OUR COMPANY
Sacred Wood Essence is a small, privately-owned business with heart dedicated to providing sustainably gathered, fairly-traded Palo Santo products from Ecuador’s dry tropical forest. Our highly potent Palo Santo products deliver positivity and wellness for the journey within and without.
Located in Ashland, Oregon and founded in 2008, Sacred Wood Essence has worked with single-origin Palo Santo from the Manabi region of coastal Ecuador for over a decade, and we’ve planted thousands of trees to maintain the long-term integrity of the biome that gifts us this magical tree.
OUR FOUNDER
Sacred Wood Essence founder Erik Suarez has loved the ceremonial and sensory power of incense from an early age. The child of Cuban immigrants, Erik recalls his earliest encounters with frankincense and myrrh in church.
A lifelong seeker, Erik traveled west as a young man and landed in Santa Cruz, California. While working as a massage therapist and exploring healing modalities, a dear friend introduced him to Palo Santo, and he was instantly smitten.
As he traveled up and down the west coast, Erik loved to share palo santo sticks and smiles with the beautiful people he connected with at festivals. Lighting up a palo santo stick had the magical effect of lighting up so many people’s faces!
Entranced by the power of palo santo, he soon made the fateful decision to travel to Ecuador and learn everything he could about the source region. And so the seed of Sacred Wood Essence was germinated, and a sustainable company took root. Erik offers gratitude for the positive reception Palo Santo has received worldwide, and he envisions an abundant, harmonious future for all.
OUR PRINCIPLES
SUSTAINABILITY: From source to shelf, we strive to minimize our footprint and contribute to the regeneration of natural systems through reforestation, sustainable harvesting, and minimal/green packaging.
WELLNESS: Our products support and inspire healthy lifestyles and a return to a balanced state of being.
COMMUNITY: Through generosity and positivity, we seek to bring people together in Palo Santo’s spirit of openness and abundance.
EQUITY: We pay fair prices to producers, and we support efforts to build opportunities for human development in source regions.
Sustainability
Sacred Wood Essence Palo Santo is single-sourced from a forest preserve in Ecuador. The best part of this magical tree is that it is sustainably harvested.
Our partners in Ecuador have planted over 30,000 trees back into the area over the last 10 years.
When a Palo Santo tree falls over, its journey has only begun. As the rains recede a few months later, the green Palo Santo wood begins to cure through the long dry season.
Skilled foresters tag the downed tree, taking note of its age and location. Oftentimes, they plant a Palo Santo sapling beside its fallen elder. This ensures plenty for years to come.
One season is not enough. Before harvest, the tree must rest on the forest floor for at least four, and as many as ten years. Only then is the wood cut into manageable pieces and hauled by hand or on horseback to nearby villages.
Read about great example of palo santo conservation here.