What is Palo Santo?

Using Palo Santo for energy cleansing has become popular in recent years, but with this comes consequences for ongoing Palo Santo production.

What is Palo Santo?

The Palo Santo tree is native to Peru and its wood, oil and resin have been used by indigenous people for centuries medicinally to treat pain and clear negative energy.

Palo Santo, meaning ‘holy wood’, is useful for relieving stress, as its calming aroma purifies the body and mind and today is often used as an energy cleanser.

Akin to smudging, Palo Santo wood is typically burned, releasing its fragrance into the surrounding air.

You can do this by placing your Palo Santo stick in a heatproof dish and lighting it, allowing it to burn for 30 seconds, then blowing out and allowing the fragrance to fill the room.

Sustainability is crucial

Palo Santo has garnered such attention for its benefits that the tree species has become endangered due to its harvest through unsustainable deforestation practices. For this reason, it is important to ensure you’re buying sustainable Palo Santo products.

Sustainable Palo Santo harvest requires the branches to naturally fall from the tree or the entire tree to die before harvesting, rather than prematurely cutting branches from the live tree.

Not only does purchasing sustainable Palo Santo products help to protect the continuation of the tree species, it also supports the livelihoods of the native people who make an income through sustainable Palo Santo production and trade.

In order to make sure your Palo Santo has been ethically and sustainably sourced, check whether the retailer sources their Palo Santo from South American suppliers that comply with sustainable Palo Santo regulations.

To save you the hassle, shop my range of ethical, sustainably sourced Palo Santo products to welcome healing and cleansing energy into your home here.