Shamans Staff

Make your own

Throughout history, people of Spiritual leadership or Magical power, has had a Staff. The Pope still carries his Staff, and some Wiccan folks usually prefer a slender magic wand. A modern variation is the Scottish Knobby walking stick usually cut from wild briar or Rosewood or other native woods of Scotland. Carefully seasoned and polished, these Staffs carry in them the stern power of that mystic land. There are no hard and fast rules to the selection and care or your Spirit Staff. All you need to know is inside of you and around you in the open air, with living things and with the great undiscovered mysteries of Nature and its elements

1. To find your Spirit Staff you should go into Nature to 'your sacred place'

2. After having meditated, and before coming back to ordinary consciousness, when your feel you are ready - and that it is now, time to find your Staff

3. Wonder slowly until you find a living or recently living sapling or tree - about the size and shape of the Staff you have in mind

4. You will know it the instant you see it. Before cutting the staff, let the concept of what you are doing, why you're doing it and the rightness of the act, flow from your heart and mind

5. In your own way, before cutting it - ask the tree to be your Staff

6. An offering of some kind would be in order - if you don't feel comfortable for some reason - e.g that the tree's life may be wasted, then do not cut that one down, move on and keep on asking and you will be heard

7. When you find the right one, cut a whole, young sapling, but don't forget to ask permission

8. Scrape back the soil and cut it where the root widens, this will give you a heavier, thicker, naturally shaped knob at the top of your Spirit Staff

9. Cut it to approximately your own height

10. Once you've got your Staff - go back to 'your sacred place'

11. Sit and peel away the bark, while it is still green (easier to do then)

12. Now stick the smallest end of stick into the Earth - at the center of 'your sacred place' and leave it there for a few days

13. When it is dry enough, take it home with you

14. Sand and polish is to a fine smoothness. Most woods will be almost naturally smooth underneath the bark

15. When it is dry enough to absorb oil, round of the ends and oil your Staff

16. Ideally your Spirit Staff should last for a very long time, so use the best wood treatment you can get and treat your Staff as often as you can. Do all this with good intent

There is no right or wrong way and by recreating the natural anthropological steps, we reignite the inner fires of our own powers, which have ALWAYS been ours. These are the things that you do for yourself, listening to that inner voice, just do them the best way you can. The less your try to do it right, the more correct it will become

info source:

David Standing Deer - www.pdancinghands.blogspot.com