Rattles

 

 

 

This is what I know:  

Rattles are soothing, can bring you into the present.  To First Nations, they are sacred, used for ceremonial purposes, for spiritual purposes, for purification and cleansing, and there are medicine rattles that carry a great deal of healing because of what stones are used inside.  They are very symbolic.  While they are made in a specific way for such purposes, we can make our own to be used, symbolically, in our own journey of healing.

To First Nations, each rattle made has a purpose.  Some are used to celebrate life and some are used for singing the dead on to their next life journey.  They can be used to call in ancestors to a ceremony.  They can be a dance rattle.  They can be used with the drums as an instrument. Some are used to connect us with the spirit world because of its sacred sound.  Depending on how they are made, and for what purpose, they can represent a connection to earth, fire, water, and air or animals and certain stones are used in the rattles that also represent and call energies.  They can be used in ceremonies, in community gatherings, for storytelling,  or personally for meditation. 

The rattles can be made of anything from nature including turtle shells, gourds, horns, wood, leather or rawhide.  The inside of the rattle, to make the rattling sounds, can be stones of certain kinds for certain purposes, cherry pits, rice, beans, corn, shells, stones, or seeds.  The handle can be made of certain wood, and are painted, with feathers, beadwork, fringe, any decoration that has meaning to the maker and the purpose. 

Many other cultures use rattles of some kind.  They are personal and personalized.  I have one I made that holds specific purposes of connecting to the spirit world/those of my beloveds passed on, and carries the feathers that are connected to my name and song, and I have used it for such purposes.  I have one that grounds me when I need grounding.  It shifts my moods and eases my worries.  You, too, can make your own rattle from everything from covered Styrofoam balls, to anything you can shape into a rattle shape.  I did one with one of my little students for the IPE entry she signed up for.  She will choose from the many things I have to add to it and paint it as she wishes.  You, too could make one for yourself to open your mind, to help you meditate, to cleanse yourself, for your own personal healing.  Keep it sacred.  Allow your intuition to help you decorate it.  You will know what colors, what things to use as the shakers, and how to decorate it.  Right now, I am using mine to comfort me and to connect me to my soulmate who has gone on ahead of me. 

©Carol Desjarlais 8.27.24