The Medicine Bag Quotes

“Beyond mere survival, or the pursuit of warlike domination over others, Toltec people were purposefully creative and expressive. In fact, the very name Toltec means “artist” in Nahuatl. The use of the word artist in this context expands beyond the meaning of a person who paints, sculpts, or makes traditional forms of art. The Toltecs taught that every one of us is an artist, and the art we are creating is the story of our lives.”
― Jose Ruiz, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation

“and most critically, love for yourself and others. Love is the most important tool of all in your inner medicine bag; in fact, it is the birthplace of every other positive tool you can ever possess. The contents of your outer medicine bag have a mysterious ability to support the transformation of your inner medicine bag. Meaningful objects, prayers, and symbols of the natural world help you call on the strength of the nagual that is inside and all around you. Furthermore, the rituals and ceremonies in these pages are designed to open pathways into powerful concepts and abilities like discovering your own divinity, intuition, healing, and awareness. Through these rituals, even as the mind continues its powerfully convincing dream, you can recognize the truth: that everything is already perfect—as it should be—and this includes you.”
― Jose Ruiz, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation

“Part of our journey together in this book will be about removing the negative practices and beliefs from your internal medicine bag and replacing them with things like self-confidence, faith, peace, courage, access to your intuition,”
― Jose Ruiz, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation

“In a metaphorical sense, we each have an inner medicine bag that we've been carrying with us for most of our lives. If we don't realize this, then it has also probably never occurred to us to wonder what tools we've been carrying around in it. I'm talking about the tools we reach for out of habit: judgments, angry reactions, regrets, fears, and more. We put these tools to work building negative realities for ourselves and others in a constant effort to feed the mind's addiction to suffering.”
― Jose Ruiz, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation

“The medicine bag is such a tool, both literally and metaphorically. In a literal sense, a medicine bag is usually a small pouch, about the size of your hand, which is often worn around the neck and can also be carried in your pocket or handbag. It can vary in size, material, and contents; the idea to remember is that a bag like this has been used by thousands of people before you as they progressed on their own journeys of awakening. It may carry written prayers, sticks, bones, rocks, feathers, or seashells. It may contain an object that is the symbol of a vision, a piece of nature from a meaningful place, a talisman of an animal totem. The contents of the medicine bag are physical representations that guide the inner journey of the wearer. In the next chapter, I'll go into detail about how to make or choose your own medicine bag, and the remaining chapters in this book will explain how to begin creating or choosing items to carry inside to help you on your own journey.”
― Jose Ruiz, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation

“Creativity is an act of drinking water from the infinite, a way of communicating with the divine.”
― Jose Ruiz, The Medicine Bag: Shamanic Rituals & Ceremonies for Personal Transformation