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In January, I wrote a Sabbath Moment about Medicine Pouches. Here is an excerpt: When the Shawnee and Chippewa (and other early people) went on hunts or vision quests or long journeys, each traveler would carry in a small rawhide pouch various tokens of spiritual power–perhaps a feather, a bit of fur, a claw, a carved root, a pinch of tobacco, a pebble or a shell. These were not simply magical charms; they were reminders of the energies that sustain all of life. By gathering these talismans into a medicine pouch, the hunter, traveler, or visionary seeker was recollecting the sources of healing and bounty and beauty.(Adapted from Scott Russell Sanders, Hunting for Hope)
Two weeks ago, my friend gifted me with a Medicine Pouch.
It’s the real deal.
She’s part Apache (and another tribe I don’t recall) and knows about these things.
I do know that I am honored.
In it are talismans–small articles from things or places or people that keep me grounded and centered. . .and remind me:
We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time. God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything–in people and in things and in nature and in events. The only things is we don’t see it. I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.Thomas Merton
We need our medicine pouches more than ever. Because it is not easy to see God shining through; because we are bombarded, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Or as a friend put it, succinctly, we find ourselves “stretched” like never before.
Our knee-jerk is to ask, “So what do we do?” In other words, what is the solution?
Maybe one of the talisman’s in our medicine pouch is the permission to pause, and live into this moment.
Who knows what “gate of heaven” we may see?
A poor life this if, full of care, we have not time to stand and stare.
William Henry Davies
So I walked the garden this morning. We have spring early here in the Pacific Northwest. Our temperatures almost 10 degrees above normal. People mowing their lawn in February is not a Seattle tradition. We prefer to come out of our funk and get up off our couch sometime in April.
Our bulbs are up early, our chorale of frogs are now in the pond, their rehearsals a few weeks ahead of schedule. And the warm weather–and extra sunlight–has put some of the birds (like Juncos and Chickadees) on the fast track toward romance. Apparently, when the weather is warm and food is abundant, bird hormones rage. Who would have guessed? But, it makes perfect sense to me.
I do know this: away from my desk, which is piled with obligations and assignments (yes, they are late) and notes about calamities that need to be resolved, I give myself the permission to be in a “medicine pouch” mood. And buried in the debris of old perennials, I see spring Crocuses, doing their best imitation of a gate of heaven.
PS. To listen to a chapter from the new audio book, The Power of Pause, go to the website and click the link in the bottom right corner under “What’s New.”
3 Comments
>Great post. I am going to print out the Merton quote. Hadn't seen that one before. Maybe I can make myself a medicine pouch? I imagine what's in it will be unique to each of us as our experiences etc. have been different. It'll be an interesting experiment to identify and choose that which shall go into the pouch, a radical reduction of priorities in a way.
Thanks for this one.
>You can make a pouch. There are some great sites that talk about the "how to." I like this article by a shaman elder, about her pouch: http://www.ofspirit.com/maggiewahls2.htm
My friend wrote to remind me that the other tribe (in addition to Apache) is Yaqui. Her husband is part Chiricahua – like Geronimo.
She sent me these links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaqui
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo
In the pouch, you put very personal and unique "holy items," some items from nature, some reminder of loved ones, some token of a significant experience or event, etc.
I told my friend I want her to go into business with me and doing a class on Medicine Bag Making 101. We'll see. . .
>Hello,
Your post is a lovely reminder to carry the sacred and powerful with us always. Thank you.
NW Montana is not having it's usual winter either. I have not seen green things sprouting up, but someone did tell me yesterday that they saw wild turkeys mating a month earlier than usual.