Palo Santo

This sacred smudging instrument has been utilised ceremonially for ritual cleansing, purifying, prayer, and healing for thousands of years. In traditional folk medicine, indigenous peoples and shamans across the Americas use Palo Santo to aid both physical and spiritual ailments ranging from stomach aches to stagnant or repressed energies.

It is common for it to be forbidden to harvest the holy wood from live trees, but only collected from fallen branches and twigs, and must be allowed to dry and cure for 3-5 years. During this period, a magical chemical transformation occurs. The sap, once fluid in the living tree, proceed to crystallize and form deposits, giving the Palo Santo its rich resin deposits that are the very essence of wood. Thus, Palo Santo must undergo a metamorphosis beginning with a tree falling under natural circumstances, and remaining resting for years.