The Drum, The Rattle, And The Feather
The drum is the first tool of the shamanic healer, but it is not the only one. Master drum maker David Craig describes a small family of sacred tools that traditional practitioners work with, each one made with care and each one alive with spirit. Like the drum, they are tools of prayer, and they are treated with the same respect.
The Rattle
If the drum connects us, the rattle calls in our helpers. It is made much like the drum, from rawhide shaped and dried, sometimes as a simple circle and sometimes in the form of an animal such as a turtle or a bison. Inside are small stones, and David shares a beautiful detail: certain stones, when shaken in the dark, strike one another and spark. That flash in the darkness is part of the calling, a signal to the spirit helpers that we are ready to work.
The Feather Fan
The feather fan, or wand, is used to clear a space and to carry our prayers upward on the smoke of burning sage. It can be as simple as a single feather or as full as an entire wing. David teaches that the spirit of the bird lives within each feather, so even the tiniest feather holds real power. One of his own most sacred fans, given to him by a Lakota elder, is just three feathers wrapped in red with a simple handle. A fan does not need to be elaborate or beaded to be holy.
When he makes a fan for someone, he chooses the feathers by where that person's power lives. A woman who works closely with raven and crow receives a fan of raven and crow. Another might carry eagle, owl, hawk, or the powerful, humble vulture. The handle often comes from a piece of weathered wood found along a riverbank or beach, aged wood that already has a life to it. Everything is personal, matched to the practitioner and the spirits they walk with.
Caring For Feathers
Feathers need tending, much like the drum. In life a bird oils its own feathers, so once they are in your care they can dry out. David suggests working in a little natural oil, a touch of olive oil, or even the natural oil from your own face, drawn along each feather. You can rinse feathers under water, and when one gets bent or wonky, gently run your fingers up the spine to straighten it and bring it back to life. A cared-for feather stays vital and strong.
Extraction Tools
In deeper healing work, practitioners also use extraction tools, a hollow bone, a claw, a talon, or the curved tip of an antler, to draw out intrusions that do not belong in a person. What is removed is never touched with the hands. It is returned to the earth or neutralized in salt water, given back to the mother who knows how to transform it. David is clear that this is advanced, powerful work, done only with real training, protection, and care, never something to play with. We share it here not as instruction but so you understand the reverence these tools carry.
One Family Of Prayer
Drum, rattle, feather, and the rest are, in the end, one family. Each is made from the bodies of our relations, each holds a spirit, and each is a tool of prayer in the hands of someone learning to serve. To work with them is to enter a relationship of respect, with the tool, with the animal it came from, and with the spirits who answer when we call. That relationship, more than any technique, is what makes the work sacred.
Learning to work with these tools begins with learning to journey. If you feel the call, you can start with Fundamentals of Shamanism.