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SPIRIT
LODGE
LIBRARY
Tools
& Crafts
Page
3
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(Main
Links of the site are right at the bottom of the page)
The links for the 22 pages in this Tools & Crafts section
are below.
Constructing Medicine
Bags, Pouches & Bundles
By CinnamonMoon
The Medicine Pouch is a small pouch
that can be attached to a staff, a belt, or placed in a pocket
and some even hang them around their neck.
The items you might put in there
would be those serving a momentary need (you walk in the woods
and carry a "finding stone" with you while looking
for a certain item, herb, etc. that you may need). Perhaps you
would put the "carry stones" that you use to call
certain energies to yourself on a daily basis.
Some people carry 5 stones, one for
each of the elemental forces and a center stone as a "Pocket
Wheel" so they can go for a walk and take them out to meditate.
Each stone would carry the significance of an elemental force
and there are different stones associated with each element.
Another use might be a Pouch to hold
token offerings when you go out in Nature or to a Sacred Site
to work. Such offerings can be herbs, tobacco, crystals, stones,
something of meaning to you that would be considered a gift
to give. As a rule the Pouches are the size of your hand or
smaller and there are sometimes needs we have that they will
serve so while some Pouches can be multi-purpose, most practitioners
have several and each to its own need and service is usually
recommended. I have pouches for each of my decks of cards, for
stones, for token offerings, for a pocket wheel, all kinds of
things....and they are fun to make!
I always tuck White Sage in each
Pouch, Bag, or Bundle for keeping the energy clean too.
Medicine Bags are larger, about the
size of a purse and they contain the items you may need to travel
with or store. You might put your individual tools in them along
with some herbs, a smudge stick and bowl, they are meant to
transport and store things. You might, for instance, have one
to store a Sacred Pipe in. Another might hold a "Birthing
Blanket" , or a Rattle, or a hand Drum, Flute, Listening
Stick, etc.
Medicine Bundles are generally made
of red cloth (cotton or wool) and they contain your altar tools,
smudge bowl, herbs, fan, etc. for doing ritual or ceremony,
healing, whatever your pathwork may call for. They are generally
tied with a leather thong in a crisscross pattern and when needed
they open to provide a cloth altar (the bundle cloth) on which
these sacred items may be set up on the ground. In this way
they are always contained within their own Sacred Space.
Construction of the pouch or bag
tends to be of tanned leather but often can be found to be made
of fabric. They are decorated with symbols of your Totems or
Medicine, your Medicine Colors, perhaps feathers, colored beads
with patterns of significance to you. Just as one would paint
or decorate a drum, this item contains your Medicine items and
would be marked to represent that.
The pouches and bags are cut in a
U shape as a rule but I have one that is multi-shaped as well.
U at first and then an overlay pouch in a V shape with a sea
shell to act as a flap. I've seen some that hang like a sack
and others that are round so I do believe it's all personal
preference or symbolism there.
I have some that are square shaped too.
The one I mentioned that is a layered
Pouch is stitched with thread on the first section and beaded
on the second, and the shell atop that A beautiful piece and
it was a special gift that marked an important time in my life.
In the construction of these or
any other tools it is always done with natural products in mind.
You do not use synthetics. You can paint on them, bead them,
stitch on them. Rawhide is often used to tether the feathers
one might attach or other items such as teeth and claws. Beads
may be used to slide over the feather quills to keep them in
place on the rawhide thread.
Fur is often attached with leather
wrapping to hold it. If you are going to use glue, I've been
told to use hyde glue because it comes from an animal by-product
and is not going to break down over time. If you are going to
sew something it should be sewn with either cotton, wool, or
gut thread. Once the tool or item is fashioned and the construction
complete it is presented to the Seven Sacred Directions, passed
through each of the elemental forces (fire in the form of incense
smoke, sprinkled with water, sprinkled with earth, and held
into the Wind or breathed on. The intent here is to have it
be blessed and dedicated to its use. Most practitioners will
infuse their own essence into it through bodily fluid, generally
blood, and then breathe on it 7 times.
I hope that gives you an idea of
how they are constructed and perhaps stirs an interest to make
some for yourself!
Oh...these are great projects for
children to get into the craft portion of their own pathwork
too. They may want to make a Totem Pouch and gather stones or
items to represent their Totem Animals.
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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©
Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon (Founders.)
2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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