09 March 2014

March Full Crow Moon and Crow Medicine Bag

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!



Native Americans say that the end of Winter is announced by the cawing of the crow, which would have been in March around the time of the full moon, which is also near the Spring Equinox.

A beautiful Native American tale about the crow says that long ago the crow was not black, but was rainbow-colored. This was long, long, long ago, before there was Winter or the Snow Spirit. Ancient days.

Then one day, the Snow Spirit appeared.

"The Creator Who Created Us", Kijilamuh Ka'ong, needed to asked to think the world warm again. The animals were so cold that they decided to select a messenger from amongst them to go speak to Kijilamuh Ka'ong.

Finally they decided on Rainbow Crow because he was so beautiful and had such a lovely singing voice. They knew he would get Kijilamuh Ka'ong's attention. Rainbow Crow flew up into the sky for three long days. When he sang and captured the attention of the Creator, he begged for the warmth to come back to the Earth. However, the Creator said that he could not make it warm again, that he could not just un-think the Coldness. He did decide to think of something warm for the animals to help them with the Cold. He thought of Fire. The Creator took a stick and held it to the Sun and caused it to light. He handed the flaming stick back to Rainbow Crow so that he could take it to all of the suffering animals. Creator urged Rainbow to hurry or there would be no stick left.

With the burning stick in his mouth Rainbow Crow flew downward as fast as he could. Alas, his rainbow feathers became black and charred by the flaming stick and he breathed in the black smoke as he flew. It made his beautiful voice hoarse.

Forever after carrying the stick to warm all of his companions, Crow stayed black with a hoarse cawing voice. He was honored by his friends, for he had brought them Tindeh, Fire, to keep them warm.

To this day if you look closely at Crow, you will see the colors of the rainbow shimmering in his black feathers. Beautiful Crow is still honored by his friends and hunters for he is never hunted as food. 

I thought it would be nice to make a Crow Medicine Bag for the Crow Full Moon. They are quite lovely and it is a good way to honor Crow. You will only need a few things for a basic medicine bag. If you want to decorate it, you can get extra things like buttons and beads and feathers.

To learn more about medicine bags go here: MEDICINE BAGS and here: MEDICINE BAGS 2


Traditionally, the Medicine bag is 12-14 inches long. To find one that long in my area, I would have to full-blown make one. I didn't have time to do that so I've decorated a small 2 inch one that I purchased. Here I have two different types that I found. I'm going to use the one on the right.

I found a corvid skull charm and some feathers and I attached those to the outside for decoration.


You want to make sure that you put the 3 Sisters in your bag. One corn, one squash, one bean


Smudge all of your items that you choose. Your items should be sacred to you. It will be things that you connect with. You can use your bag during meditation. Ideally you want something from animal, mineral, and the plant kingdom. 




There I have a rough saphire, a labradorite heart, hematite, arrowhead, the 3 sisters, and owl totem, kyanite, a feather, a key, a cat claw, and cat whiskers.

Rose petals from roses that my husband brought me, rosemary, and some job's tears that I grew this past year.


And there it is.


As you find things that speak to you, you can add them to your medicine bag. It will help you to find your center and bring you peace and health.


Brightest Blessings,
Saga



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