I will no longer be stocking and selling Palo Santo…

Students of mine will know I have been stocking Palo Santo for years. Long before it became “on-trend”. I have deep respect for this powerful “Holy Wood” tree medicine however selling it has not been sitting well with me. I have always tried to source sustainably, proper Palo Santo however I have recently discovered that the Palo Santo Tree is now on the endangered list from over-harvesting. That breaks my heart.

You can see from this photo the difference between a sustainably sourced Palo Santo verses a piece of wood from a Tree that has just been cut down. The cut piece is lacking the colour, resin, depth and markings of what happens when the tree has aged and the wood has fallen on the jungle floor. You can also tell the difference in scent, proper aged Palo Santo smells incredible and you can literally see the oils coming out of the wood.

Palo Santo takes anywhere from 20 – 100 years to develop. For the tree to grow, for the branches/dead wood to fall and then lay on the forest floor (for a minimum of 5 – 8 years) due to it’s popularity there simply are not enough trees to meet global demand. Young trees are being cut down and the countries where the trees come from can not regulate what’s occurring. Global demand has turned it into a commodity.

For me stocking it is only adding to the problem so in all integrity and respect for the Plant I won’t be selling it any longer. Those that come to me for 1:1 sessions and ritual gatherings will have heard me speak of the importance of using the plants from our own local country and those our own ancestors used. There’s literally SO many other options out there!

The intention behind this post is not one of blame or judgement. It is of sharing awareness.

There are SO many incredible plants & resins out there we don’t need to over-use one. I personally won’t be buying more + will be honouring the remaining sticks I have only by working with them on special occasions, not daily the way I was.

It’s called Holy Wood for a reason, it’s Sacred x Sara