What is a medicine tool?
Let’s first be clear that the word medicine in shamanic cosmology refers to our personal power not a substance to restore health.
A medicine tool can be any object that is special and has significance to you. They act as a catalyst connecting you with the energies of all creation.
The most desirable objects we use for medicine tools are gathered from Nature. Feathers, stones, bones, sticks, shells, and such are all recognized as potent allies that a Medicine Person or Shaman can utilize. Everything is energy and carries its own energetic vibration. Each medicine tool will resonate with its own intended purpose depending on what it was created for and the elements contained within it. The Shaman can utilize this to synchronize their energy with that of a medicine tool. In this way a feather can assist a shaman to fly on a journey, a stone or crystal can give you access to the wisdom of the Earth, a wand or staff cut from a fallen branch of a tree will connect you will the properties of that tree.
Other medicine tools are those that are handmade for a specific purpose. The most recognized and universal are the drum and rattle used by Shaman from many traditions and cultures to aid in journeying and trance work.
When we set out to accomplish a quest or to assist others on their paths it is very helpful to have tools that guide and support us. Medicine tools can be used for energy balancing, dream work, healing, journeying and trance work, ceremonial circles, connecting with your animal totems. They can receive energy, direct and channel energy. They can simply be objects of beauty and creation.
Like all medicine objects they are power tools that help you connect with the work spirit intended you to do. When we work with medicine tools they become imbued with our prayers and intentions and become very sacred and powerful to us.
Medicine tools are all gifts from the Great Spirit.
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