Creating a Medicine Bundle
In just a few weeks, my son, Cedar and I will be traveling to Costa Rica! With this adventurous and grandiose opportunity, our experiences will fill our spirits and nourish life-long learning (especially for a six year old). However, as we know, traveling can be tiring and straining on the chi. Riding buses, different quality of food, living out of backpacks, different language, and different bacterias. All of which certainly enhance the experience, yet, we need to take measures to keep our chi feed, our intestines functioning with ease, and our nervous systems nourished. As I am preparing for this journey with my son, I have put diligent effort into creating a medicine bundle that will enhance and protect our bodies, spirits and minds during our experiences.
The most important aspect to know about a medicine bundle is that it is small and therefore easily accessible. The key is availability. It is important that your medicines are with you right when you need them as opposed to in your backpack under the bus. When you begin to feel ill, use the medicines to ward off the sickness. Very seldom do illnesses begin full force, so if you have the medicine immediatly it changes the whole situation. I have learned when using these medicines the key to being effective is the articulation of timing. These plants are in our lives every day. If you watch the deer, the bear, the dogs, they are all eating these plants, not just when they are sick. They eat them to increase vitality, they eat them for general health, and for balance. If we only reserve them for the time when we are sick, that is not allowing them to participate in our lives in the way that they can. It is helpful to use these medicines in a daily kind of way. Creating a medicine bundle facilitates our relationship with ourselves and creates more harmonious relationships with our plant relatives. Using a medicine bundle becomes effortless. It becomes a way of honoring the temple of your body.
I would like to share with you a few concepts I use when selecting the medicines that I carry. My choices are dependent upon where I am travelling and what season/climate it is. I chose plants that preserve well and aren’t messy. Roots, barks and some resins are generally good choices. Carrying a plentiful stock of each of these medicines is super important. The medicine bundle is always on my person and readily available where as I keep other medicines packed away in my bags.
These are the plants that will accompany me on my journey to Costa Rica!
Osha- who provides clarity, focus and protection
Elephant Tree (Torote)- for stabilizing chi, eliminating unwanted energies ( in other words immunostimulant) and as Doug says, ”keeping energy crisp and strong”
Chaparro Amargosa – for questionable water or food (anti parasitic and bacterial). As one of our students said, “Chaparro is the ambassador plant for travelling to other countries”
Valerian – for support of dealing with stress, offering a calm approach to different situations
Wound Powder- to prevent external infections that could occur in cuts/scrapes and for toothbrushing
Ginger- Motion sickness
Oregon Grape- stimulating a congested liver
I would love to hear your experiences with creating medicine pouches and their significance in your life!