Wapani

There are two broad categories of Wapani; physical items, and non-physical items. Physical items can include money, books, records, clothes, food items and like material. Non-physical Wapani can be just as important: you might "give away" your anger you have held against someone for a long time, or you might give away your intolerance of some particular group of people.

Following is a Wapani you can do on your own. Remember- exact dogma is not important in the Medicine Path. It is doing what your heart leads you to do, drawing on your own inner resources and your higher self that is important.

I. Choose the giveaway object

Spend some time thinking on what you wish to give away. Perhaps you may even wish to meditate on this a few times. You may also need to meditate on who to give the item(s) to.

If it is something physical that you choose to give away, then get the object or objects together. If you have chosen a non-physical giveaway, then write what you desire to use for Wapani on a piece of paper- preferably a clean, white sheet. Better still, some kind of fancy paper that you personally like would be appropriate.

By the way, what do we mean by meditate? Meditation can include sitting still, (controlling your breathing), listening to a meditation tape, or just being still and listening for that "inner voice" that speaks to us so often (and which we usually ignore).

II. Do the giveaway

Give the object away. If it is a physical object, you might want to donate it to a food bank or to a store that collects food for the poor (food); to Salvation Army (furniture, clothes); to a library (old books in good shape); to a Children's Hospital (toys), or to some other similar place that would have a special need for your giveaway object.

On the other hand, if you have chosen to give away a non-physical item, then take your piece of paper outside in a park if you possibly can, or somewhere around your own home where you can have some privacy. If neither is available, you can still do Wapani from your own apartment. You may wish to bury the paper ritually, thus burying your own hate, etc, so that it can be transformed by Mother Earth.

You may wish to burn the paper (carefully, of course), and let the wind carry your giveaway to its object. You can even buy a small tree for example, and wrap your giveaway around its base. Then plant the tree in your yard or a park.

III. Record the Results

If you were doing Wapani as part of a system of Medicine Path lessons, then you would want to record what you decided to give away, to whom, and what (if anything), special happened when you actually did the Wapani.

On the other hand, if you are not involved in a specific series of lessons, you would best simply forget about the Wapani. It has been done, turned over to the Great Spirit. To give something away and remember it often causes us, at least subconsciously, to set up a ledger, noting what we gave away and what, if anything, we received back, as if we expected to receive something.

That is not the purpose of Wapani. You do not do the giveaway to expect to get something back. This is a spiritual activity, not some kind of calculated action. Do the Wapani because is it what your heart and your inner self tell you to do. Do without expectation of return. Do all in a sacred manner.