Here however are some pictures of the Medicine Rattles I do use in my work:
.... and a copy of a blog post about how I made one to take to Nepal to work with other shamans and in a Tibetan refugee camp.....
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A new Rattle for me!
October 3, 2013 by Mi-Shell
For our shamanic work in Nepal we have been asked to bring along a drum and or a rattle.
So a few months ago I was oohing and awing over my drums and rattles trying to decide, which one to take, or ifff it makes sense at all, to take one of my trusted instruments at all. All my drums are clad in Animal skin, Goat, Buffalo or Deer and so are subject to the ever changing humidity we would encounter in England and Nepal…….
But a rattle, a rattle would be fine and easy to take!
But which one????
Surely my Deer dew claw healing Rattle! -That one would be just the right Medicine Tool to take! But what ifff something happened to it? Luggage gets lost… And that Rattle would raise red flags at every airport security check, Animal parts are “problematic” to import into the US, from where we fly to England and even more problematic in England. I could not bear to loose it! ….
For sure I would have to take of its large Owl feathers and the other feathers it carries and – well, that is, where part of the Power of this Medicine Tool is embedded.
My Medicine Tools are living entities and it would feel, as ifff I was asked by someone, to take off my nice and appropriate cloths and wear nothing – or an unsuitable substitute…… My fundamental conviction that “Everything is alive, has a Spirit and thereby speaks”….. can sometime complicate things
Or my large Gourd Rattle which I use to drive out unhelpful energies would be a second choice. But, iffffff ever it falls onto hard ground, Gourds can crack. I had that happen and lost a beloved working rattle…..
Then just take one from my pile of countless drum circle rattles!
Yes, OK , what a good idea!
Maybe dress it up, just a little, make a travelling rattle, just for this trip and leave my trusted working buddies at home!
This here Gourd and this here stick, they “feel just right. This time boil the gourd, to cure and harden the shell…..Now how about some Wolf fur …..?
Yeah, well, when I get going, dressing something up a “little”, well, I get going and one thing leads to another…. and then Spirit takes over and all of a sudden i HAVE to get some of that Bear fur and the little bone Eagle and Spirit demands via a waking vision crashing into my consciousness, that this and that is supposed to go here and there and yes, I am supposed to put bells on it, (no whistles, luckily, but yes, feathers too…….
And then, 4 hours later fingers full of glue, fur in my hair, I loooooook at the crazzzzzy item in my hands – and

do not like it! Not at all!!! What the heck is THAAAAT?
Spirit however is not finished with instructions:” Put the Owl feather tip on it!!!”
” NOW!!!”
Ok, Ok, That is the tip of a previously broken large primary of a Grey Owl, that along with a complete wing I received as a gift from our Sachem of the Wolf Clan of our Longhouse.
I go upstairs and get out my Owl feather box, retrieve the requested feather and put it into position at the top of the rattle.
My hands start shaking. EVERYTHING shifts,My Soul breaks through a membranous barrier and tears well up in my eyes. .
My Rattle! This is my Rattle!
I loooove it, it is absolutely RIGHT!
Putting on this feather changed EVERYTHING!
It was the shift, when the power came into the medicine Piece!
Never had I experienced this transition so viscerally.
I sense, it catapulted this brand new Rattle waaaay past any allegiances I ever had with / to any other Rattle to the NO 1 Rattle in my ?? life??? work??? In my Soul!
I am flabbergasted flummoxed and deliriously happy!
The rest of the day I walk around the house in a daze, holding my new Rattle close to my heart.
But now what?
Taking it to Nepal?
I was led to create/ give tangible existence to it in preparation for this trip, so I will just pack it well and trust the Spirits, that guide me!
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Last 2 pics show the Rattle from 2 of its 4 sides....
Since that day, a few years ago, this Rattle has been my main working Rattle and goes with me everywhere - except into the US, where I have to have something without feathers to get it across the border in our motor home.