@qualia Oddly enough this exact thought has been on my mind a lot this week, since I came back from New Mexico with a TON of sagebrush for that purpose.

Collecting my own has become my best effort to address the appropriation issues too. Seeing those little sage kids in the store, with their native-feishizing packaging, makes me feel super-gross, as does, frankly, the fact that I only encountered the process via newage routes, despite (because of?) growing up in NM.

@qualia @qualia Another way to complexify this is to consider that "burning plant matter for ritual purposes", broadly, is pretty universal. Mugwort, frankincense, dragon's blood, and on and on, across the world.

If I want to practice this in a bioregional way, using the fragrant plants around me, and those happen to be white sage and cedar... what do I do? Importing something from elsewhere could be seen as a different sort of appropriation.

@indi @qualia Here's a fresh layer of textural complications: the practice of burning cannabis as a religious sacrament appears to date to multiple cultures, but there's also a really compelling argument that it's been a core element of spiritual alchemy since the seventh century. Do I have to break down the history of alchemy every time I want to talk about pot in ritual context so I don't sound like a Trustifarian? I talk enough already when I'm high, don't I? =n.n=