A recent research has shed light on the popularity of smudging, revealing that burning certain plant matter actually clears harmful bacteria.

The practice of smudging dates back to prehistoric times, and it is still used worldwide today for cleansing everything from dwellings to human spirits.

All Western civilizations did the activity of burning herbs and plants for spiritual purposes. The activity rests firmly in the sensibilities of ancient cultures in that, historically, smudging was believed to put forth the spirits of various ‘allies’ to provide ease and balance to an individual or group.

In this way, the practice was used to clear spiritual and emotional negativity that has built up in a body or a space.

The Research “Medicinal Smokes”

The scientific paper entitled “Medicinal Smokes” and published in the “Journal of Ethnopharmacology” focuses its scientific lens on smudging, which is becoming more and more widely practiced, despite skepticism.

It serves to play against the role that this activity played for so long in a culturally diverse range of religions and tribal beliefs.

The research looked into herbal and non-herbal remedies that were administered by the burning of various matter.

The research included information from 50 countries over 5 continents and found that, predominantly, smoke administered medicinally is mostly used to aid lung, brain and skin function. In addition, it was revealed that passive fumes doubled as a sort of air purifier.

The purpose of the study was to see whether or not these medicinal smoke deliveries could be explored by western medicine, because “The advantages of smoke-based remedies are rapid delivery to the brain, more efficient absorption by the body and lower costs of production.”

A follow up paper published in the same periodical, “Medicinal smoke reduces airborne bacteria,” found that the research concluded that, in addition to health benefits, smudging was a powerful antiseptic.

“We have observed that 1 hour treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs (havan sámagri=material used in oblation to fire all over India), on aerial bacterial population caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts by 60 min and the ability of the smoke to purify or disinfect the air and to make the environment cleaner was maintained up to 24 hour in the closed room.

Absence of pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium urealyticum, Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella mobilis), Kocuria rosea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae, Staphylococcus lentus, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. tardicrescens in the open room even after 30 days is indicative of the bactericidal potential of the medicinal smoke treatment.

We have demonstrated that using medicinal smoke it is possible to completely eliminate diverse plant and human pathogenic bacteria of the air within confined space.”

What Does This Research Really Say?

In short, burning medicinal herbs cleared airborne bacterial populations by 94%, and the space was still found to be disinfected a day later.

What’s more, a month after smudging, much of the pathogens originally found were still undetectable.

This has profound implications, as modern air quality in the developed and undeveloped world is atrocious, containing up to 1800 bacterial types, many of them pathogenic.

Conventional methods of sterilization often employ chemical cocktails that are typically much less effective than purported.

Smudging seems to be an effective alternative, while also being natural and safe to use.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the ancient practice of burning powerful herbal material may be much much more than just a primitive belief that we can simply disregard due to it being unscientific.

Maybe what some people refer to as bad spirits was just bacteria that made them feel negative emotions or act strangely.

Of course, this should not take away from the properties of smudging in the area of energy system and soul cleansing and in the power of aromatherapy.

But maybe there is a link between science and spirituality that can be found through the researching of these ancient practices and customs.

Sources: http://itsallabouti.info; The Spirit Science; http://bestblender.co.uk;