The Medicine Bag



The Medicine Bag is a small bag that a Shaman would traditionally wear around his or her neck. It is traditionally made from deer skin (though nowadays people use cotton or felt instead if they have strong views about using animal skin). The Shaman keeps small "sacred" objects in the Medicine Bag for many different reasons - ritual, ceremony and omen walking to name a few.

The Medicine Bag is also a new book by don Jose Ruiz. Don Jose is the second son of don Miguel Ruiz' (The Four Agreements) three sons, he was raised to be a Shaman in the Toltec tradition and has remarkable wisdom for such a young man. Don Jose is a very flamboyant character (you can find him talking on YouTube) with his long hair and his love of art and music. I feel that he is a very loving person and he has a kind of feline femininity about him.

The book is an easy read and a veritable treasure trove of information for the novice shamanic person or the more experienced practitioner who wants to learn more about the Toltec tradition. Don Jose explains how to go about creating your Medicine Bag and how to set up a shamanic "altar". He also goes into good detail on how to perform various shamanic rituals and ceremonies and journeys in his tradition.

I enjoyed this little book as I have enjoyed all the work presented by the Ruiz family and I definitely feel a deep affinity to the Toltec tradition - maybe because my first encounter with shamanism was through Carlos Castaneda and his teacher don Juan Matus (a sorcerer from the Toltec tradition).

Recommended.   

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