it. At sweat lodge, a few bits of red cedar frond are dropped first on the hot
rocks. Its fragrant smoke purifies the lodge even if there is not enough cedar
around where you had to build it to line the floor around the hole with it, as you
should if you can.People burn larger amounts of cedar, using branches or bowls, to smudge or
purify places, to invite the spirits to help us there. Its fragrant, aromatic smoke
helps us clean up our thoughts and emotions of bad, hurtful, harmful things that
the world is all too ready to put into our minds and hearts. I smudged the
computer lab at school, for example long after everyone had gone home and
locked up for the night, I stayed (working) until dawn to do it. Some computer
experts might think the cedar smoke would harm the electronics, but in my work
life I am a computer expert; I knew this smoke would not hurt them and it
didn't.Cedar smoke speaks to us of a very old time when plants, animals, and people
were all the same kinds of beings, and all communicated together in a very old
language our body's cells remember. We cannot remember anything else of that
time, but when we smell the aromatic cedar smoke, maybe we do even if it can't
be put into words.There are several ways to tell the difference between Red Cedar and White
Cedar ("the deceiver"). Red Cedar likes shallow, limy soil, tends to grow in high
or at least rocky places. White Cedar likes swampy boggy soil or at least deep
humus and lots of water. The trees' foliages are different too. Compare Red and
White Cedar:Common juniper may be low-growing, and in swamps, bogs or muskegs can be
so thick as to make getting around hard going. When it grows in more open
spaces, it is at first low-growing, but if the soil is good for it, will grow into a
conical shape. Eventually, if it continues to grow (to about 40 feet), side branches
will begin to spread out. So this species, growing in a sunny, open glade may
resemble Red Cedar in its general conformation. On rocky areas, ridges, cliffs,
the cedar that grows there will usually be the sacred Red Cedar. There is
another species of it -- common name Rocky Mountain Red Cedar -- that
flourishes to the west of us in drier hills and mountains.Red Cedar burns with the strong aromatic smell of ceremonial or private
purifications. Red Cedar's wood is beautiful and aromatic -- used to line chests,
drawers, and closets to perfume clothing and keep moths away. White cedar
lacks those qualities, but its wood is rich in preservative oils. White cedarwood
makes strong frames, sidings, shingles that weather to a beautiful pale-striped
grey, and last a long time against harsh weather. All the cedars are gifts to us
people, but for Anishinaabeg peoples, the Red Cedar is especially sacred.Juniper -- Tribes who use
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