Another Medicine Pouch

Medicine Pouch

in honor of

Dhiivi, the Mink

and

Yölle, the Midwinter Sun

It was  back in late fall, when I started to work on this pouch. I had found the fur – in the form of a rather bedraggled looking Mink jacket – in our local charity shop. At the time I was reading a book about Siberian legends and the one about the Mink and Yölle, the Sun came to mind.
My Ada had known and told that one to me when I was little. But in his version of the legend it was not the Mink but the noble Zobel -Sable, that provided Yölle with his pelt, so she could go outside and put an end to a gruelling Winter storm…. 🙂
This gave me the idea, to create 2 pouches – one featuring the Sable and one the Mink…  The first one of them is this one.  While the Sable is a Spirit of Siberia only the Mink is an inhabitant of all circumpolar forests and here in Ontario he is known as Sha qua sho, the mediator between the Water and the Land Spirits.Further west and especially among the West Coast People Mink is known as somewhat of a trickster.

Materials used:
Mink fur – recycled
Bone carving of Yölle, the Sun (bleached bone from Moose)
hand crafted bone beads
split skin Deer hide bleached white

Feathers:
Sea Gull  – messenger of the Water Spirits
White Swan – Woman Power
                   -good fortune is always bestowed by the Swan Maidens of Siberia, the Daughters of
                  Umai,the Earth Goddess. The Swan Maidens live in the Pleiades….
Snow Goose – to find your way back home after a long Winter
Snowy Owl – Guide to the Kham = Shaman
Snow Pheasant – pride in your own heritage
Great Horned Owl – Wisdom of Night, dreams and visions – guide to the shaman who heals and knows
                              how to traverse into the land of the dead to call back a lost Soul
Hawk – East, discernment, overview