A friend gave me a sage smudge stick for my birthday and I am not sure what to do with it! It is for purifying a house isn´t it, wafting into the corners, or is there more to it than that?

Also, when you light it does it flare up? I am nervous of setting fire to the house!  

actually they aren't the easiest things to light lol. Is yours whole leaves tied together? Do you know if its sage or cedar or sweetgrass or what it actually is becasue they all burn slightly differently

First thing though, a warning... the smell may not be what you want lol and may get people thinking you are smoking a 'herb' of some kind

What I would do is... find a shell or a saucer covered in foil, this will catch the embers and ashes. Wherever you are smudging needs the door open to let good air and positive energies in, and a window open to let stale air and negative energies leave.  Then wander round smudging or wafting the scented smoke all over into every corner, and round every window and door and mirror. When you get more adept you can waft the smoke with a feather and look truly professional

Some of them you can actually stub out and use again, others tend to keep goining out on their own so if you time it right they can be saved,

Cards, books, crystals and spells can all be smudged like this too

Thanks Gem. Very interesting, as usual. I think it is sage. It smells like it. It is whole leaves bound together.

Yep it's for purifying; and you don't have to keep it in a stick; just take off as much as you want to burn; no need to worry about the entire stick burning up at once. I'm not sure what Gem is talking about mentioning opening doors and windows. The smoke of sage removes any negative energy and keeps it all out temporarily. Thats why each corner of a home is smudged. You can also smudge yourself when feeling down. Gem mentions using a feather to look adept and professional; I don't agree with this as it's disrespectful to the tradition of sacred feathers as medicine; these are given for specific reasons, not for show.

What Gem is talking about is the Native American tradition of letting negative spirits/energies out of your Home. A chief in my area once said that if you attempt to rid your Home of a negative spirit without first opening the window, it has no place to go & has even been known to break the window panes while being basically "shoved" out by the smudge.

Also, Starryskies, though the sage can be used to purify a house, self & other objects, the basic idea behind these uses (according to Native tradition) is that when you light the sage & pray, the smoke carries your prayers upwards to the god/s. Therefore, if you are using the sage to purify something, then while burning it, you would focus your thoughts on purifying the house (shoving the negativity right out the window) & visualize the smoke carrying your intentions up to the Higher Power/s so that they can empower the act.

And yes, sage smells good, but sweetgrass smells so much, well... sweeter!