Our Connection With Power Objects

When we have a shamanic practice, we are going to have power objects. This is because we recognize and respect the Spirit in all things, and we create relationships with those spirits. Spirit in something can be as unique as each one of us is, and also part of the collective, as we all are. The life-force energy of something can vary across the spectrum, just like it can vary from person to person across their health and life span.

The tools we use in our practice become imbued with the power of our intentions, but they also have an innate original power within them that we acknowledge and then build relationship with as we work with them.

A shaman’s drum carries the original spirits of the hide of the animal that was used to make the head and lacing, and the wood from the tree that was used to make the frame. The drum may also carry the spirit of the maker or any helping spirits the maker invoked or worked with in the creation of the drum.  As all these elements and spirits came together with the maker to create this drum, they then became part of an over-lighting spirit of the whole drum itself.  We can engage with this spirit and ask it to become our ally.

We usually do this by going on a shamanic journey and asking to meet the spirit of the drum.  We might ask what it would like to be called, and how it would like to work with us. Maybe it shows us or connects us with the spirits of any elements or animals or plants that are part of it and tells us how those relate to the over-lighting spirit. 

Then we must ask how we can best honor its spirit and be in the best relationship with them. This is unique to the relationship between us and them, but it can also be very simple. Some of the requests made to me by the spirits of drums and other objects over the years have been quite varied. I have had requests to sing to them before starting work with them, to anoint them with oil, to smudge with palo santo, put them in the sunlight, put them in the moonlight, lay them on the earth, just to name a few.  Sometimes it can be a little more specific, like being told by the spirit of one of my rattles that this is not an everyday working item, but is instead to be used in certain ceremonies. 

It is important to ask, and then to follow through with what has been requested. If the request is something we cannot do, like dance with it in the ocean spray each day and we live a two hour drive from the coast, then we can ask for a compromise.  For example, we can say that we will be able to do this once a month, but we can also bring some ocean water home from the coast and sprinkle it on them each day. I have found that Spirit is quite happy to work with us in these compromises.

When we consistently engage with and work with the spirits of these items, then these items fill with the power of that spirit and become power-full. We can also engage with those spirits if we need to when we are not even in the same location with them.  They are energy, and when we have that relationship with them as an ally, they usually can be there for us as such anytime and anywhere.  

I used the drum as an example here, but power objects and elements are any item that we may hold sacred. They don’t have to be a tool, they can be clothing, jewelry, art, heirlooms, or anything that we feel the Spirit of and consciously connect to in relationship, and in our spiritual practice.

We humans love to have sacred or power objects as part of our spirituality. For thousands of years there have been temples and shrines that have housed them, and objects so sacred they accompanied their owners to the after-life in their burials. Not limited to shamanism, many spiritual traditions have power-full objects. Christians have crosses, rosaries and blessed Holy water, Buddhists have prayer beads or bells, just to name a few examples. We all may regard and use power objects differently, but in their essence, they are a tangible and important part of our human-Spirit connection.

Connecting with the Spirit of the drum before a workshop