The Stick

• 1). Remove twigs and leaves from a length of white pine for peace. Choose a straight length of birch for truth or evergreens for growth.
  
  
• 2). Strip needles from a cedar stick for cleansing or pick aspen to see things clearly. Maple logs mean gentleness and elm is for wisdom while mountain ash gives protection.
  
  
• 3). Cut a length of oak for strength, or cherry for emotion and love. Fruit woods symbolize abundance and nut trees symbolize energy and new beginning.
  
  

Tribal Stick Symbols

• 1). Tie an eagle feather on a cord to one end of the Talking Stick to give the holder the courage and wisdom to speak the truth from his heart.
  
  
• 2). Attach rabbit fur to that end of the stick as a reminder to the speaker to keep her words soft and warm. Tie on strands of hair taken from the great buffalo to lend the power and strength of the animal to the speaker.
  
  
• 3
  Blue stones on a Cherokee Talking Stick represent the Great Spirit.turquesa image by Jordi Mart?- from Fotolia.com
  
  Wrap a blue stone turquoise in cord and tie to the other end. This represents the Great Spirit, who hears the words in a speaker's heart as well as the ones spoken aloud.
  
  
• 4). Affix an iridescent shell to that end of the stick as a symbol that creation changes: not just days, seasons and years but people and their situations, as well.
  
  
• 5). Hang four beads on a braid beside the eagle feather. According to Carol Locust, an Eastern Band Cherokee, they symbolize the four corners of the universe: yellow for the eastern sunrise, red for the western sunset, white for snow from the north, and green earth from the south. The speaker holds the universe in her hands when holding the Talking Stick.
  
  

Personalized Talking Sticks

• 1). Incorporate three personal medicine spirits in your Talking Stick. Colors represent meanings: red for life, yellow for knowledge, blue for wisdom, white for spirit, purple for healing, orange for kinship with all living things, or black for clarity.
  
  
• 2). Add an eagle feather for an Answering Feather, to be given to the one chosen to answer a speaker's inquiry truthfully, or a turkey feather for peace and resolution. An owl feather banishes deception from the meeting place.
  
  
• 3). Choose animal skins to incorporate their qualities in the Talking Stick. Buffalo give abundance, elk fitness and stamina, deer gentleness, rabbits keen hearing and horse hair perseverance. Snakeskin wrapped around a Talking Stick brings healing.