SAGE PRODUCTS

It all began back in the fifties.  I lived in a two story house in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. 

 Big John and Sparky played on the radio while I intently listened to the science

 fiction segment, called "The Purple Goowey Goblioes" an outer space substance

 like the Blob, no doubt.  I was seven years old and I HAD to make my own concoction

 of the Goblioes. So off I sped on a scavenger hunt creeping in my mom's cupboards

and in the old sooty basement where only spiders and worse lived.  The neighbors

 junk was also a good place to collect good garbage.  So motivated by my seven

year old inventors mind, I combined the corks from pop bottle caps, some food

coloring, cut up card board pieces, a mixing bowl and added water.  With a blood

 curdling laugh, I stirred my concoction with delight singing out to the top of my

 lungs, "THE PURPLE GOOWEY GOBLIOES" Blah, Hah, Hah!

After the success of my first experiment, I talked the neighbor boy into helping me

create my second invention. The orange dye.  It was easy enough.  Just add

orange crepe paper to water, stir, and "Whallah", a masterpiece.  That was, until

I talked this younger neighbor boy into throwing the concoction on Mr. Ford, our

downstairs neighbor, his white dress shirt dredged and stained permanently.  I

actually thought the experiment a success until my dad arrived home and heard

the news.  After choking out an apology to Mr. Ford, I was sent to my room,

forbidden to see the neighbor boy for the rest of the summer.  And the shine

on my behind was at least two shades darker than my orange dye.  Ouch! I

remember that one. You might think that would have deterred me from my

 Dr. Jekyl experiments, but NOOO, and really I'm just getting started.

In 1963 we moved to North Lacrosse, my dad worked at a factory where he

 would bring home these tubular pieces of plastic, the perfect size, no doubt,

 for making my first guided missile.  Remember the cap guns when you were

 a kid.  Every kid on the block had one.  They would bang when you pulled

the trigger.  The caps contained pure gun powder.  Well, I would scrape the

tops off from each cap and empty them into the bottom of the plastic tube. 

 Then adding farmer match heads and book matches and stuffing the tube full

to the top, closed off the top of the tube with a plastic nose cone and I was

ready for the launch. I called in the neighbor kids for the count down, lit the

home made fuse and dove for cover.  Nothing happened.  The fuse had fizzled

out. So I crept behind the rocket and stretching out my arm and hand with

match lit tried to light to fuse.  KABOOM! it exploded.  Rocket wings lie on

the dirt, my eye brows singed, my hands blackened and in shell shock, I sat

there on the ground mumbling to myself something like, "what could of gone

wrong this time?" We never found the body of the rocket.

Then there was the big finale.  1965, a junior in high school and singing in

 my first rock band, we were to perform at a large LaCrosse auditorium on Halloween.

So it was my brilliant idea to dress up like a bat, spring out from a pine box while

purple smoke oozed out of the "coffin", grab a mic, jump into the audience while

 singing "The Monster Mash".  So in preparation, and with permission from Mr. Thienes,

 the chemistry teacher, I began my experiments in the LAB. 

Kids do not try this at HOME! I put potassium nitrate into a test tube and added

several drops of water.  The oxidation process worked perfectly.  Purple smoke

streamed from the top of the tube.  I was in ecstasy.  My Thienes was teaching

class and could see me through the glass window separating the lab from the class

room. He saw the beautiful purple smoke and even gave me a wink.  Then it happened! 

The test tube started to glow and sputter.  It bubbled like alka-selzer.  All of a sudden

the test tube blew up at the bottom shooting a white fire ball out the top.  I watched

from behind my protective safety goggles and I'm thinking "Wow, this is SO COOL!"

Then as I looked up with a big grin on my face, I saw the frowned brow of Mr. Thienes

 running toward me and the lab.  He didn't say a word; he just pointed up toward the

 ceiling.  Then I understood.  To my horror, all the paper towels that were stored on

the wood cabinet in the lab were  flaming.  My test tube fire ball had delivered a

perfect strike to the only flammable substance in the lab.  The lab was filling up

 with smoke and fire.  I stood stunned while Mr. Thienes grabbed the fire extinguisher

and put out the flames.  When it was over, he looked at me and pointed his finger

toward the exit door shouting just one memorable word, "OUT!"  I had been permanently

banned from the chemistry lab.

End of story? No, not by a long shot.  I still had enough potassium nitrate in a baggie

 in my pocket to make more purple smoke for my Monster Mash performance.

I was determined to make it work this time and only add ONE drop of water, enough

 for smoke but not enough for a four alarm fire.  I chuckled to myself as I climbed into

my coffin on Halloween. I had my flashlight, my tube of potassium nitrate and a little

 dropper for the water.  The auditorium was packed with hundreds of gleeful teen-agers

 who had come for the Halloween dance.  The band kicked off the beat and my cue was

to jump out at the beginning of the chorus,I thought to myself, I better get this stuff

brewing now so by the time the chorus starts, I'll have lots of neat purple smoke. 

So I poured my drop of water into my test tube of potassium nitrate and waited. 

 After a few seconds, success! Beautiful purple smoke rising up and filling my coffin. 

 I waited, and waited and waited.  Hey, that's a long verse guys, when's the chorus

 going to start? Smoke had filled the coffin and my lungs and eyes. I began hacking

and coughing and sputtering.  I couldn’t breath.   Finally, I couldn't take it any longer.

I burst out of the coffin, not exactly on cue, my eyes watering and burning, my face

green with nausea, purple smoke oozing from my bat costume.  I was too sick to jump

into the audience and sing.  I grabbed the mic and tried to sing, but only grunts and

moans came out.  I was so miserable and THE AUDIENCE JUST THOUGHT IT WAS ALL

 PART OF THE ACT! and LOVED IT!

So much for my younger years and early days of invention and experimentations.

Now that I'm all grown up and a mature adult, certainly I can proceed with wisdom and

accuracy.  HA, HA, HA HA HA and HA HA some more and an extra HA HA just because

 I can.  Not so grown up me thinks.  I will always be the kid at heart, and I don't

apologize for it.  My concoctions however have matured with age and have become

more state of the art in this technological society.  I now have the modern technology

 of a coffee grinder so my experiments into the new and unknown have catapulted light

 years ahead of my early days of floundering in the darkness with the Purple Goowey Goblios. 

Which brings me to the present moment and reason for writing to all of you very patient

readers and beloved of the Soul Family, and that is, The Legacy of the Sacred Sage Mix.

All of my past successes and failures have brought me to where I am today. 

 I have discovered one important truth.  God is not something you think about

or perceive to know.  God is experienced.  That is how you know.  And one deliberate way

I have discovered in the knowing is through ceremony and rituals, precisely, in burning the

Sacred Sage.  As I burn the Sacred Sage, I dedicate it to God. It came from Him, it returns

to Him, just as I do.  I smell the sweet sage burning and with each inhalation, I thank God

for every breath of life, each heart beat, each moment.  As the smoke of the Sage curls upward,

I feel my spirit soaring toward the Heavens from where I came and shall return.  As the smoke

clears the energies around me, so I am clear in my body, mind and spirit to experience the

Almighty Presence.  I have done nothing to earn it, because I cannot, I have done nothing

to charm it, because I can not.  I have done nothing to invoke it, because I can not. 

 Perhaps in my act of simple ritual and acknowledgement I have pleased God, for I feel that

I now know Him even as I am known by Him.  I realize, "all of life is a relationship with God,

every moment, every heart beat, every breath".  And it is good.  And it is true. And it is real. 

From simple beginnings in our abode in Minnesota, Kelly and I would travel to Sacred Sites

to harvest small quantities of Sage.  We became friends with several Native American tribes,

especially the Lakota Sioux from South Dakota.  We attended several Sun Dances, fasted

and danced around the outer circle while the warriors and chiefs danced the inner circle. 

We harvested Sage for their three day ritual.  They burned the Sage mixed with Red Cedar.

 We all experienced the presence of Great Spirit together. 

From the quiet plains of the Bad Lands we gathered more Sage.  From the holy Native American

mount on Bear Butte, SD, we camped by the light of the full moon and gathered small amounts

of Sage. 

On the Yankton River, in Nebraska, we Sun Danced, did sweat lodges with the Chiefs and

warriors and gathered more Sage. From the Ojibwa in Wisconsin, we did pipe ceremony and

gathered Red Cedar. As we moved our home from Minneapolis to Sedona, Arizona, we stopped

at energy points along the way, gathering Sage from Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. 

We visited the Hopi in the high mesa north of highway 40 and gathered fragrant needle sage. 

From the Navajo, east of Flagstaff, we gathered high desert Sage and bought sweet grass

from their reservation.  From the Grand Canyon, we harvested high desert Sage.

From California, we gathered White Sage. From Sedona we gathered fragrant feather Sage

from the Vortex areas. And from the ancient boulders of Yarnell, we have gathered a

beautiful green feather Sage. 

The Sage is bundled and hung to dry so the leaves point down.  This process could take up

to a year.  Then I begin my famous concoction process of combining the Sage, Red Cedar

and Sweet grass.  The result is what you all are now addicted too, The Sacred Sage Mix.

But are you REALLY addicted to the smell or where it takes you?  For in truth, burning of the

Sage is like taking a deep breath in and knowing that it was meant for God.  

Yes, even the Sage has evolved over the years from it's simple beginnings to a little more

elaborate mixture today. I have reverently experimented with the Sage, sometimes adding

the resins of pure incense or an essential oil and have harvested the residue sap from pinion

trees or pines to discover an all new compilation smell.  The Sage is sacred and the sites we

have harvested are sacred.  We have always asked permission.  On the other hand, it is

ALL God's creation and therefore ALL Sacred.  Whether it be harvesting Sage or pine sap,

or a wildflower, it is all sacred. And so we approach the Sage this way; and we  approach

the Essential Oils this way.  The essence of plants, fruits and herbs all are gifts to us, their

essence, a sacred gift from God. Let us enjoy these gifts for their beauty, their taste and

their fragrance, and also, allow the ritual and ceremony in their harvesting, eating, tasting

and smelling to bring us into a deeper relationship with our Creator. 

During this past week I have combined the Sacred Sage Mix with Oils from my

Sedona Sacred Oil collection.  I have some wonderful results I would like to share with you.