees and feet, so you could walk through life in a good way. You can repeat the same ritual when you have finished cleansing your home, crystals, or other things.

If you do not want to perform such a detailed ritual, it is enough to move the smoking stick over your body, simply letting the smoke do the cleansing.

When cleansing your home you should start from the front door of your home. If you live in a house and have several exterior doors, you should start with the main door.

According to the wisdom of indigenous people, it is possible to move in both directions - clockwise or counterclockwise. When you start moving clockwise, then by cleansing you bring new good energy instead. But if you move counterclockwise, you are asking negative and bad energy to leave your home. You can actually use both ways for cleansing. However, it is worth keeping in mind that moving counterclockwise may clear the whole home of any kind of energy. This means that along with illness and negative energy, good spirits and good energy also leave. At the same time, it helps if you apologize to the good spirits and simply ask them to come back after cleansing.

Jäta meelde, et puhastamisel Sa teed ruumi energiale juurde ja loodus ei salli tühja kohta. Seetõttu tuleks see kohe täita uue hea energiaga. Selleks võid kasutada ka positiivseid helisid: kas laulda või rääkida ise midagi positiivset või panna harmooniline muusika taustaks mängima. Aga kui Sa seda ei soovi, siis aitab ka välja lausutud positiivsetest sõnadest. Siinkohal pane kindlasti tähele, missuguseid kavatsusi Sa sinna ruumi sisendad. Lausu need sõnad, kuulates oma südame häält.

For objects (like crystals), you should also start the cleansing with good intentions and state what exactly do you want to remove. The item should then be kept inside the smoke until you feel it is cleansed. Since some of the energy has been removed, it should be recharged immediately with new energy. You can say positive words (intentions) or charge it in the moonlight or in the sunlight. The Sun charges objects with stronger and more active energy because the Sun represents masculine energy, and the Moon charges objects with softer and lower energy because the Moon represents feminine energy. Don't forget that we all have both masculine and feminine energy, and choose the charging method according to which energy you need more to support you at the moment.

After the cleansing rituals, it is always good to cleanse yourself again, so that negative energies don't get stuck in your energy body. When you finish the cleansing ritual, you can leave the stick on the dish to smoke. After a while, it goes out on its own.

Do not leave a burning stick unattended! Keep out of reach of children and pets!