Top 5 Tools of my Craft

Palo Santo

Palo Santo is the 'Holy Wood' of many South and Middle American indigenous people. The wood doesn't get harvested as traditionally only the parts of the tree that fell down were collected and used in ceremonies to not hurt the trees. This is one reason why some people discourage the usage of Palo Santo as a lot of wood sold is harvested as a part of deforesting but there are good bunch of certificated ethnical tradors who collect the wood in its traditional sense - it will only cost one more money to these people.

It became the most important tool for me in my spiritual work. Wether it is to cleanse myself, my tools, the room/place or to initiate a spiritual act as a whole - I use Palo Santo for all of that.

For me it has much stronger properties than sage, salt, camphor or mugwort when it comes to cleansing. I also like to initiate exorcisms with it although I take additional herbs as assistants in these cases.

Of course it might be my background that I am this bound to this special kind of wood but it proved its effects multiple times and I sure don't want to miss it at any point.

Shaman Drum

Drums are great tools with the vibrations they're causing to get rid of lower vibrations and also to alter the mind to get into a different state. Different sizes and materials of drums have different qualities of sound and influence the vibrations they're sending off as well. I used to have a self-made one of deer skin and medium size which had a good, neutral quality. A later one was very small, painted, octagon-shaped and very bright in sound but great for getting into trance states. My actual one is bigger, of painted goat skin and very deep and penetrating - great for cleansing but harder to drum for long durations.

I love to use drums especially for shaman travels but also for meditation, incantations and certain kinds of cleansings.

Unfortunately I didn't use them as frequent anymore as I used to - mostly because I need to keep silence at the common hours I do my rituals. This, and I hate to draw unwanted attention if I did some practice during the day and with the sound of my recent shaman drum I definitely attract some. :v

In particular I loved drumming in a group together at gatherings and festivals back then with my pack and my Curandeira. Drumming until falling in trance. It was especially nice once at Litha with a couple who ed us with singing bowls and a gong.

Candles

I use usually simple white candles for my craft. When making offerings to my Spirits, I keep them plain and when making petitions or offerings for a specific cause, I dress them with oil and powder.

I keep at least one candle lit when doing rituals but when using my altar, I always keep four active: one to represent myself in this plane, one to represent my main Spirit Guide on this plane and two more for our Higher Selves.

Candles serve for one as representatives of Spirits or people during a ritual, as a place to burn unwanted energies, cleanse oneself during the steps and to provide anchors between the worlds (and a source of warmth in the nights).

Incense

Although Palo Santo stays my most common smudging utensil, I love to use different kind of incenses here and there either after I cleansed the area already or if I don't plan on a bigger setup and only want to consecrate the area to easen myself to get into a meditative state. For the second I like to use incense sticks (especially Japanese ones and the Golaka of Nag Champa). For ritual incense I prefer mixtures of herbs and raisins to be burnt on coal or an incense burner.

One particular favourite of mine is fumitory with olibanum but usually I choose the ingrediences spontaneously according to the needs.

Divination tools

I cannot really say which one I use more often: The pendulum or the tarot cards.

I used to be a strong fan of pendulums because they are more easier to carry, accessable and universal for the kind of questions to ask for me but lately I've been using the tarot cards more.

Mostly because I tend to misplace my pendulum more often and I wanted to exercise my reading abilities. :v

Tarot is better for me to use when analizing situations or asking abstract questions. If a question can be asked with yes or no, the pendulum stays more in favour.

Still, both of them have their worth in my craft and I don't want to miss any of these.

Pictures by me.

#HCC5