There is a common image that people have in their minds of the wizard or witch of days of old, wondering through a misty forest, singing to the trees and carrying a long walking staff. Said wizard or witch is often in a hooded cloak and a long robe. Sometimes a wolf accompanies this magical person and sometimes a raven does as well. Sometimes it is both. The moon above is full and creates a silhouette of the forest trees. Many think that this magical person is using the staff to help them to navigate rough terrain. What they often do not realize is that this staff is a magical tool and a powerful one at that.
Medicine staffs have for centuries been used in magical practice and healing modalities. They can look like anything from a walking stick to a gigantic wand, and anything in between. But what is it about the Medicine Staff that is so appealing and effective as a magical and healing tool? Like the Witch’s Broom, a Medicine Staff is used to bridge the energies between the various realms of existence. But what it does once that bridge is created can be more powerful than what a broom is able to accomplish.
Medicine staffs are often adorned with things like bones, crystals, feathers, dream catchers, even mirrors. Whatever the crystal that adorns it is programmed to do will often determine the purpose of the Medicine Staff. For example, one of my Medicine Staffs is adorned with an Amethyst Thunder Crystal. What this means is that the crystal was imbued with the energy of the thunder bolt. I did this myself by burying the crystal in the sand on a beach just before a thunderstorm rolled in. I then surrounded it with iron rods that were sunk into the sand in a circle around it. When lightning struck one of the rods it changed some of the sand to glass, but it also super charged the crystal. This is not something that one does willy nilly. Most often, if you do not know what you are doing, you can either get struck my lightning yourself, or the crystal ends up heating up too much and shattering. So spacing of the rods is extremely important and making sure to do this way in advance of the thunderstorm rolling in is essential for surviving the process. And then you have to get the heck out of there before lightning strikes and come back after the storm has completely passed. This particular Medicine Staff is not just charged with the energy of lightning, but it is also programmed to connect the holder with the spirits and the wisdom of the Ancestors.
Another Medicine Staff that I have created has a Dream Catcher on the top of it. This one helps me to connect with the Dream Weave of the Universal Consciousness. It empowers my conscious connection with everything and everyone. And the Dream Catcher Medicine Staff can also be used for remote viewing as I gaze through the Dream Catcher at the top of the staff. It can also be used to “feel out” energies and discern what is happening and where. This comes in very handy when working on Energetic Healing techniques.
A third Medicine Staff that I have has a deer vertebra at the top that also has a skull rattle attached to it. This one helps me to communicate with Spirit, especially earth-bound spirits that need help into the Light. It also helps me to commune with the Spirit Ancestors as well as with Spirit Animals and Spirit Guides and so on. Animal Spirits have been around me since as long as I can remember. Where some gifted children have “imaginary friends” who are, most likely, actually ghosts, Spirit Guides, Ancestral Spirits and so on, mine were animals. When I was a kid my mother’s car keys would often go missing, even though she would always hang them on the keychain holder in the hallway just outside of the kitchen. When she would look for them, I would turn to the Raccoon Spirit Animal that hung around with me and ask it, “Okay, Ringwald, where did you put my mother’s keys this time?” It would chatter as it led me to the location, which was often some obscure place in the house like behind the piano, or under the clothes washing machine or, one time, in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. For awhile my mother would think that it was me who was stealing her keys and hiding them. But when I explained that it was Ringwald and that he just could not help himself because they were shiny, she understood. Then she asked me, “Could you ask Ringwald about my Sarah Coventry pin? I have been missing that for weeks now.” So I did. It was in the wall (which was open) at the foot of the bathtub, tucked underneath the bathtub. We would never have thought to look there. And had we, we likely would not have been able to easily retrieve it. Ringwald had to go in and get it. My mother, who did not see Animal Spirits (her specialty was more earth-bound human spirits) was quite impressed that we had a resident Raccoon. But try as I might, I could not get him to leave shiny things alone. Eventually he moved on and my menagerie of Animal Spirit friends shifted and changed over time. But I do often think of Ringwald and how playful he was. But the downside of that was that he was also nocturnal, so sometimes sleep was at a bare minimum.
If you already have a Medicine Staff, or if you make one for yourself, I would recommend doing meditation with it to help you to connect and bond with its energy. Standing or sitting while holding it (preferably upright so that the connection with the earth and sky energy can flow easily through it) and breathe your energy into it and the energy of the Medicine Staff from the staff into you. Do this a number of times before then switching to breathing the flow of earth and sky energy through it and then to and through yourself. Once these are established, you will be able to then focus on the actual intent for the Medicine Staff (ie connecting with spirits, spirit animals, ancestral spirits and so on) and experience some of the most profound exchanges of energy that you could ever imagine.