Palo Santo Holy Wood Sticks

Sticks of palo santo, Bursera graveolens, the aromatic holy wood of the South American dry forest, cut only from branches and trunks that have already died and fallen on their own. The wood is left to age for several years afterward, a slow process that lets the resin inside concentrate and sweeten; freshly cut palo santo barely smells of anything, and it is age alone that gives it the honeyed, faintly citrus scent the wood is known for. Cutting a living palo santo tree is prohibited in Peru, both by law and by the older custom that shaped the law, since the tree's value was always understood to lie in what it became after death rather than what it offered while alive. Shamans and healers along the Andes and the Pacific coast have burned the wood for centuries to clear a space before ceremony, and folklore holds its smoke welcoming rather than banishing, unlike the sharper smoke of sage or copal. Light one end until it catches flame, let it burn for ten to fifteen seconds, then wave it out so only a glowing coal remains. Move the smoking stick slowly through a room or around the body; a little covers a surprising amount of space. Roughly thirty grams, about four sticks, naturally fallen and sustainably gathered. Sold as a curiosity — no medical or scientific claims are made.