| A few months ago an elderly lady from our meditation group dropped and broke her favorite cane. She was quite upset because it was her favorite cane and she could not afford to buy a new one. Being a wood carver I decided I would make her one.
This lady is from a Native American background and I asked her what her spirit animal was. Some Native Americans believe they are guided on their journey through life by the spirit of an animal. Her spirit animal was a crow.
This week I presented her with the finished cane. The top of the cane has a hand carved, highly detailed, painted and realistic looking crow head, actual size with glass eyes. Below that is a black suede braid around the shaft of the cane tied in a fancy knot called a Turk’s Head knot, From the knot hung two black feathers with wooden beads. Below this, carved onto the face of the cane was a medicine wheel.
 A medicine wheel is a circle with four spokes, and the four spokes divide the wheel into four colours, red, white, black, and yellow. The colours represented the four races of man, and the medicine wheel represented healing of the four races. Also on the face of the cane were her initials.
Because she was worried about dropping and breaking another cane, I also included a strap that she could put her hand through so that even if she dropped the cane it would not fall to the ground.
The look on her face when I presented the cane to her and her reaction was worth more than any amount of money. It was a great feeling to do something nice for someone who otherwise could not afford to do for herself.
Add/View Comment >> |
Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal 
Leave a Reply