What is Palo Santo?
Bursera Graveolens, or commonly known as Palo Santo has a long history of use by the native people of South America as an essential tool in sacred shamanic rituals for its energetic cleansing and medicinal healing properties.
The mystical tree is part of the citrus family and has sweet notes of pine, refreshing mint and lemon. The calming and relaxing aroma of Palo Santo is even more present from the smoke of the smoldering wood. Today it is still enjoyed for its cleansing and healing properties, much like sage, to release negative energies and negative thoughts and feelings. The smoke provides an uplifting scent that calms the mind and raises your vibration in preparation for meditation for a deeper spiritual connection.
Palo Santo translates to ‘holy wood” in Spanish.
Burning Palo Santo in either solid wood form or incense seeks to bring the energies of Northern Peru and its ancestors to the world. The lives of Peruvian tribes were steeped with rituals and a deep belief in otherworldly powers. The sacred Palo Santo tree was a significant part of these beliefs, they treated the tree with reverence in order to cultivate its magical and healing properties. The trees were allowed to fall naturally and were then left in peace for a prolonged period to age and dry.
By lighting palo santo you are allowing its ancestral ritual smoke to embrace you and take you on a beautiful journey of self exploration, spirituality and a rediscovery of your own inner knowledge.
Palo Santo is available in solid wood smudging sticks, hand crafted incense, milled powder, cones, essential oil and in mixed resin incenses.
Today, the ethical harvesting of palo santo wood is strictly regulated by our suppliers to ensure this holy wood is treated with respect and per required practice only uses naturally fallen trees that have been lying peacefully for between 4-10 years. In fact, every fallen tree that is taken, is replaced with a seedling working towards continuously restoring the palo santo population.
Otway Crystals is dedicated to providing ethically sourced products that support small business and families around the world.
