Rocking gently. A tremble at first.  Steady.  Dropping in, a rhythm takes over. The sound of the stones striking rawhide. Rolling off the internal surface of the skin, the stones trill and growl.  A soothing voice calling me deeper.  Shaking the rattle I journey.  Seeking. 

I have been sewing rattles for several days, give-aways for a sister and friend.  Many people in our community are helping to fill her blanket offering, as she is honors her commitment to dance her prayers.  Sewing my own prayers into these rattles, I am hearing voices – in my head and my heart.  Making medicine is a powerful time.

All my sense perception are engaged in the crafting.  Consciousness and unconsciousness communes with the Mystery and the invisible.  My sense of touch a constant from beginning to end.  The sense of smell alighted with the various tree medicines.  And wet buffalo hide, patiently yielding into form, drying into shape, an evolving fragrance.  My eyes see what has become while I held the needle.  My heart is tantalized by stones, the three sisters – what will my ears hear?  What voices will be  coming through?   I can taste the healing, sweet elixir of buffalo on my finger tips.  Thinking of the good vibrations these rattle will send… more prayers from someone else’s heart – a spiral dance, the Circle widens.  We are one.

No two rattle are alike.

Questers will sew  their medicine rattles this weekend for their time on the hill.  Will the forecaster’s promise of sunshine hold true?  Can we sit by the lake sewing our prayers with the water and breeze, the bird song?  There will be many voices will accompany us, whether we are outside or in.

May 3, 2015 a rawhide rattle crafting workshop is open.   Perhaps a turtle shell rattle is calling you.  Let’s co-create a time together.

From the Iroquois creation legend of Sky Woman come the story of the Three Sisters – it was love that kept them together and it is love that creates their voice.   To the Iroquois People, corn, beans, and squash are the physical and spiritual sustainers of life.   ~  “A long time ago there were three sisters who lived together in a field. These sisters were quite different from one another in their size and way of dressing. The little sister was so young that she could only crawl at first, and she was dressed in green. The second sister wore a bright yellow dress, and she had a way of running off by herself when the sun shone and the soft wind blew in her face. The third was the eldest sister, standing always very straight and tall above the other sisters and trying to protect them. She wore a pale green shawl, and she had long, yellow hair that tossed about her head in the breeze.”

Let it be love that keeps us all together.  Love will light the way.

With gratitude.  Gather Light.

Mitakuye Oyasin  ~  All My Relations