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A Native American medicine bag or medicine bundle is a container for items believed to protect or give spiritual powers to its owner. Varying in size, it could be small enough to wear around the neck, or it could be a large bag with a long strap called a “bandolier.” The size of the bag is determined by how many items need to be carried, just like you choose the size of your purse or tote.
Medicine men and women or shamans generally carry a large medicine bundle to hold natural items such as seeds, herbs, pine cones, grass, animal teeth or claws, horsehair, rocks, tobacco, beads, arrowheads, bones, or anything else of relatively small size that possessed spiritual value to the healer. Warriors also carry bundles that include items important to them for their prebattle rituals, such as rattles, animal furs, special stones, or anything that means something to the owner. Today, sports professionals do the same thing. They may have a pair of socks that haven’t been washed since they won a game or any sort of item they consider to be a “lucky charm.” What the mind believes is lucky, simply is. What we choose to carry that lucky thing in, also adds a layer of magic to that charm.