Equipping your Medicine Bag

First, what does "medicine" mean? To the white race the term implies doctors, drugs, hospitals, and the like. To the Native American, "medicine" was a reference to all that was mysterious, spiritual, supernatural, and the like in their lives. The medicine man (or woman) functioned on two levels: he/she aided the tribe's spiritual life, and she/he also aided the physical life; thus he/she performed both kinds of medicine.

Your medicine bag has many uses, of course. You can use it when going on a vision quest. You can carry it with you on a day-to-day basis to draw on its power. You can update the bag to mark any changes in your being and/or your interests. Following is a suggested listing of materials for your first medicine bag. You may want to change these as you go along, or even have more than one medicine bag, each geared to a particular purpose.

1. Get one or more representatives of the plant kingdom. The traditional "Three Sisters" of corn, bean, and squash seeds would be a good place to start. You can get these at any nursery that sells seeds. Some things can even be obtained at a feed store that sells bird food.

2. Get one or more representatives of the mineral kingdom. These are easily obtainable from New Age stores and through the mail. There is a listing of stones and their particular uses in Appendix C; for starters I would suggest a piece of obsidian for grounding, and a piece of amethyst for calming.

3. Get one or more representatives of the animal kingdom. Feathers are quite appropriate for this. You might find a piece of claw, fur, a skull, or some other like material. This involves keeping your eyes open. The animal kingdom will generally give to you what you need. Also add anything of special significance related to any animals you are closely tied to.

4. Get one or more representatives of the technology kingdom. In the world at present we are surrounded by Technology and its products. These have become an integral part of our lives, whether or not we care for their effects.

Let's look at a rough breakdown of the Technology Kingdom. We shall use a classification system similar to that used in science. Kingdom is the largest level, including the most organisms. Phylum is the next smallest level, then Class, Order, Family, Genus, and species. All are capitalized except the term "species". For example, humans are in the Animal Kingdom, Phylum Vertebrata (having a backbone), and Class Mammalia (having hair or fur). Our Genus name is "Homo", and our species name is "sapiens". For our purposes we will use the Kingdom and Phylum levels.

KINGDOM: TECHNOLOGY

Phylum : Architectural

Buildings of all purposes and uses; decorative displays. Note that these are often made of the minerals from the mineral kingdom, and may have similar effects and uses. Some of the material is made of totally new materials; although composed of members of the mineral kingdom, they may be in unique compositions and arrangements. The uses and effects of such materials are not known at this time, and bear future study.

Phylum : Communications

This includes all the means we use to communicate with each other, including phones, faxes, televisions, radios, record players, computers, CDs, and all associated instruments.

Phylum : Household

This includes all the devices we have now in our houses as products of the technological process. They include washers, driers, microwaves, stoves, air conditioning, central heating; all the various small appliances such as electronic screwdrivers on through blenders and mixers, and any other items and devices that we use supposedly to make our lives easier and work less of a chore to perform.

Phylum : Transportation

This includes all the means of transportation, including but not confined to cars, trains, planes, boats, and rocketships.

Other Phyla could also be added, such as one dealing with all the technological items used in medicine, and one dealing with all the technological items used in killing people.

How many of us could survive very long without the technological "wonders" of our world? If you lived in a city and the power went permanently out, where would you get your water? How would you keep your food cold? How would you wash your clothes? How would you keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter?

So, the Technology Kingdom is important to us, and you should have one or more representatives of it in your medicine bag.

Unless you are an incredibly powerful person (and huge!) you are not going to be putting big representatives in your medicine bag; no washers or stereos, for example. Then what can go in?

Computer chips, for one thing. Almost any computer repair store will have chips that are no good (to them) and that they will probably give to you. You can also get miniatures of many devices in a toy section. The miniature can represent the full-size version. You can also visit sewing "notions" stores and craft stores to find miniature representatives.

5. Once you have your medicine bag items gathered together, go ahead and smudge all them. Then place them in your bag.

6. Then sit with your bag for a while in a quiet room. Think about each being you put into the bag, and what it means to your life. Express thanks for the aid that you have been given by the members of that kingdom. See some of your energy going into the medicine bag, to be joined by a white beam of energy coming down from above. Let the energy of the bag flow into you, and establish a joint flow of energies. When the time feels right to you, end your meditation and keep the bag on you (in a purse, knapsack or briefcase, for example) for the next day or longer. Sleep with the bag under your pillow if at all possible.