THE MEDICINE BAG

(please click)

By
Dorthea Horton Calverley

In 1991, high in the mountains hikers found a man frozen to death in the snow. It turned out the
man was prehistoric, frozen over 5000 years ago, sometime between 3350-3140 BC, nearly
intact and almost perfectly preserved. Because of his appearance and certain objects he
carried it was suggested the dead man had possibly been a Medicine Man or Shaman, dying of
exposure when caught out in the open during a mystical retreat. Several associated facts
presented themselves for such speculation. The body was tattooed; his weapons resembled
dummy weapons found in many tribal cultures; he carried a Medicine Bag or pouch with
various medicinal plants and ritual objects, a copper headed axe, and a net, an object that is
used to trap spirits in rituals and seen in various forms as a Dream Catcher and such. All of
this may not be unusual except for the fact the frozen man was five thousand years old and
had a Medicine Bag, tatoos, dummy weapons, and a dream-catcher-like net. Five thousands
years old and a Medicine Bag! (source)

Traditionly most Native American men had a "medicine bag", much as a white woman has a
purse. Like the purse, the medicine bag -- which might be three or four feet long -- contained
objects and substances which had a meaning for the owner. Mementos of events which
occurred during his vision quest as a young lad would certainly be there. As years went by
"souvenirs" were added. Suppose the young man found a swan’s feather (the swan being the
bird that symbolized Yogasete, the creator) it could acquire an air of magic and go into the bag.
Roots like calamus would be kept there. A braid of sweetgrass, where it grew, or in the north a
piece of a bracket fungus which gave off a sweetish smell when placed on red coals provided
incense when the man wanted to pray in a special way. A stone, a root, or other object with a
marked or fancied resemblance to an animal became a fetish--supposedly endowed with
magical powers.
The "bundle" of the Native American healer, the medicine man or woman, and Shamans of any
culture as well, generally held many more articles--as many as fifty. Often it was contained in
the skin of an animal, sometimes that of an unborn buffalo calf.

Their bag might contain almost anything! A typical bundle might contain an elaborate
headdress made from the skull or head-skin of a "sacred" animal or from fur or swan’s down.
There might be a headband and certainly a rattle made from the skulls or bones of any small
animal. A well-stocked bundle would also contain braids of scented grass, a long pipe, tobacco
and a tamper for loading the bowl. The pipe might be three feet long, the stem decorated with
the fur of small animals. There might be beads and bits of cloth or any stone with a hole in it, or
a stone shaped even remotely like a buffalo or a beaver and various herbal medicines wrapped
up in little bundles. There might even be a drum in a bundle. Anything to which the healer could
attach any magical meaning could go in. It was an elaborate collection of "charms" and an
essential part of his working equipment.

In many ways the sacred bundle was a nuisance to the spiritual healer and his family. It must
be hung on a tripod in the sun in fine weather and be carried in when a storm threatened.
Nobody might pass behind it and women not initiated, seldom if touched it. Every time it was
moved the right prayers must be said or it would lose its magic. Whenever it was opened a
special prayer must be said for every article in it.

If a man wished to rid himself of the responsibility of caring for it he must find somebody else
able and willing to pay a great price for it. Besides, the new owner must learn all of the prayers
and songs by heart, without a single mistake or all the magic was "washed out, like so much
blood from a wound." In other words, the healer chose his successor, choosing some young
man who had had a vision, and who was intelligent enough to master all of the ritual of chants,
incantations, songs, dances and motions that accompanied the article’s use. Nevertheless, it
was such a great honor to the man’s family that we might compare it to a modern boy’s
preparation to go into the priesthood.

SEE:
MIDEWIWIN: SECRET OJIBWA MEDICINE
SOCIETY

OANGA BAG
Graphic copyright © 1995-2002 LUCKY MOJO

As you can see by the reference regarding the Ice Man in the opening paragraph at the top of
the page, medicine bags reach back, and thus then by inference, prior to, the beginning of
man's recorded history. Many cultures and societies, both past and present, use and have
similar bag-like items for ritual and personal use. Some of their use replicates the use of the
Native American, some not. The African-American culture has a history of a bag called a "gris-
gris" which sounds very much like a French word that translates into "grey-grey"
(encompassing then both black and white magic). However, more likely it is an "Afro-French"
version of the Central African word, gree-gree (sometimes spelled gri-gri). The meaning of
gree-gree is "fetish" or "charm," thus a gris-gris or gree-gree bag is a charm bag. It is also
refered to in some circles as a mojo bag. Most typically the bags are made of flannel or silk in a
variety of single colors, each having a distinct power or meaning, red being the most notable.
The bags are sometimes constructed of "cat parts" as well. In the Caribbean, a bag of nearly
identical African derivative is called a Wanga Bag or Oanga Bag, from the African word wanga,
which also means "charm," but more closely translates as "spell." For those of you who may
have come across the experience of the Wanderling with the man of spells called an Obeah
high in the mountains of Jamaica, where he was cured of Dengue Fever through the
Obeahman's use of the shaman's circle as well as divination, then the term and use of an
Oanga Bag would not be totally unfamiliar. (source)

In the eighth book of the series by Carlos Castaneda titled Power of Silence (1988), Don
Juan Matus, the Yaqui Indian shaman-sorcerer Castaneda apprenticed under, speaking of
HIS teacher, Julian Osorio, makes Osorio out to be fairly healthy young man. However, some
years before when Osorio met his own teacher, Elias Ulloa, for the very first time, it wasn't
quite like that. Ulloa came across Osorio laying face down in a field bleeding to death through
his mouth, so much so that he thought he was not going to survive. Osorio told Ulloa he didn't
want to die, that he was too young. Using herbs Castaneda says Ulloa was carrying in a
Medicine Bag or pouch, Ulloa was able to stop the bleeding. He then told Osorio he would
never be able to repair the damage inflicted on his body, but he could --- no doubt, using the
Power of the Shaman with directly aimed impulses toward conditions [1] --- deviate his karma
infected approach toward the cliffs of death. Ulloa took him to the mountains, taught him the
ancient secrets, and with time Osorio became one of the most respected of shaman-sorceres
in his lineage. Although he was never cured of his tuberculosis he still lived to the age of 107.

NOTE:

A very common misunderstanding is the belief that the term 'Shaman' is somehow
indigenous to Native American culture, usually assumed to be North American. This
leads to confusing 'shamanism' with the various religious practices of the North
American Indian tribes. Some indigenous Americans do incorporate shamanism, but
many do not. Subsequently their healing methodologies are very different than those
utilized by a Shaman, thus then any need, use, or reason for the Medicine Bag could
and does vary. (source)

THE BEST OF
CARLOS CASTANEDA

<<< PREV ---- LIST ---- NEXT >>>

SEE ALSO:
 ZEN, THE BUDDHA, AND SHAMANISM

SHAMANIC TRANCE STATES

SHAMANISM

OBEAH

WE DO NOT HAVE SHAMANS

The Case Against "Shamans" In the
North American Indigenous Cultures

CLICK
HERE FOR
ENLIGHTENMENT

ON THE RAZOR'S
EDGE

E-MAIL
THE WANDERLING
(please click)

TECHNIQUES FOR EVALUATING AMERICAN INDIAN WEB SITES

MEDITATION
ALONG

METEOR CRATER
RIM

Information in this paper is intended for research purposes only.

Any other use may violate one or more copyrights
which rest with the original authors
 OANGA BAG RESEARCH WITH THANKS TO:
LUCKY MOJO

VISIT THE
DREAM
CATCHER

SITE

[1] POWER OF THE SHAMAN: CONDITIONS

The word conditions is an english word used in context from the Sutras for the Sanskrit word
Pratyaya which means (roughly): "the pre-existing conditions that allow primary causes to
function." Which basically means if the conditions are absent, then the causes are
prevented.

Conditions are the milieu, stage set, or playing field where acts or impulses unfold. They can
be increased by other conditions, decreased by other conditions, or replaced by other
conditions to accelerate or postpone results in the stream of events. Which means that
conditions can, but not necessarily DO modify. They arise primarily on a broader scale from
causes in the distant past. When conditions do manifest themselves they are for the most part
not defined, that is, they are undefined or spent, meaning they cannot create or impact
figuratively further downstream responses. However, even though they are spent, they are still
extremely powerful in how they impose themselves on the immediate circumstances in which
they are operating. To wit:

Any shift in any fashion in the conditions up or down or across the stream
relative to the cause will impact the resultant outcome of that cause.

On the scientifc side of things, no matter how complex any system may be or appear to be
AND, even though it may not be able to be determined or known, they rely upon an underlying
order. To that extent very simple or small systems and events can cause very complex
behaviors or events. This latter idea is known as Sensitive Dependence On Initial
Conditions, a circumstance discovered in the early 1960s by Edward Lorenz the scientist
usually credited with the discovery of the Butterfly Effect --- making reference to the fact that
small, almost imperceptible happenstances or events, over time, can have huge and
momentous consequences.

It is in those areas of conditions that the Shaman operates, where small yet powerful well
aimed Shaman directed impluses ever so slightly nudge the conditions which inturn modify the
outcome.(source)