MEDICINE BAGS

Personal medicine bags are powerful, sacred objects that have long been part of American Indians private accoutrements. A person can wear one openly around his neck or suspended from his waist. Some people conceal them.

An individual can make her own medicine bag, or relatives or friends may make it for her. Many American Indians create a medicine bag to help them accomplish a formidable task, or something they feel is a long shot, others keep special medicine bags in their house, car, or truck.

MEDICINE BAGS

Medicine bags are important throughout life, but especially during illness or other major changes. Because these are times of accentuated self-awareness, sensitivity, and sometimes quandary, making someone a medicine bag is a way to honor his identity and provide reassurance.

People may create entirely new medicine bags or add to existing ones. These cherished possessions are created from soft-tanned animal skins or from red cloth, calico, or muslin. Some are plain but they may also be ornately beaded, quilled, or painted with clan or dream symbolism, medicine plants, or totems. While he cuts and stitched it together, the bags maker prays for the health and happiness of the recipient. He carefully chooses the items that will go into it and directs a particular prayer or good thought into each one.

Some medicine bags are blessed and begun with a pinch of tobacco or pollen, sweetgrass, sage or red cedar. Less is better, it is not the amount but the energy that counts. You might choose to add special seeds, a small stone or crystal specific to a sacred place, or a pinch of earth from your home wrapped or tied in a tiny piece of red flannel.

Medicine bags are works in progress. You can add to or subtract from the unique personal items they contain throughout your life, depending upon events. Invested with prayers and healing energies, they often retain their power for a lifetime or beyond.