Silk scarf:

Used as a base cloth for power circle arrangements, often in group journeying. Having one's huacas at hand during journeying offers protection as well as focusing power and capturing new energies gained during the journey.

Spiny Dogfish Spine, what I often call my most prized possession:

It's a bit of an odd story, and I don't yet understand the full significance of this object to me, I only feel it's strength. The spiny dogfish is a type of shark which has a defensive spike on each dorsal fin. In college biology, the dogfish was one of our dissection projects. Each of us had our own dogfish - I named mine Odo - which we kept in a bucket. Dissection and review took place at school and at home, so our buckets travelled back and forth with us. I felt an immediate connection with Odo that went beyond my usual careful, respectful approach to dissection. I don't remember how long it was - four weeks? six? - but eventually the time came that the project was over, and it was time to . . . discard our dogfish. I was devastated. It was so hard to give him up - I had always felt a bit guilty in the past with dissections, that after the great help the animals had given us in furthering our education, they were just incinerated like garbage - but I'd never felt such an internal resistance. My teacher said I could keep him but, really, how could I? Where? How? So, I settled for keeping his defensive spine. Even that was a hard decision, because it felt like mutilation - even in the dissection, everything was kept with the body - but I asked for permission and did a little ritual of apology and thanks.

See next post for my Prayer Box.