At the end of the summer, my darling little sister Savanna bought me a sweetgrass plant (pictured here with my cat Leo). There is no scent I love more than sweetgrass.
I quickly worked on making my own braids. I cut and weaved them, binding them in circles with the dead fallen ends of the plant, hanging them to dry.
Circles are important. Everything exists in cycles. Anything essential is round. There are no beginnings or endings. One day bleeds into night, returns to day. One season falls upon another. The earth and moon and sun are round. A circle is a shared space: No corners are uppermost. Every part bears an even weight.
This is why I braid in circles. Sweetgrass braids are said to represent the hair of our Mother Nature.
The braids dried to be very fragile.
Each successive endeavour has been an improvement. I have gifted the first two.
The one pictured below was my third attempt. I gathered all the dead ends, and dried a few additional pieces overnight. I bound them all together this evening, and again braided. The result was a much thicker, sturdier braid. It still smells divine.
I used this braid as a base to make a small hanging medicine wheel. An enduring symbol in most First Nations cultures, the medicine wheel represents the four cardinal directions, the four aspects and colours of man, the four stages of day and of life, and the four sacred medicines.
Using beads and fishing line, I created the four segments. Lastly, I added a final piece of fishing line, to make this sweetgrass medicine wheel hang-ready.
I'm quite impressed with the results.
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