Spirit Doll Workshop - the Wise WOman and Her Medicine Doll
This year I am creating dolls for all my loved ones for christmas. If you would like to learn this beautiful and healing art practice, I am holding a workshop in the green of Sherbrooke Forest on Saturday 19th October.
Medicine Doll Magic and the Child
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| Shaman Medicine doll created by a child at Chesapeake Middle School |
This year I have become enchanted by the spirit and medicine doll, this ancient craft and shamanic art is profound and I in the dolls I make for myself and for others I feel such a strong current of healing. It is beautiful to watch others create their own dolls and I am fascinated to observe the birthing of dolls in the workshops that are so much more than dolls - they are creatures so powerful and potent and mysterious. It is a beautiful way to reach the Dreamer birthing the Dream - the Wild Self, the Inner Healer. I have begun to receive guidance that in the future I will be sharing this healing art practice not only adults but with children too. That makes me excited and also extremely happy - how beautiful to witness someone so young birthing their ancestral medicine.
The Shaman medicine doll you see above was made by a child in a program created by artist and art therapist, Christine K Harris in Chesapeake in the U.S to help young students aged 10-13 to cope with acute emotional stress and deep trauma. When their creations were displayed at a nearby gallery, visitors could not believe that the dolls were made by children.
During the sessions, which took place at the school after hours, Harris discussed the concept of shaman dolls and what they symbolize, the concept of the "amulet" and the use of symbols, fabrics, colors and accessories. She brought in baubles, trinkets, fabrics, feathers and textiles which the students affixed to armatures (figurine "skeletons").
"These kids learned quite a bit in that short period of time," Harris said. "And learning is another path to recovery."
During the two days, Harris said she noticed that the nine participants encouraged and supported each other. One youngster "did and un-did" his creation over and over again, until his peers, and a school art teacher, praised the work, which signaled to the young artist that the project had come to a satisfactory completion.
"They enjoyed what they did. It seemed to give them satisfaction in making something on their own, and the process seemed to create a catharsis," she said.
After the two days, the youngsters created dolls they gave various names including "The Unknown," "Beatrice," "Horns," "Alone," "Grandma" and "Lost Love."
"I noticed that some of the students were very protective of their dolls," Harris said. "One didn't even want it to be displayed or photographed."
The results were beyond what was expected. Via
The Medicine Woman and her Doll workshops:
12th October, Grail Haven, Mt Tamborine QLD
19th October, Kumbada Studio, Kalorama VIC
Tawny Frogmouth Familiar
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| source |
Look at those faces! I am really loving creating new doll familiars with the medicine of Tawny Frogmouth. Since working with the essence of this beautiful Australian bird I have received so many gifts of friendship. I feel that their medicine is not only of camouflage and shapeshifting as you can see above they blend amazingly with the bark of trees, but also of symbiosis and integration - coming together and yet still holding your own authentic essence.
A dear sister sent me these feathers found on her travels in Queensland and this weekend I will get to meet her in person and hug her heart-to-heart at our medicine doll workshop on Mt Tamborine. It's been over a year since I have placed my feet on that magic mountain.
Here are a couple of the Tawny Frogmouth Familiars...I think there will be quite a few more sisters of this tribe making themselves known soon.
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| Making new friendships - Tawny Frogmouth and Acorn plant medicine doll |
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| Lilith Tawny Frogmouth and Plant Medicine Doll - Welcoming home all parts of ourselves |
Bird Medicine Dolls
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| Rainbow Lorikeet Medicine Doll She carries an Acorn in her belly like a rattle birthing and living in full colour |
In the last week since Equinox I have been working on a new series of medicine dolls carrying beautiful bird medicine. I recently received a gift of precious feathers found by a sister in her travels and it has been a fascinating week journeying with the medicine of each bird.
I will be holding 2 medicine doll creation circles in the next month:
Queensland - 12th October at Mt Tamborine - creating a doll to act as a 'bridge' for our ancestral medicine.
Victoria - 18th October in Sherbrooke Forest - creating the enchanted spirit doll.
You can see full details on our event page.
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| Owl Medicine Doll made at midnight on Full Moon Ancestral Wisdom Keeper |
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| Crow Medicine Doll the Forest Witch shapeshifting and moon magic |
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| Rosella Medicine Doll custom doll for creating flow to move through grief return of the Rainbow |
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| Guinea Fowl Medicine Doll Smudging Doll - She who holds sacred space for protection and feeling safe |
Violet's Link to Plant and WOmen's Mysteries - Spirit Doll Medicine
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| Violet - Emily's Spirit Doll |
Dear Julia,
Here is the story of my Violet Medicine Doll...
On the weekend of the Swan Blessing Spirit Doll workshop I had only recently discovered I was pregnant. I had been keeping this delicious, mysterious secret inside. Only my husband and I knew and we were surprised at how deep and dark the knowledge felt...how wrong it would be to talk about yet.
I had been sleeping and dreaming a lot and was just starting to get waves of nausea when I woke or during the day when my mind wandered the dreamworld. A lot of my dreams felt heavy and I was having flashes of past life traumas. I started taking walks in the morning by the river to let these feelings flow through me and away. I was drawn again and again to a patch of violets growing in the shade along my walk. Their delicate smell made me feel better, like the flowers understood the important work I was doing and gently supported the secrets within me. So I came to the workshop with these violets, knowing that the doll I made would be a Violet Medicine Doll, one who could travel the darkness of my dreams with me and remind me of the delicate beauty to be found there.
The journey the Swan Blessing took me on was surprising but perfectly synchronised with the energies I've described...
I gaze into the pool and see the face of my other self. She is tall, slim, queenly. She shifts from being black haired and young to silvery and old. Sunshine and moonlight. Masculine and feminine. She is a desert woman, Bedouin.
She works with the plants of the desert, the ones that bloom in oases in the moonlight, and survive in cracks and crevices and caves. Slow dripping, seeping water underground. Women’s mysteries.
She sings the song of the desert, she calls these plants into life. She tattoos the journeys and knowledge of her people onto her skin. She bathes in underground pools at night. She is strong, powerful, respected and loved.
She binds her wisdom when white men arrive to “study” their nomadic way of life. She puts a halt to the growth cycles. She will never share the songlines, the stories. The plants will die and wither away to dust, unnoticed in their secret places. She has forseen the destruction white man will bring so she will not pass her knowledge on to her daughters. She will not burden them with the secrets.
The binding is tight around my waist, my solar plexus. I cannot be true to myself. I cannot reveal the full extent of my wisdom, or pass it on to the baby in my womb. I am withholding, withering inside. I feel sick to my stomach.The sister of the well hands me a knife to cut the binds and I hear my other self begin to sing the desert heart song again. Her wisdom is free and it flows through her, through the desert sands and winds and the moonlight, through my open centre and into my baby. I feel the unfolding of my mysterious violet baby just as the desert plants unfurl and come to life in the secret dark places.Together we will find the balance again of sunshine and moonlight, masculine and feminine, learning and intuition, spirituality and grounding.
I place seven violets inside my doll for each chakra and a sprinkling of Uluru red earth at her heart and feet to ground us in this land, connect us to our songlines and dreaming tracks. She carries the sacred gum in her medicine pouch. This baby will know the songs of the desert and the ocean, the blinding sun and the darkness. All the polarities.
The doll dances and sways forward. She knows where she is going and where she is from. The strength and fragility of violets drifts from her like a sweet scent that you almost can’t catch except in your memory.
I am so in awe of the power of the spirit and medicine doll and the journey they take their creators on as they are made that I have begun collecting these journeys as part of our Swan Blessing book. Perhaps there will be so many that they will make a book on their own. I am also researching the history of this ancient ancestral practice of making a doll to help ourselves or someone else heal and it is a beautiful journey of it's own. Thank you Emily for sharing such a precious experience and time in your life, oceans of love to you and your growing tribe. If anyone would like to share their doll and the story of it's making you are welcome to send it to us.
Our next Spirit Doll workshop: Reclaiming Ancestral Medicine of the Spirit Doll will be held on Saturday 19th October.
New Spirit Dolls and Spring Equinox Balance Readings
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| Moon Medicine Doll - the Herb Gatherer: Aya, Passion Flower, Ethiopian Frankincense For gathering strength for the Journey $70 plus post $120 plus post with personal Equinox reading |
These new plant wisdom dolls were created in the weeks just before and after the Magdalene ceremony at Femmina Unbound. Wee wise women, guardian dolls for new journeys...
I will be offering Spring Equinox Balance readings with each doll if requested. I will also be offering a limited number of longer personal Spring Equinox readings in person or by phone from Monday 16th Sept. Bookings.
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| The Diviners, Sister-Readers - Egyptian Roses, Frankincense, Myrrh and Motherwort Sisterhood, support and friendship - made to stay together $100 plus post for both dolls $150 plus post with personal Equinox reading |
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| Lion's Tail Motherwort Dollfor Courage to be Seen
$60 plus post
$110 plus post with personal Equinox reading |
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| The Shapeshifter : Cat-Like Patchouli, Sweet Myrrh and Palo Santo Moving gracefully between worlds $70 plus post
$120 plus post with personal Equinox reading
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| Medicine Woman Motherwort Doll for clearing fear and holding space for the birth of the new $60 plus post
$110 plus post with personal Equinox reading
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| Treasure found under the Mountain Ash Tree nature's jewels for plant wisdom dolls |
Sioux Spirit Doll
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| Hand-made Sioux doll from Siouxland Museums via |
Swan Blessing in Sydney
Dear Sydney friends, we will be in your neck of the woods next week and we are so excited to meet the artists, musicians, healers and all round wise folk who have booked in already for their Swan Blessing sessions. If you would like to book a personal Swan Blessing ceremony we have just 3 more sessions available. Please let us know as soon as you can if you would like to take one of these last places.
Our only workshop in Sydney will be held at Desire Books on Imbolc, 1st August : Swan Blessing Spirit Doll Workshop - The Art of Enchantment. In this workshop we will be clearing past life vows and contracts binding the Artisan and creativity and creating our own Spirit Doll Dreamer. Please contact Katy at Desire if you would like to take part: desire@desirebooks.
Oceans of love and see you all soon!
Remembering our Wise Craft - Plant Medicine Doll Workshop
An enormous thank you to the beautiful sisters who joined Nicole Ahava and I in our Plant Medicine Doll workshop at Tree of Life in Melbourne on the weekend. Many amazing dolls were birthed in that afternoon, some looking so ancient and otherwordly. In our group Swan Blessing we focussed on releasing past life sacred vows and promises that have bound our memory of herb lore and plant medicine. I'm so glad to see your return Medicine Women, I look forward to seeing the magical garden that grows from the seeds planted on this day.
Our next Spirit Doll workshop will be in Sydney at Imbolc next week - there are still a couple of places open so let me know if you are feeling called to remember this Wise Craft again.
