Spiritual Healing

Click here to read Making and Using Medicine Bundles and Bags.

Nature poets can't walk across the backyard
without tripping over an epiphany. -

Christian Wiman

When the bush warblers start singing in early spring their song is unsteady, off-rhythm and even missing a few notes at times. As the season draws to an end, their song steadily becomes stronger and more beautiful and melodic. I’ve heard it said that, as with cicadas and doves, this fine-tuning of their song is fostered by their community and when the song is right, it's a sign that they’re thriving in it.

Just like the songs of these birds and bugs, I feel the song of humans and all living creatures is the same.

When I lived in the once bucolic suburbs of Englishtown, New Jersey as a child, I sang often – on the swings under the willow in our backyard, as I rolled down the hills and as I played with the fireflies and ladybugs. Any activity had a song and I’d make up the words as I went along.

Then, my family moved to an area in the center of Tokyo where although greener than other urban areas, there were no more hills or backyard swing sets, and the sole purpose of trees and shrubs was to define borders. Tokyo was still a relatively new city, as it had been devastated many a time, by air raids, raging fires and earthquakes. There was nothing to preserve, nothing to hold as sacred.

Contact with nature became less frequent as I was forced inside to do schoolwork, and as TV became a more attractive mode of passively interacting with the world around me. Bedtime stories of jungles and prairies and lullabies of fairies and flowers were of a distant world, a world I had been severed from by life urbana.

I do not understand how anyone can live
without one small place of enchantment to turn to.
-

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Summertime in my grandparent’s lush garden and wild woods overflowing with flora in Ohio was my only connection back to that magical world. But years passed quickly and as I grew older, nature became like an enigmatic other – I had transformed into an urbanite au complete.

After school, the college I chose was less for the pursuit of studies than for the search of a place where I could again be surrounded by greenery, back in a place where it overwhelms. I was in love with New Orleans – it brought me back to the trees and back to the earth. But success in school and the professional world beyond became the leading priority, and again, I became severed from a life harmonic with nature.

Connection with gardens, even small ones, even potted plants, can
become windows to the inner life. The simple act of stopping and
looking at the beauty around us can be prayer.
-

Patricia R. Barrett, The Sacred Garden

Eventually, I returned to Tokyo to work and reached the place I wanted to be in my career, but at the same time, my body crashed. Looking back, it’s no wonder. I hadn’t sung for years and I was indoors for most of my days and nights. All around me, the concrete jungle was closing in – covering every last bit of earth without leaving even a hint of her richness. I sympathized with the dandelions that had burst through the cracks in the pavement, but it was a losing battle.

I had no choice but to move away from the city I loved because it had shaped my identity. I finally realized it was taking the life of me and the life of all I loved.

Fortune led me to a house with a garden alongside a preserved natural wooded area, where I am blessed by the community of many creatures of the earth and the coolness of the woods. And my soul is singing again.

May 21, 2007

Norie is a seed collector and experimental organic gardener in southwest Tokyo who dabbles in Japanese herbal medicine, organic rice farming, natural plant dyeing and the art of living slowly.

Tribal Bundles, called the Grandmothers, were the oldest and most sacred. Today these Grandmother bundles have been secreted away, many are protected by Grandmother Elders as well as by some Medicine Men.

Jamie Sams

For generations Native American Indians have used traditional medicine bundles and bags. Each bundle and bag was assembled and passed on according to the reason for its creation. Some were handed down from warrior to warrior, others from shaman to shaman. These medicine bundles and medicine bags became living histories of Native American people, their clans and their experiences across generations.

Adapting this Native American tradition to contemporary life can be a meaningful way to strengthen our own inner intuition and build strong bonds with extended family. A way of retaining memories for ourselves and lending positive influence to the lives of those we care about and want to connect with. And of course, a source of strength for our own personal healing.

Personal Medicine bundles can be carried or worn on the person. These Bundles are called on when needed for strength and/or courage during daily activities.

Jamie Sams

A personal medicine bag is for you alone and should not be shared as a whole with others. The idea is to place items in a small pouch or bag over time that have meaning to you: a shell you were attracted to on a sunset stroll on the beach; a seed pod from your favorite shade tree; a button from a prized dress. Items may be individually wrapped in cloth or leather to protect and preserve them. The bag does not need to be a traditional leather bag and should be kept in a place that is all your own. A small pouch can be worn or carried with a chosen item from your personal medicine bag. Over time you will develop a sense of when and why an item belongs in your personal medicine bag.

Medicine bundles can be personal for your own use, or made for a particular purpose and passed on. Again, the bundle does not to be made of leather and traditional materials. Any valued piece of cloth folded together and tied with a ribbon will do. Reusing the lining from a worn winter coat or sewing pieces of favorite material together for a bundle are good choices. The idea is to use what is already around you and not buy new items. I like to use river willow branches and fold cloth over the branches, tied with bits of ribbon or strips of leather, to give the bundle shape. Willows are plentiful where I live and I pass by them on every walk I take along the river banks. Use what you see and may be taking for granted in your everyday world. Use the time you spend making a bundle to reconnect with the natural world surrounding you.

Medicine bundles and bags are most appropriately given and utilized during times of change: a child leaving home for the first time; a soldier departing for war; a friend or sisters first pregnancy.

Many of us have lost the support of our own families and friends. Other's have lost possessions and their own sacred space escaping toxic homes and fleeing environmental catastrophes. We understand acutely how fragile life can be. Use the power of making medicine bundles and bags wisely and you will be able to strengthen your own personal healing and create new allies.

When you make a bundle for another person think of the purpose of the bundle and what message you want to give them with the bundle. For a soldier going to war items that evoke protection and strength would be chosen. To make a medicine bundle for healing, choose items that are medicinal, valued, and which hold deep spiritual meaning would be called for. If you are making a bundle to pass down to your child, or children, you want the items you give to have meaning to your family. Removing an item from your own personal medicine bag and placing it in the bundle would be appropriate for a medicine bundle for a son or daughter. Writing a poem, enclosing a personal letter, including an old family photograph or a container of seeds from your favorite perennials in your garden, are all good ways to give of yourself and share something tangible of who you are with your family.

Nature teaches us how to know ourselves in the purest way possible. Each aspect of our world has its own space in which to create. If that space is respected by others, growth continues in harmony.

Jamie Sams

Be sure to honor yourself by only making and giving a medicine bundle or bag to a person who appreciates and respects you. Someone who will honor and understand the unique spirit and nature of the gift. This is particularly important for those of us coping with our own injuries and illnesses. Many of us have lost the support of our own families and friends. Other's have lost possessions and their own sacred space escaping toxic homes and fleeing environmental catastrophes. We understand acutely how fragile life can be. Use the power of making medicine bundles and bags wisely and you will be able to strengthen your own personal healing and create new allies. To give some part of yourself is the most precious thing we have to offer. In today's consumer driven world these are the most prized possessions we have, our sacred space, memories and experiences. The very essence of who and what we are and hope to become may be contained in medicine bundles and bags.