Shaman Tools

Shaman tools vary even among different indigenous groups.  Core Shamans of North America, Shamans of the High Andes and Nepalese shamans are all powerful in their own right; and they have their unique tools and ways.
Some of the commonly used Shamanic tools; plus a few others that are unique to one or more of the above three shaman cultures are listed as follows:

1) Feathers.

The feathers held in highest esteem by many cultures are the Eagle, closely followed by the Hawk and Condor. These Raptors are awesome predators, flying highest in the sky, some can soar and plummet at speeds and with an agility we can barely imagine. To be in possession of these feathers was, and still is regarded as a great honor. To work with bird energies is to love them, respect them, honor them.

You may be familiar with the term 'smudging, or smudge feathers', a practice that dates back centuries… The feathers used for smudging range from Turkey, Eagle, Hawk, Condor … the list is endless. Yet each feather has a different meaning, and each feather has within it the energies of the bird it comes from. 

Turkey is considered the eagle of the South of the Medicine wheel in some north American Shaman cultures.The most  commonly used feathers in smudging are Turkey; they are regarded as having cleansing and healing properties.

Shamans also use the entire wing of a bird such as turkey, eagle, condor, etc. for the purpose of smudging and cleansing.

2) Rattles

Rattles are one of the most ancient of musical instruments. The rattle, in its various forms, is used by shamans in many parts of the world to help the practitioner enter a shamanic state of consciousness and for calling in the spirits.

Native American Rattles ... made of Rawhide, Gourd, Turtle.  Of the many types of Indian rattles it is probably the turtle shell rattle as well as Native American gourd rattles that are the most well known.

Among the South American Shaman cultures of Peru, Andes, Amazon, etc., rattles are made from gourd, stick, feathers and contain corn.

Native American rattles are made with unique materials ...

Turtle shell rattle and may also include leather, rawhide, bead work and feathers as well as fur, leather fringe, seeds, rocks, antlers, horns, bones and shells.

The items placed inside the rattle also have special importance and are often chosen with great care.

Occasionally blue corn is used with or without quartz crystals.

The Native Indian rattle is also an instrument that is said to refer to the three kingdoms.

The animal kingdom … represented by the container or feather decoration,

the mineral kingdom … represented by rocks used for sound

The plant kingdom ... represented by the container or the wooden handle of the rattle.

3) Drums.

Drums are one of the most ancient of musical instruments. The drum, in its various forms, is used by shamans in many parts of the world to help the practitioner enter a shamanic state of consciousness and for calling in the spirits.

Typically, a shaman's drum is made of animal hide.  Deer, buffalo, Elk are common; goat hide is also used in drum making.

A shaman rides on the drum beat into a shamanic state of consciousness.

4) Quartz Crystals.
A shaman uses quartz crystals for healing, extraction, divination. Quartz crystals used in extraction are double pointed. Vogel cut double pointed quartz crystals are becoming more common for this purpose.

Some crystals have to be charged in by sun light and some by moon light. A shaman journeys to the mother crystal and asks for directions on how to charge it and what the crystal is meant to be used for.

5) Mirrors.  

Mirrors are held as sacred to the Moon, for as the moon reflects the sun's light, so too is a mirror an object of reflection. The symbolism of the mirror is simple and yet, complex.   

Mirrors also help us to see things we could not, without their aid; not only the physical, but also higher things such as memories of past lives, glimpses of the future and visions of things happening in other places at the same moment. They act as portals into other worlds.

The mirror is a useful and symbolic tool; a link with the moon, with one's subconscious and ultimately with nature itself.  Since it is a lunar tool, the mirror used is round; about three inches in diameter is quite common.

6) Staff.

It is a walking stick with feathers tied to its top end with a leather ribbon.

7) Bells.

Bells are one of the most ancient of musical instruments. A set of two bells is used by shamans of the high Andes for calling in the spirits and for singing to the mesa. One of the bells is higher pitched and is the female and the other is low pitched and is considered the male of the pair. A rattle serves the same purpose. An Andean shaman uses both a rattle and a pair of bells.

8) Mesa or Medicine Bag.

9) Spirit Water.

Florida water is used by Andean and South American Shamans to cleanse and also while creating sacred space.

10) Phurba.

Phurba is a dagger used by a Nepalese shaman. Andean shamans use a silver knife. These are used for cutting chords to people, places, etc. 

In certain other energy healing practices such as reiki, the healer uses an imaginary blade of their choice for cutting chords.

In Angelic healing, cutting chords is as easy as calling upon Archangel Michael to help cut the specific chords.

The North Medicine Wheel

Stepping into the Magic and Enchantment of Life

The North is a complete shift in the Medicine Wheel. Previously, you were skating along the edge of the wheel, doing the stripping and cleansing work of the South and West.  Remember, one must go through the South and West to even get to the North. Blessed, necessary work, and no shortcuts.

This deer family welcomes us to the North!  

To start the North, we took a journey where we walked out to the center of the medicine wheel and sat down.  From there, you looked back at the South, took stock, and closed that door. Then you looked to the West, took stock, and closed the door to the West.  You can always go back to those directions anytime, just be sure to do it consciously. If you find yourself working through an issue of a personal story, or working through some family karma piece, do it consciously!  Say to yourself, OK, this is a West (or South) piece, and work it in your mesa, then be complete with it and return to the center.

Then, in our journey, sitting in the center of the medicine wheel, we grounded and anchored ourselves.  Anchored to Pachamama.  Then we intentionally walked out to North direction and sat down.  We opened our eyes, stood up, and opened Sacred Space and for three days did the work of the North.

And the work of the North continues.  It will always continue. It is a living experience that you can choose to live into. Or not. The North wasn't just a three day event that has passed.  It is a set of timeless teachings that live in your conscious awareness.  How do they live with you?

Are you still anchored in the center of the medicine wheel? Have you gotten spun out to the edge at the South or West?  Did you forget about this? Are you sitting calmly at the center? It matters not. Just go there now in your mind's eye.

Go to the center and sit down. Feel the stillness and peace there.  Know that place is your true home. You already claimed it.  

This is a medicine gift of Hummingbird:  stillness in the midst of chaos. Freedom. Surrender.  Calm at the center of the storm. The calm from which we expand and recognize our souls' journey.  So that we can write in our blank book of life - to write that who we choose to be. So we can explore the unknowable.

Your three North stones hold the essential North teachings:

Invisibility means allowing your ego to dissolve which means revealing your essential self, and having nothing to hide.  Only then is your inside completely congruent with your outside. Not making ripples. Not projecting.  Don't worry if you have not mastered this in four weeks! I've been working at it six years and feel that I've barely scratched the surface.  One could live one's entire life devoted to mastering Invisibility, and it would be time well spent.

It is to be expected that many of you are feeling challenged. Allowing the ego to dissolve is challenging work. If you are feeling challenged, please allow us to offer a few reminders:

• You already know that you need to work at the mythic and energetic levels. That's the level of ceremony and the "thy will be done" level.  Prayer, meditation, chanting - if done with a pure heart can work miracles.
• You know to watch carefully how the mind wants to wrap itself around everything. The mind will make you crazy if you let it.  To pass that test you must ALLOW yourself to be with not knowing, not understanding.
• Throw yourself on the ground and ask Pachamama to help you heal.
• Practice non-attachment and non-suffering. South practices.
• Take long walks in Nature and daily practice the breathing and chakra clearing work.
• Don't "concretize" around what happens. Just allow it to be.

Keeping a Secret implies there is an inner remembering of our soul's origins amongst the stars, but we forget. Then we remember, then we forget. An so on. The phone rings, the bills are due, the dog must be walked. Life on Earth asserts itself into our consciousness and we forget.  How do we hold this duality?  By keeping it at the Sacred.  Each time we step into the Sacred, we remember. By opening Sacred Space. By doing our breathing practice. By engaging with life in ceremony - however that might express itself in your life. Fire Ceremony. Journal. Sand Painting. Open Mesa, hold Kuya, breathe.  Despacho.

Mastery of Time is actually easy. Never mind all the mathematical formulas P=M x V and V = D / T. That was just to help you see that this is real: you can step outside linear time just as easily as taking a deep breath and relaxing your mind. When you experience infinity, the grip of time (and death) relaxes and you can go sailing on the ocean of time. The shamans see time as a lazy river flowing to the sea, and they learn to navigate it. More importantly, they learn to follow the invisible current below the surface that takes one back upstream to the Source. You are one of those shamans, remembering your Self.

One of the biggest pieces that happened at the North came next.  Once you had learned these three teachings, and had blown them into your stones, you went out to your sand painting. You tracked and released your attachment to all the roles you play in life.  Remember? You weren't releasing the roles - you were releasing your attachment to them. Then you worked with your Keeping a Secret stone and tracked, and released, two or three high destinies. From the past . . . . . into the future. High destinies. And you released attachment to them.

Then the person standing there was truly free.

After dinner, you dropped your Mastery of Time stone into a personal fire, and made your vows to Spirit.

Then you came to the group fire and took your seat with the lineage... and that became sanctified as you received the Alto Mesayok Rite and received your lineage stone. 

Energetically, this was a HUGE INITIATION.

Now let's talk about how it is going with you since then. 

If you have held that space and lived into it - Bravo!  Normally, what happens in life, is that when we receive a high initiation such as this, what immediately comes up are issues and patterns that hold us from stepping into the clearing created by the initiation. 

Your experience may be different, but that is what happens for many people. Stuff comes up to test the initiation. What has shown up for you?

The trick is to realize that when that stuff comes up, it is actually a gift from Spirit that has been perfectly orchestrated so you can develop your new muscles.  
Your Invisibility muscles.  
Your Keeping a Secret muscles.  
Your Mastery of Time muscles. 
Your Vows to Spirit muscles. 
Your stillness in the midst of chaos muscles.

"You are not your thoughts!........ just wanted to reminds us all of this helpful little truth. The north asks us to step up into the infinite sun of our greatest becoming, its also a time when the ego will go wild as it realizes its grip is loosening on you. So as your ego throws one last tantrum on its way to its proper place in your life, remember this, you are not your thoughts. I truly Love and honor each and every one of you even as we throw tantrums".

Everything that is happening to you right now is a perfectly orchestrated opportunity to step up. To answer the call from Spirit - to step into your soul's calling. Whatever that might be!

What times we are in! The celestial influences are impelling us to leave our old identities behind, and catapult us into who we are as multi-dimensional beings. This reminds me of a writing I first heard many years ago, called "Hopi Elder Speaks" in which he says:  ". . .   This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. . . . "

Bibliography and Photography:

Tomas Bostrom and Pacha Tucson Alluyu members

Bringing Fertility into a Soul's Journey ...

Awake in the Garden with Ceremony

Thoughts on Ceremony Jeffrey Backstrom

'Ceremony' is a ‘hummingbird’ work, mythic work. The hummingbird represents the Soul’s journey. Finding the resources to complete your sacred quest, to fully become what you are meant to be, what you 'came here for.'   One's ceremony is about one's myth... where is one now on one's journey; where is one going??? Touch into your Soul's purpose here ... even as barely glimpsed today, however dimly; let that vision be fed, supported, nurtured. 

Whether your ceremony is a traditional despacho, a solo or community fire ceremony, or the ceremony you create for yourself, just where you are and just as you feel the need, allow yourself to shift into that perceptual state of ‘Munay’ (love), connectedness and feel what will bring balance.

The indigenous view of man, nature, and the divine is that they are not really separate. Just as every cell is part of the whole body, or each fern or moth is part of a forest, so each of us is part of the whole organism of Nature. Hence, though the despacho involves “offerings”, it is not a sort of transaction, like an indulgence. The ceremonial acts are undertaken to create balance (in Quechua: Ayni). They express our participation in the ongoing process of nature, while at the same time they signal the needs, the receptivity that we, as part of nature, experience.



We are all an organism within the creation, like the llama or the mountain  flower. The rest of creation will receive that which you produce. The animal takes oxygen and makes carbon dioxide and the plant takes it to make oxygen; thus the cycle continues.




When one brings one's personal concerns in this context, one does not impose one's limited will or wishes on creation; rather, one seeks to bring those wishes into the balance of the whole, to align ones desires with the rest of the creation process.  




The Quechua term for the heart center is ‘Munay’. This is often thought of as love; another word is connectedness. Munay may be seen as a perceptual state, a state of consciousness, a way of knowing. Feeling through the munay center those threads of connection, between oneself and the rest of the creation one partakes in.

Altomesayok, Don Francisco, always asks that one bring to mind one's intentions in these six concrete areas:    

Health


Work/manifestation


Home / home country


Family/relationship/community
Journey

Travel

Abundance




So what's with the offerings? Is this a transaction? What is ‘ayni’ specifically? ... give and receive … not just one's needs, but one's gifts to spirit as well. Well, clearly one is giving to Mother Earth what is already hers! Food, leaves, flowers, etc.; and, we are already one with the Creator. We live in the garden; we have been gifted this garden; we have never left this garden. We share in the beauty, balance and harmony of this garden.


Why coca leaves? The coca plant is revered as divine among the high mountain peoples. ‘Mama coca’, as is called, is the giver of remarkable life energy. Imagine living at 18,000 feet. Now imagine being a subsistence farmer at 18,000 feet. The alkaloids in the coca plant allow the body to extract much more of the oxygen from the air. As a result, much more energy is available for family, for culture, for spiritual life, at the end of a full day farming by hand or following herds. 

When making a despacho, allow whatever leaves you use to represent the energy that we receive from the sacred marriage of Earth and Sun. Bring to mind the wondrous life-processes which transmute minerals and light into our own bodies; the very bodies which support our experiences, actions, emotions, soul-incarnation.

And finally, be prepared for change! If you have called forth realignment with Nature... do not assume it's the other-than-me parts of nature that are going to do all the aligning!

Despacho Ceremonies ... A Brief Introduction 

Among the Quechua Indians of Peru, a despacho ceremony is the centerpiece of a complex spiritual and ritual heritage.

In Spanish, the word despacho literally means 'dispatch or shipment.'  In the Andean traditions of Peru, a despacho is a ceremonial offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Apus (Mountain Spirits). Hence, despachos are typically addressed to the larger forces of nature: Pachamama(Mother Earth), Apukuna (mountain spirits), Chaskakuna (the stars), Inti (the sun), and so on. You could perhaps think of it as a focused, formal way to 'dispatch' or 'ship' your prayers off to the powers that hold us. Despachos also help align personal energies with the cosmic ones.




The intention behind a despacho ceremony can range from something as noble as world peace, to something as down to earth as offering thanks for a bountiful harvest, to something as personal as relief from joint pain.  One could even include prayers for all three in one despacho!  Despachos can be done in and for groups, cities and countries and can also be done for individuals. A personal despacho is an opportunity to really focus on any areas of your life where you feel you need support or would like to ask for blessings.  It is quite a powerful way to set your intentions and let them go. On very special occasions, despachos are also performed when larger cultural or ecological events threaten the entire community. 

The Despacho Ceremony

The specialists who perform such ceremonies are known as Altomesayok, which translates roughly as ‘Alto = high Mountain, Mesa = altars, yok = power’. Over 200 different types of despachos have been recorded, depending on the results desired. Despachos can be performed by individual Altomisayok, or by teams of altomisayocs, often paired into male and female quadrilles. 




In addition, a despacho ceremony can also be performed as a form of Ayni or balance or harmony with the universe. The concept of Ayni is central to Andean shamanism and is based on a mutual dependency between humans, nature, and spiritual forces. Ayni brings balance into our lives and creates relationship between our physical and sacred worlds. Andean shamans believe that human health and well-being depend on balanced reciprocity between all elements of life. 


The despacho contains symbols of everything: the elements (earth, fire, water, air, spirit); the four cardinal directions (north, south, east and west); mountains, rainbows, stars and so on. When working with a despacho, the Altomesayok accesses the non-ordinary reality, the ultimate source of all things. Don Manuel Q’espi, an elder of the Q’ero tribe, spoke of despachos in this way...

"The despacho is a gift; a giving back of what we receive everyday in our lives. We seek, through the despacho ceremony, to bridge the ordinary and non-ordinary realms; to establish new patterns of relationships and possibility. The despacho places us in right relationship, right Ayni, with Pachamama and all of her manifestations." 

              
            

A blooming Despacho ... Jose Luis Herrera in closing ceremony ... photo by Celia Blackwood     

       

An Ayni Despacho in the making ... by Celia Blackwood

Below ... An amazing Dispacho for our healed state ... by Celia Blackwood.

Rose petals, rice, sugar and tobacco for the base; huge and full of power! The bundle was buried at the edge of the ocean at Laguna Beach.


Offerings for a Despacho Ceremony


For a despacho ceremony, the shaman gathers a variety of symbolic offerings such as wine, sugar, incense, gold and silver threads, red and white flower petals, grains, seeds, shells, candies and more.  Each item is placed on a large sheet of paper with great care and intention, arranged in a mandala-like shape.  Prayers are blown into small bundles of leaves called kintus and added to the offering as well.




Building up the despacho can take some time; especially as participants remember more people and things they want to pray for - family, career, spiritual growth, forgiveness.  But eventually the mandala is completed, the bundle is folded closed and tied up.  Then the shaman will run the whole bundle over your body, drawing out any heavy energy that may be lurking there. 

The end product of a despacho ceremony is a graphic mandala made of a wide assortment of natural and man-made products: seeds and vegetables, gems and minerals, incenses, animal products, and man-made symbols that may depict or symbolize the desired result. In all cases, however, the intent is symbolic and metaphysical, and the understanding is that a despacho allows the client or the community to request a blessing from the realm of spirit. 

When the offering is complete, the entire assemblage is folded, tied and wrapped in a sacred weaving. It is then offered to the forces of nature either by burning, burying, or by casting into water. 

Burning a despacho is the fastest way to achieve transformation and is relatively common.  The whole bundle is ceremonially burned, the participants turning their backs to the fire to allow the spirits to "eat" the offering in peace.  The incense takes the prayers up to the Mountain Spirits, any heavy energy is turned to ash for Pachamama to consume and compost, transforming into fertile ground for new endeavors. 

The energy of collective intention captured and contained in the despacho is thus released into the universe, where its message of reciprocity and gratitude can reach the most appropriate agent for manifestation. The result is renewed harmony and balance in ordinary life. 

Constructing a Despacho, step by step

To construct a despacho, you first have to collect the items that you plan to include in the offering. This will depend on the intention or purpose of the ritual. The list at the bottom contains many of the most common items, with their respective meanings.

To begin, lay a large sheet of white paper on the ground. Add items in patterns that represent the purpose of the ritual, as well as the Cosmos at large. 

Add items in sequences that reflect the organization of the Cosmos into the four cardinal directions ... south, west, north and east; and the three Shamanic worlds ... Lower world, Middle world and Upper world. Each layer is finished off with a generous offering of sugar to add lots of sweetness to the prayer and outcome. To finish, decorate with flowers, candy, glitter, cotton and other colorful items. The paper is then folded and tied with a natural twine; and additional kintu on the outside of the bundle represents forgotten prayers. The package is then carefully wrapped in a despacho cloth until it is finally offered to appropriate forces of nature ... earth, water or fire.

Stages in the construction of a Despacho ... photo: http://alexstark.com/how-to/despacho-ceremonies

Despacho Components

Below is a short list of the possible meanings to be used in despacho offerings by Alex Stark. You can add to this list or substitute other items that could also have a similar interpretation. 

Vegetable Products 

Although this is a generic list, many refinements can be made by proper selection of the specific harvest, location, and quality of the products listed below. In all cases, the item should be evaluated energetically through dowsing or divination in order to determine its qualities and meaning. 

COPAL: Offering to the Lower World, the Shadow

FRANKINCENSE: Offering to the Upper World, the Light

PALO SANTO: Holds Space for our Prayers

COCA: Sacred Wisdom of the Mother

TOBACCO: Offering to the Sky Father

SAGE: Purification, Banishment of the Negative

ANISE: Celebration, The Senses

BERRIES: Rewards, Fruits of Labor

CEDAR: Wisdom of the Forest

CORN: A Gift of the Earth, Our Daily Sustenance

CORNMEAL: Offering to the Earth Mother

COTTON: Dreams, Clouds, Mountain Snows

FIGS: Ancient Mountain Spirits

FLOWERS: The Beauty of Nature, the Power of Light, Reproduction & Fertility

GARLIC: Absorption of the Negative, Banishment

GRAINS: Sustenance, Abundance

LAVENDER: Purity, Purification

LAUREL: Sacredness, Victory over Adversity

LEAVES: Honoring Nature Spirits

LIMA BEANS:Sacred Places, Huaqas, Power Spots

LIQUOR: High Energy, Honoring the Spirit World, our Ancestors

PEANUTS: Caves, Places for Elemental Spirits

POLLEN: Offering to all Living Creatures

RAISINS: Offering to the Dead

RICE Offerings to the Spirit World

SWEETS: Fertility, Beginnings, Potential

SUGAR: Sweetness, Feeding the Spirits

VEGETABLE OIL: Our connection to the Nourishing Power of Nature

WAYRUROS: Seed of Protection

WINE, RED: Honoring the Mother, Menstrual Blood

WINE, WHITE: Honoring the Moon, Fluids of Purification, Urine 



Minerals 


Various minerals will resonate differently with different traditions, but some aspects are common to all. There are nuances, however, depending on place or origin, manner of extraction, the relative age of the mineral, in whose possession it might have been, and so on. Old jewelry is a valuable source of quality minerals that can be also understood as being returned to the Mother, especially in burial despachos. 

GOLD: Masculine, The Sun, Insight

SILVER: Feminine, The Moon, Intuition

AGATE: Acceptance, Emotional & Physical Balance, Raises Consciousness

AMBER: Protection, Memory, Calming

AMETHYST: Higher Knowledge, Insight, Grounded Psychic Growth, Courage, Self-esteem

AVENTURINE: Joy, Mental Clarity, Positive Attitudes

BLOODSTONE: Blood & Heart Healing, Vitality, Courage, Higher States of Consciousness

CALCITE: Astral Projection, Balances Yin/Yang qualities

CITRINE: Successful Relationships, Letting go of Addictions, Self Confidence

COPPER: The Earth’s Gift, Conductivity

DIAMOND: Removes Blockages, Balances the Mind, Sexuality & Power

FLUORITE: Practicality, Getting Things Done, Ability to Perceive Higher Levels of Reality

GARNET: Circulation, Stimulates Imagination, Self-esteem & Willpower, Calms Anger

HEMATITE: Protection, Aids Astral Projection, Increases Self-Esteem

HERKIMER: Cleanses Subtle Bodies, Past life Memory, Clairvoyance & Dream work

IRON: Strength, Persistence, Endurance, Direction

JADE: Good Luck & Prosperity, Strong Immune System, Divine Love, Protection

LOADSTONE: The Power to Attract & Bind Together

MOONSTONE: Open up to feminine qualities: Receptivity, Intuition, Sensitivity, Clairvoyance

OBSIDIAN: Removal of Obstacles & Negativity, Prophetic Vision

OPAL: Protection, Cosmic Consciousness, Intuition, Emotional Balance

PERIDOT: Clarity, Patience, Clairvoyance, Positive Emotional Outlooks

PYRITE: Material Realization, Good Fortune, Eases Anxiety

CLEAR QUARTZ: Purity of Perception, Purity of Intention

ROSE QUARTZ: Love & Romance, Purity of Feeling, Confidence, Expression, Creativity

SMOKEY QUARTZ: Purification, Elimination of Shadow Aspects, Fertility, Creativity, Joy

RUTILATE QUARTZ: Breaks old Patterns, Childhood Blockages, Ease Depression

RHODOCHROSITE: Cleansing of Subconscious, Self-Identity, Strengthens Androgyny

RUBY: Spiritual Balance, Heart Healing, Confidence, Flexibility, Vitality, Leadership

SALT: Protection, Boundaries

SAPPHIRE: Communication w. Spirit Guides, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Expression

TIGER EYE: Works on Mass Consciousness to Separates Desire from Need

TOURMALINE Dispels Fear, Negativity & Grief, Promotes Balance, Eases Compulsiveness

TURQUOISE: Fresh Starts, Offering to the Ancestors, Strength of Entire Body, Protection 



Animal Products 


Please note that specific animals or animal products will lend to the item the resonances proper to that animal, species, or individual. A quail egg, for example is very different from an eagle egg. A chicken’s first egg is also distinct from her later eggs, and so on. 

ANIMAL SHAPES: Honoring our Relatives in the Animal Kingdom

FAT: Purest form of energy

BLOOD: Life Force

BONE: Our Inner Core, Structure, Connection to Animal Relatives

CORAL: The Power of the Sea, The Subconscious

EGGS: The Unborn, Purity, Healing

FEATHERS: Connection to Birds and to Native American wisdom

FETUS: The Unborn, Pure Potential

FUR Boundaries, Our Relations in Nature

HUMAN HAIR: Honoring our Connection to the Animal World

INSECTS: Time, The Web of Life

MILK: Connection to the Mother, Honoring Trees

PEARLS: Infinite Wisdom & Purity

STARFISH: Foundations, Successful New Beginnings

SEAHORSE: Delicacy & Balance

SHELLS: Power of the Waters: Depth, Faith, Flexibility 



Man-made Symbols 

ALPHABET NOODLES: Language of the Soul, The Unwritten

ASHES: Offering to Our Personal Ancestors

BEARS: Personal Power

BUTTERFLIES: Happiness, Spontaneity

CANDLES: Celebrations & Rejoicing

CANDY: Compassion & Love

CIRCLES: Completion, Good Luck

CONFETTI: Happiness, Celebrations

COINS: Good Fortune, Wealth

IMAGES OF COUPLES:Marriage, Love, Reproduction

CROSSES: Decisions, Coming Together

DICE: Good Luck

FISH: Abundance, Prosperity

FLUTES: Voices of the Ancestors

FROGS: Keepers & Guardians of the Waters

GOLD LEAF: Wisdom, Direct Knowledge from Nature. Message from the Mother

SILVER LEAF: Intuition, Clairvoyance, Message from the Moon

GOLD THREAD: Connection to the Earth Mother

HANDS: Sensitivity, Mastery

HEARTS: Working from Love, from the Center

HOLY WATER: Blessings, Protection

KNOTS: The Web of Life, Interdependence

MEN: The Masculine Principle

MOON: The Feminine Principle, The Shadow, Nourishment

RAINBOWS: Meeting of Ordinary and Extraordinary

RABBITS: Fertility, Reproduction

SEQUINS: Happiness, Joy, Celebrations

SILVER THREAD: Connection to the Mountain Spirits

SKULLS: Power of the Past, Power of the Ancestors

STARS: Hope, Aspiration

SUN: The Masculine Principle, The Light, Creation

SUN & MOON: Balance of Opposites, Harmonization

BUDDHA: Enlightenment, Attainment

THE GODDESS: The Feminine Principle Made Flesh

THUNDERBOLT: Expression, Power of the Voice,

TURTLES: Healing Power
WOMEN: The Feminine Principle

Bibliography:

http://alexstark.com/how-to/despacho-ceremonies

http://www.steppingintofreedom.com/ho/despacho-ceremony/peruvian-despacho-ceremony