CROW CALLS No. 3
Medicine Animals A spirit animal or Medicine Animal is the spiritual energy of the animal on earth. The spirit animal is greater than the actual animal because it embodies the essence of that animal spirit itself. For example with a spirit bear, it is the voice of all the bears that have ever lived. It is the Medicine Bear. It is the bear that can see itself and speak. A spirit animal appears to the Medicine Man as a vision. It is the voice of the wild, the voice of nature, the voice of the Earth. This animal informs the Medicine Man of the earth energy it holds. It gives the Medicine Man power and protection. It is a helper that assists the Medicine Man on the journey inward. No Medicine Man would attempt an inner journey without the help of a Medicine Animal. The Medicine Animal conveys to the Medicine Man and his people an energy they need to heal.Medicine Animals often appear to someone on a Vision Quest, and as a result the person adopts the Medicine Animal as his own guardian spirit and teacher. Sometimes the Medicine Animal will instruct the person to take up the Medicine path, and reveal to the person Medicine knowledge or even give the person Medicine power. Typically, one knows that a particular Medicine Animal is their guardian if they see it four times during their Vision Quest.
Each Native American tribe has a group of Medicine Animals that are most prevalent among its people. Usually, the Medicine Animals that appear are those animals that are living in the area inhabited by the tribe. These animals are often important in the life of the tribe, whether as a source of food and other materials or as guides to the changing seasons. Medicine Animals are always animals that live in the wild; tame or domesticated animals don't have the Medicine power of those living in the wild.
Underworld Journey to Find a Medicine Animal The Medicine Man uses power offered by both the animal and plant spirits of the Earth. Wild, untamed species of both are used for their greater power and variety of capabilities. One can possess up to two of the more powerful animal Guardian Spirits, but many of the less powerful plant Spirit Helpers.Before undertaking the Underworld journey to retrieve a Medicine Animal, you should acquire a power song. This is used to wake up your Guardian and other spirit helpers to aid in your work. To get a power song, spend a day alone in a wild place. Fast throughout the day, and wander around trying to see what animal you feel like, and make a song about it. You can also obtain a song while making the journey, and this is usually a description of the journey. The more you use your song in Medicine work, the more effective it will become.
You must be relaxed and able to clear your mind of ordinary reality preoccupations. Avoid all drugs during the preceding twenty-four hours, so that your centeredness and power of concentration will be good. Eat only lightly or not at all during the preceding four hours. Chose a dark and quiet place. Clear the area of furniture. Light a candle on the floor in one corner. Face each of the four quarters, counter-clockwise from the North, and whistle four times at each quarter to summon the spirits. Take off your shoes, loosen your clothing, and lie down comfortably on the floor, without a pillow. Take a few deep breaths. Relax your arms and legs. Lie there a few minutes and forthcoming mission. Then close your eyes, placing a forearm over them to keep out any light.
Now visualize an opening into the earth that you remember from some time in your life. It should feel comfortable to you, and be easy to visualize. Spend a couple of minutes seeing the hole without going into it. Note the details clearly. Visualize your familiar opening into the earth, enter it, and begin the journey. Go down through the opening and enter the Tunnel. At first the Tunnel may be dark and dim. It usually goes underground at a slight angle, but occasionally it descends steeply. The Tunnel sometimes appears ribbed, and often it bends. Occasionally one passes through the Tunnel so fast it is not even seen. In following the Tunnel you may run up against a natural wall of stone or some other obstacle. When this happens, just go around it or through some crack in it. If this fails, simply come back to try again. In any case, do not exert yourself too hard in making the journey. At the end of the Tunnel you will emerge out of doors into the realm of Earth spirits. Examine the landscape in detail, travel through it and remember its features.
On your journey, stay away from insects and spiders and any animals showing teeth. Search in the Underworld for a power animal. You will know it by it appearing to you four times. Do not strain; if the animal is going to make itself available it will appear. Clasp the power animal to your chest immediately with one hand. Whistle four times. Then return up the Tunnel with the power animal. The return should be very fast.
Clasp the power animal to your chest with both hands. Push the power animal into your chest forcefully, and breathe deeply to assimilate it. Get up and dance around the circle four times to complete the unity of the power with the body. Then face the four quarters, clockwise from the East, and whistle four times at each to dismiss the spirits.
To restore a Medicine Animal to yourself, it is not necessary that you be lacking in one at the time. A person can have up to two Guardians at one time. Accordingly, even if you have one at present, there is still room for another. A second one makes you even more power-full. In the unlikely event that you already have two, then a third power animal cannot enter your body even if one is brought back. It will simply drift away, perhaps to be available at a later time.
This is a journey to obtain or restore a Medicine Animal. Over your lifetime you may unknowingly or knowingly have the help of a series of different Medicine Animals. Medicine Animals normally come and go unexpectedly, especially after a few years. Accordingly, the regular practice of this exercise is an important way to be assured of possessing Medicine power. If you show power loss through illness or depression, this work should be immediately undertaken.
Plant Spirit Medicine While the spirits of Medicine Animals usually act as guardian spirits, the plants tend to serve as spirit helpers. Unlike guardian spirits, spirit helpers are only possessed by Medicine Men. Just as the powerful guardian spirit animals are usually wild, untamed species, similarly the vast majority of spirit helpers are wild, undomesticated species of plants. Most of the domesticated animals and plants do not have the spiritual power necessary to be useful in Medicine.The plant helpers individually do not have nearly as much power as the Medicine Animals, but a Medicine Man can come to possess hundreds of spirit helpers, so that their cumulative power can in many ways match that of his Medicine Animal. But the importance of the wild plants lies in the variety of their individual capabilities.
First, walk through an area of forest, prairie, desert, or any other undomesticated area. As you stroll through the wild area, keep conscious of your mission: to encounter a plant to be your helper. When one plant seems particularly to attract you, sit down with it and become familiar with its details. Talk to the plant. Apologize to it, and explain that you have to take all or part of it for your work. You may only need a branch unless it is too small, when you will need the whole plant. Take it to someone who can identify it for you, and tell you if it is poisonous or not. Once you know it is nonpoisonous, return to the area and find a living member of the same species, apologize to it, and without destroying it eat four small pieces, such as bits of its leaves. Then wrap two more pieces of it together, and put them in your Medicine bundle for later use.
The evening of that same day, make the spirit journey into the earth down your tunnel. If you have an assistant and need the help, have your assistant beat the drum for your journey. Pay your respects to the Mother Spirit of the plants there, and ask her blessing on your quest. Then search until you see two or more of the plant you are seeking. Study the plants until they change into a non-plant spirit form; this can be a person, animal, insect, stone or fantasy creature. Introduce yourself to this spirit and ask it to help you with healing and regeneration. If the plant agrees to help, ask how you may use it. Sometimes the answer is spoken; otherwise you may be led on an adventure you must interpret. When you are ready, eat a pair of the plant spirits in their non-material form. You must eat the whole entity of each. Then return from your journey. The body should be purified through a diet of only fish and vegetables without spices, regular fasting and isolation from others who don't practice Medicine in order to communicate with the spirit realm, acquire spirit helpers, power songs and spiritual powers.
The spirits of plants will help you to figure out their uses and powers. Pale yellow pink indicates a poisonous plant. Bright violet pink shows a medicinal plant. White pink (murky or brilliant white) means it is a power plant. Plants are vehicles that lead you to certain impersonal forces or powers (allies), and the states they produce are the meetings that a Medicine Man has to have with those powers in order to gain control over them. A Medicine Man draws strength from manipulating an ally, and must meet with the ally as many times as possible to become familiar with it.
To obtain a Spirit Helper, walk in the wilderness and find a specimen of a likely plant. Talk to it and ask it to help. Then eat four small pieces of its leaves. That evening make the spirit journey into the earth down your tunnel. Pay your respects to the Mother Spirit of the plants there, and ask her blessing on your quest. Then search until you see two or more of the plant you are seeking. Study the plants until they change into a non-plant spirit form; this can be a person, animal, insect, stone or fantasy creature. Introduce yourself to this spirit and ask it to help you with healing and regeneration. If the plant agrees to help, ask how you may use it. Sometimes the answer is spoken; otherwise you may be led on an adventure you must interpret. When you are ready, eat a pair of the plant spirits in their non-material form. You must eat the whole entity of each. Then return from your journey.
The Brew A Medicine Man drinks his brew regularly to feed his spirit helpers and keep them from leaving him. A wide variety of plants are used by Medicine Men to alter consciousness and enter trance. These are for the most part power plants that grow where the Medicine Man lives. Some of the more common used in America are peyote cactus or the psilocybin mushroom, green tobacco water, jimsonweed, and ayanhuasca. Occasionally other plants are added to the brew as well. The secrets of which plants are used, and how much, are usually received by a Medicine Man who has used other means to enter trance, such as drum and rattle or fasting. A Medicine Man does not even go for a walk without taking along the ingredients for preparing his brew.
Preparing the Brew Grind the herb as fine as possible. Place this in the bottle and cover it with an equal amount of strong alcohol from grapes or brandy. No more than half the bottle should be filled. Stopper tightly and put in a warm place. After nine days to two weeks, the liquid will be colored green. Pour the liquid off into a clean container. The remaining herbal substance is then burnt to black ashes. This will cause smoke and strong odor. Then incinerate the ashes until they become light gray. An occasional grinding of the ashes will further lighten them. Then place the remains in a pre-warmed bottle and cover with the leftover liquid. Stopper tightly and put in a warm place for two weeks. The elixir is then ready for use. It is of high potency and should be taken in minute quantities. A small amount of the herb and liquid should be diluted in water. To test, place a small amount of the herbal essence on a thin sheet of heated copper. If it melts like wax and gives off no smoke, and solidifies when cold again, it has been prepared correctly.
Power Plants 1. Coleus - hallucinogenic; 50 or 60 leaves are ground up and an aqueous infusion is prepared and drunk; alters the consciousness for a few hours
2. Psilocybin mushrooms - hallucinogenic; for the acquisition of power, which is called an ally. It is usually small and earth colored. If the stem is pinched, the appearance of a purplish color at the area of the bruise indicates the presence of psilocybin. The mushrooms are non-poisonous; they are passed through smoke and eaten or smoked in a night ceremony. They are also sometimes brewed in a stew including other hallucinogenics.
3. Mescal - hallucinogenic; a bush with lavender flowers, the beans are used to make a tea, but they are very potent and dangerous
4. Morning glory - hallucinogenic; the seeds are crushed to make a tea (never buy the seeds without washing them); little children may appear and show the location of lost things
5. Unruly Peyote (ariocarpus retusis) - hallucinogenic; more powerful than peyote, producing highly concrete hallucinations, especially of terrible beasts and beautiful women. It looks similar to peyote, but is distinguished by pointed protrusions rather than peyote's rounded protrusions
6. Organo - hallucinogenic; more powerful than peyote, and dangerous. The juice of the cactus should be diluted in at least three times its volume in water
7. San Pedro cactus (trichocereus pachanoi) - hallucinogenic; contains same amount of mescaline as peyote but grows faster
8. Peyote - hallucinogenic; for the acquisition of wisdom, or the knowledge of the right way to live. A low green plant with a rayed head, called mescalito because it grows next to the mescal plant like a little brother. It is used in night ceremonies, and it takes thirteen years to blossom. It has a bitter, metallic taste and causes vomiting and nausea. Plenty of water should be on hand to wash the taste out of the mouth and to quench the great thirst that comes later in the experience. The usual sacrament is four buttons; an overdose is almost impossible. Removing the white stringy filaments from beneath the button will reduce any nausea. Fasting completely for 24 hours usually prevents nausea, dizziness, etc. Both men and women observe ceremonial abstinence for four days in advance. The initial discomfort is followed by euphoria, which increases throughout the night and is accompanied by colorful visual hallucinations. Sleepiness disappears and visions may occur as dawn approaches. By daylight the people are tired and rest until the noontime feast. Eating peyote is first very bitter, then the mouth is numbed. After 30 to 60 minutes, one experiences exhilaration and hallucinations. For the next three to four hours, exhilaration is replaced by peaceful hallucinations. After eight to ten hours, most effects abate, then comes tiredness and sleep. It takes a person with great power and discipline to use mushrooms or jimsonweed, but peyote is for everyone. Peyote either takes people or throws them away. If he takes you, he may either play with you or be very serious and fill you with terror. Mescalito cannot be tamed and used as an ally can. There are no exact steps to knowing Mescalito, therefore no one can teach about him except Mescalito himself. This quality makes him a unique power; he is not the same for every man. On the other hand, acquiring an ally requires the most precise teaching and the following of steps or stages without deviation.
9.Tobacco - a narcotic; green tobacco juice is drunk to induce a light trance to contact spirit powers; smoking in ritual invokes guardian spirits
10. Datura (jimsonweed, devil's weed, thorn apple, green dragon) - a narcotic; datura is used for acquiring power, as with an ally. It is pollinated at night by the Sphinx moth. You shouldn't smoke while using datura, and drinking large amounts of water after induces vomiting and ends datura in the body. Usually there is no remembrance afterward. The root is the most powerful part of the plant. The active principles, such as atropine, are more soluble in water than in alcohol, and their action when taken internally affects the respiration but not the heart. A tincture is made by softening the powdered root with 1/6 alcohol and 5/6 water for one month. Small doses bring drowsiness, fullness of vessels in the head, spirit vision, nervousness, and dilation of the pupils. Larger doses bring paralysis of motion and sensation, deep sleep broken by paroxysms, excitement during recovery, and death through failure of respiration if the dose is too great. The active principle is absorbed very rapidly by mouth, numbing the mouth and leaving a dry, acid taste for days. The leaves produce the same effects as the root, though to a lesser extent. They are often laid up in brine to store their virtue.
Flying Ointments for Spirit Journeys These are of proven efficacy and may be prepared in a liquid (oily) or solid (cold cream) base. These preparations are advised for open-air work, and are for external use only. Normally, one anoints either side of the brow.1. Equal amounts of devil's claw, wolf's milk, travelers' joy, elder, wormwood, poison hemlock, deadly nightshade.
2. Equal amounts of poison hemlock, poplar leaves, wild celery, deadly nightshade, juice of wolf's-bane.
Herbs & Healing When gathering your herbs, the Barks should be peeled from young plants in autumn or early spring. Shave off the outer portion of the bark, cut thinly and dry. Roots should be dug after the leaves are dead in the Fall, at which time all the strength has gone down into the root; otherwise, early Spring. Seeds & Flowers should be gathered only after they are fully ripened and in full bloom. Then they should be dried quickly in the shade. Leaves should be collected while the plant is in flower. Dry quickly. Fruits & Berries should be picked when fully ripe. Dry quickly.Tobacco - For people that suffer paralysis of facial muscles after a stroke, wash the face with tobacco water. You can also wash the whole body with tobacco water, to help revitalize after a stroke. The rub Lavender oil on the body (externally) to stimulate paralyzed limbs. Rubbing the juice along the tracks of the affected nerves in facial neuralgia (Bell's Palsy) is most effective. For those who have taken a lot of drugs, soaking in a tobacco leaf (tea) bath or soaking the tailbone helps to rid the body of drug deposits.
Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva ursi) - The leaves strengthen the spleen, liver, pancreas and kidneys. It removes pus, blood and mucous discharges from the bladder. Excellent for excessive moon flow and ulcers on the neck of the womb. Bearberry is a diuretic and a neutral tonic that reduces infection and swelling. Do not be alarmed if your urine turns a bright green when using Bearberry for healing purposes; this just tells you the Bearberry is going through your system.
Gentian Root - This is a bitter tasting root. You can chew it dried or make a tonic. When making a tonic, mix with aromatic herbs to improve upon the taste. It will purify the blood and clean toxins from the liver and spleen. Gentian Root will improve the appetite and increase the action of the digestive and circulatory systems. It can even expel worms. Good for relief from dog bites and snake bites too.
Calamus (Sweetflag) - Use an index finger length of root (patient's index finger) and place in boiled water (not boiling water) and steep root for 20-30 minutes, covered. Drink while still warm. Good for sore throats, colds, toothache, and has helped some with diabetes. Adults can chew small pieces of root.
Burdock or Chaparell - Make a tea of the root to clean the blood stream and clear toxins from the body.
To stop smoking - A tea or tincture mix of Gentian Root, Catnip, Skullcap and Licorice will work quickly to dispel the urge to smoke. Together, these herbs will calm the nervous system, tone the pancreas and stomach and alkalize the body. A mix of Sting Nettle and Red Clover as a tea will strengthen and heal lung tissue. Both of these herbs are alkalizing. They help re-establish the normal PH of your body that has been destroyed by smoking. Two or three cups each day will really help you.
For those who believe that drugs were not a part of life in ancient times, I offer the following:
PARSCHE, F. and A. NERLICH, Presence of drugs in different tissues of an Egyptian mummy,
Fresenius Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Berlin 352 (1995), 380-384. (ill.).Data are presented on the biochemical findings in several internal organs from an Egyptian mummy with a C-14 dating of approximately 950 B.C. By use of radio immunoassay systems and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, significant amounts of various drugs were detected in internal organs (lung, liver, stomach, intestines) as well as in hair, bone, skin/muscle and tendon. These analyses revealed a significant deposition of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), nicotine (and its metabolite cotinine) and cocaine in the tissue from the mummy. The concentration profiles additionally provide evidence for the preferential ways of consumption: Thus, the highest levels of THC in lung specimens point to an inhalation of this drug - as it has been assumed from known ritual smoking ceremonies -, while nicotine and cocaine containing drugs showed their highest concentrations in the intestines and liver, so that they seem to have been consumed perorally.
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