Across every continent and culture, humanity has turned to plants not just for nourishment or medicine, but for spiritual connection, protection, and transformation. These are not mere herbs — they are vessels of prayer, tradition, and ancestral memory. This week, we honour sacred plants revered around the world, not to commodify them, but to acknowledge their living spirit and the cultures that have carried them for generations. In sharing their stories, we hope to walk with humility, gratitude, and cultural respect.
Tulsi (Holy Basil) – India
In many Indian homes, Tulsi, or Holy Basil, is not just grown — she is worshipped. Often placed in a special altar or clay pot near the threshold of the home, Tulsi is seen as a living goddess, a manifestation of Lakshmi, the deity of abundance, devotion, and spiritual purity. Tulsi is used in daily prayers, included in offerings, and celebrated each year in a symbolic wedding to Lord Vishnu during the Tulsi Vivah festival. In Ayurveda, she is also known for her healing powers — supporting the respiratory system, calming the mind, and strengthening the immune response. But beyond any benefit, Tulsi reminds us that the divine can take root in everyday life, and that spirit often lives in green leaves and humble soil.
White Sage – Indigenous North America
For many Indigenous nations across what is now North America, including the Chumash, Lakota, and Navajo peoples, White Sage (Salvia apiana) is a sacred medicine. Its smoke is believed to purify not just the body or the room, but the spirit — creating clarity and opening the way for prayer. It is burned in ceremonies, sweat lodges, and healing rituals, and used to cleanse tools, spaces, and energy fields. Yet today, this sacred plant faces serious threats from over harvesting and cultural appropriation. For many Indigenous elders and medicine people, the uninvited commercial use of White Sage strips it of its sacred context and contributes to environmental harm. If you are not part of a culture that holds this medicine, it is best to step back — or to engage with deep respect, consent, and understanding. The medicine is not in the smoke alone, but in the relationship.
Lotus – Asia
Emerging clean and beautiful from thick, muddy waters, the lotus is a symbol of spiritual awakening, purity, and non-attachment across Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. It appears in temple art, meditation practices, and sacred texts — a reminder that we can rise above the murk of suffering and bloom in stillness and light. In Buddhist teaching, the various stages of a lotus bloom mirror the soul’s journey to enlightenment. To sit with the lotus is to remember that transcendence does not deny the mud — it grows from it.
Palo Santo – South America
Known as “Holy Wood,” Palo Santo is used in spiritual ceremonies by Indigenous communities in the Andes — particularly in Peru and Ecuador. Traditionally, its fragrant smoke was believed to clear heavy energy, attract blessings, and support healing. Shamans would burn it slowly, allowing the sweet, citrusy scent to sanctify space and guide the spirit. Importantly, Palo Santo was never harvested from living trees. Only fallen, aged wood was used, out of respect for the spirit of the forest. In recent years, global demand has led to ecological and spiritual disruption. For those drawn to this sacred plant, the call now is to use it mindfully — to source it ethically, burn it with reverence, and remember its roots in ceremony and care.
Mugwort – Europe & East Asia
Across Celtic, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese traditions, Mugwort has long been considered a plant of dreams, protection, and spiritual vision. In medieval Europe, it was gathered on the eve of solstice rituals and believed to ward off harm. In East Asian medicine, mugwort is used in moxibustion — a therapy where it is burned near the skin to stimulate healing and circulation. Its silvery-green leaves carry a soft, subtle energy that invites intuition, reflection, and deeper dreaming. To sit with mugwort is to tune in to the invisible, to the thresholds between waking and sleeping, spirit and body.
Cedar & Sweetgrass – Native North America
Among many Indigenous nations, Cedar and Sweetgrass are considered sacred relatives — two of the Four Sacred Medicines, alongside Sage and Tobacco. Cedar, with its rich, grounding scent, is burned for protection and purification. It is often used in prayer circles, cleansing ceremonies, and bundled for hanging in doorways to guard against unwanted energies. Sweetgrass, in contrast, carries a soft, gentle energy. Braided before use, it is burned not to clear, but to invite: kindness, peace, love, and harmony. Each strand in a sweetgrass braid represents body, mind, and spirit — woven together in sacred unity. These are not simply plants, but teachings in form — honoured with prayers, offered with thanks, never taken without ceremony.
Tea Tree – Australia
In the lands of the Bundjalung people in eastern Australia, Tea Tree has been a trusted plant ally for generations. Its crushed leaves were inhaled to clear the breath, steeped in baths to relieve aches, and applied as protection against both physical illness and spiritual imbalance. With its clean, sharp scent and potent antimicrobial qualities, Tea Tree has since traveled the globe — but its roots remain sacred. It is not just a disinfectant or oil; it is part of a deep relationship with land, a reminder that true healing comes not from extraction, but from connection.
Frankincense – North Africa & the Middle East
Frankincense has been burned in temples, churches, and homes for over five thousand years. Drawn from the Boswellia tree, the golden resin exudes a sacred smoke that soothes the mind and lifts the spirit. Used in Christian liturgies, Islamic rituals, ancient Egyptian offerings, and Ayurvedic medicine, Frankincense connects heaven and earth — creating a space for prayer, reflection, and reverence. It has also long been valued for its calming effects on the nervous system and its ability to restore emotional balance. To burn Frankincense is to enter into the sacred pause between breath and silence.
Tobacco – Turtle Island (North America)
For many Indigenous peoples across North America, Tobacco is the First Medicine — a sacred plant used in ceremony, offerings, and prayer. Unlike commercial tobacco, which has been commodified and abused, sacred tobacco is not taken lightly. It is offered before harvesting other plants, laid down in gratitude at sacred sites, and smoked only in ceremonial pipes, not for pleasure, but as a direct communication with the Creator and the spirit world. Tobacco is a plant of relationship — a bridge between the seen and unseen. To use it is to enter into sacred dialogue.
Myrrh – North & East Africa, Middle East, Asia
Called the “tears of the earth,” Myrrh has been used since ancient times in sacred rites, funerary rituals, and traditional healing. The resin, drawn from trees in arid landscapes, carries a scent that is both grounding and mysterious. In Egypt, it was used in embalming the dead; in Christian tradition, it anointed the newborn and the dying; in Chinese medicine, it supported blood circulation and eased emotional wounds. Myrrh is a companion to grief, transition, and reverence. To sit with its scent is to honour what is ending — and to create space for what is yet to come.
Walking with Reverence
To explore these sacred plants is not just to learn about them — it is to remember something older than language. These herbs, woods, and resins are not simply tools for healing. They are guides, companions, and spiritual teachers. Each one carries the wisdom of a place, a people, a practice. When we use them without respect, we lose their meaning. When we honour them with intention, we enter into a relationship that is mutual, alive, and deeply rooted.
So let us walk gently. Learn the stories behind what you burn, brew, or carry. Support ethical, sustainable sources. Acknowledge the cultures that have protected these plants for generations. And most of all, listen. The plants are always speaking. The sacred is always near.