As tools of resistance, the gifts of the spirits work in concert: Independently, each is crucial to survival, but when they become form a coherent and collective way of life, each magnifies the power of the others. The whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.
We have begun exploring the gift of love — in the way of my people, one of the seven cardinal virtues. It is a gift that manifests in multiple ways, each important not merely to survival, but to our capacity for living life in a good way. It’s also one that feeds and sustains other virtues: notably, bravery, generosity, and respect.
Yesterday, we looked at prayer as a manifestation of love, both the fact and the act of it. It’s practice and process, symbol and substance. It’s a way of performing ceremony, of passing tradition to younger generations, of proffering thanks and seeking wisdom and healing.
In our way, there are objects of the sacred that we use in the practice of prayer, such as the feathers that were the subject of yesterday’s post.
Today, we look at what is perhaps less an object and more properly called a substance, but no less sacred for that: Tobacco.
The original tobacco, of course, was not “tobacco” as the dominant culture today conceives of it — no tar, no nicotine, no addictive substances. For many of our peoples, it wasn’t even one substance; it was often many different herbs, dried and ground and combined. In my way, four are often used together, although there is also one plant that many consider the baseline form of traditional tobacco, one that is used by itself, as well. One of the words for it, one from my own language that is now used intertribally, literally translates to “mixed” or “mixture,” and refers to the blending of dried herbs for smoking, ceremonially or otherwise. Tobacco is used in as ordinary a context as daily prayer, as an offering to the spirits; and even as an offering to an elder or other individual, when one seeks aid or some form of favor. Some people also keep a little tobacco in a medicine bag.
Today, it’s common for our peoples to use commercial tobacco for such purposes, too; it’s much easier to acquire, and for those who have no ready access to the traditional herbs, it’s often far less expensive. Depending on the purpose, we use both, but we prefer the old forms whenever possible. For us, it has healing properties, something that cannot be said of its commercial counterparts.
And it is the traditional form that today’s featured work represents. From its description in its section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Tobacco Coil Bracelet
The spirit of generosity compels us to offer a gift when we seek a favor; it shows respect. It’s customary, when seeking the blessing of the spirits or the assistance of our fellow man or woman, especially an elder, to offer a small gift in the form of tobacco. It shows respect and gratitude, and assures the recipient that his or her assistance is not taken for granted. in our cultures, indigenous tobacco is its own plant, or mix of plants, and Wings summons their spirits with this coil bracelet in the colors of the plants themselves. Dark green fluorite nuggets, as deep in hue as raw emeralds, trace the center of the spiral; to either side, crystalline nuggets of bright lime green peridot, the color of the new plant, stretch outward; and at either end, the strand terminates in tiny green turquoise chips. Each segment of gems is separated by a short length of brilliant amber that glows like the lit bowl of a ceremonial pipe. Beads are strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit nearly and size wrist. Jointly designed by Wings and Aji.
Memory wire; green fluorite; peridot; green turquoise; amber
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
In our way, tobacco is its own gift of the spirits: a means of communicating with them, a method of honoring those who give us aid. It is, in its own way, an expression of the reciprocity of love — of the love of Mother Earth for us, in the giving of it, and of our love in offering it to her, to our families and communities, and to the spirits.
Just as prayer is love reciprocal and reciprocated, so too is the offering tobacco allows us to give . . . and to receive.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
