I hate sage. I can’t stand the smell, I don’t like the taste, or the energetic feel. Perhaps it’s because of my taste for the… Darker arts, but regardless, I don’t use the stuff. I know what you’re all thinking, “However will I cleanse my house or my possessions without wafting the stench of Thanksgiving dinner over everything I own, thought of owning, or accidentally spit on once some many years ago.”

Easy. There are so many other options.

I’m, unabashedly, what I like to call an “herbs, sticks, stones and bones” witch – in that I mean, I don’t do crystals, or metals (often, though I do love copper), or anything that has to be mined really – salts and minerals being my exception. I also believe in using LOCAL herbs. Sure, you can go out to the super market and pick up this or that, order whatever your heart desires online, but I’ve always believed that a witch has certain responsibilities to her/his community and a witch has always been tasked with working with what is at their disposal.

There’s something meaningful about going out into whatever nature you find yourself in and identifying and collecting that which is around you. It ties you to that land on which you work and connects you to the people with whom you share it with.

That being said, I try to identify and collect all of my own herbs from here in my region. Given that I live in a national forest (and have never been opposed to trespassing on public or private property in the name of gathering what I need) I have roughly 100 different herbs/plants/etc (I’m including seeds and fungi) all of which might serve a myriad of purposes.

Digressing back to cleansing, my preferred sage alternatives:

Red or Yellow or White Rose Stems (I gather them in a bundle of roughly a dozen and dry them completely) – can be used in place of sage, no matter what any “correspondence” would say; simply light the ends and smudge as you would with sage, though relighting is necessary more regularly than with leafier matter.

Strands of dried, hot peppers hung above each door to keep the wayward from entering; can be used in addition to brick dust, barberry and step-wash if you’re REALLY trying to keep someone or something out.

Floor washes are PERFECT for cleansing and laundry lists of different recipes will be given you by any number of rootworkers, mambos, or any practitioners of what I like to call Foot-Track Magic. Used to draw as much as they are to ward. Vinegars and spirits are your best friend, though.

In fact, vinegar in itself can be AMAZING for cleansing (and cleaning – but this isn’t a domestic arts column) when used alone or with baking soda (inorganic). Which you can mix to have elementary, chemical reaction fun, or used separately.

Cinnamon (not cassia, make sure you’re getting actual cinnamon – this is one imported resource I never go without, because it’s good for almost anything) is great in both washes and dusts, even in loose incense (don’t bother with sticks or cones, you can never trust what goes in).

For those who prefer the inorganic, I recommend:

Epsom Salt (unscented; general cleansing; wet with just a touch of alcohol, then lit on fire and wafted thusly – can even be placed in jars and put into each room to collect the mounting grossness)

Equal parts: Black Salt (Kala Namak, none of that lava salt BS), Sulfur Powder and Table Salt; for matters of troublesome spirits; sprinkle, sweep/vacuum, and dispose of the collected powder at the edge of your property or in a nearby cemetery.

As mentioned, baking soda, paired with regular salt and left to collect unpleasantness works beautifully. This can even be added to water to make a step-wash or harness gathered negativity for whatever means you deem fit.

This is only a short list of possibly options, but for those others who aren’t fond of the toxic smell of sage, I’ve done my best to offer simple, and accessible solutions for nearly anyone in any given locale.

What’s more, most of these actually REMOVE smell instead of attempting to cover it up! Which I think probably says a lot about their nature comparatively.

Hope to have helped,
Q