The Flawed Peace Pipe

I crafted this Peace Pipe for a couple of friends who got married today, August 18, 2012 

                   The Native American Peace Pipe
 The Native American Peace Pipe is well known and seen in many pictures, paintings, and movies. It is easily recognized, and is generally understood to be used in sealing business deals, new friendships, during community gatherings known as “Allyu”, and during very large ceremonial Pow Wows.  The Peace Pipe is primarily used as an aid to Prayer.

The Peace Pipe is usually smoked in a humble ceremony, but may be used in group settings, large and small.  The smoke, when exhaled, is believed to carry the intentions, and Prayers of the smoker to the Great Spirit.  It is believed that the Pipe is medicinal in nature, and as such, is created by a maker with special intentions aimed at instilling healing energy in the individual it is created for.  Pipes are created from virtually any natural material, and can be plain, or very ornate in its presentation.  Pipes are seldom made for one's self.  Peace Pipes are usually made by a Medicine Man, or Shaman, for a special intention, and given away.

The Bowl of the Pipe holds a blend of natural leaves, bark, berries, and tobacco, both indigenous to the local area of that particular Tribe, and traded for.  The ingredients are believed to be gifts to the People of the earth from the Great Spirit, and it is also believed that these ingredients are sacred when used for smoking.  The ingredients when harvested for smoking are known as Mishma or Kinnick Kinnick, and are treated as Holy Native Sacraments.

The Bowl of the Pipe is also understood to hold female energy.  It holds the hopes, dreams, and desires of the user, and has the ability to share these intentions with the users as the smoked Prayers make their way to the Great Spirit.

The stem of the pipe is understood to hold male energy. The stem, which can be of any particular length, is the conduit of the intentions placed into the bowl to the smoker while in Prayer.  It is the intimate part of the Pipe, in that only the stem comes into contact with the user, and allows the intentions placed in the bowl to pass to the user and onto the Great Spirit.

The true Native American Peace Pipe is rarely connected when not in use.  It is believed that the Spirit of the Pipe and the Intentions placed in the Pipe will wander, and leave the Pipe, if the bowl and stem are left connected.

The Native American Peace Pipe is cherished, respected, never used lightly, nor abused.  According to ancient oral tradition, the healing power of the Peace Pipe has been part of Native American culture since the very early times.  It was presented to the People of Earth by Mother Earth, to two brothers walking in the woods.  After which she turned into a White Buffalo, symbolizing hope, rebirth, abundance, and unity.
Since I am neither Medicine Man nor Shaman, this Pipe intentionally does not draw smoke from its bowl.  I fabricated this Pipe out of reverence of the sacred union between Dale and Terry, in the hope that it will remind whoever looks upon it of the strength, and potential, of any consensual union between two committed people.

This Peace Pipe, was fashioned of a very old cedar board from Don May’s wood pile, an old leather jacket purchased at Good Will, leather strips found in a dusty bin, the feathers of a Rhode Island Red rooster, and the knot of an old Madrona tree that fell on a deserted Harstein Island beach. It was made of material found locally, traded for, and purchased.

This Pipe's bowl, fabricated from the Madrona knot, has a through and through flaw in it visible from the bottom of the bowl.  I discovered the flaw while carving the final shape of the bowl and decided to continue using the knot because it reminded me that all things are beautiful, and yet nothing is without flaw.  In our human condition, I believe we tend to either seek perfection and reject the flawed, or we settle for what we find, flawed as it is, and never develop the beauty that has been placed before us.

It is my intention that this Peace Pipe be gazed upon, respected, cherished, and revered as any union between two people should be, regardless of race, nationality, religion, affiliation, gender, or flaws.  May this Peace Pipe ground, settle, and put to rest any ill intent, malaise, or condition that the viewer maybe experiencing, and open their heart to the healing wonder of what is, and what may yet be.

May true inner Peace blanket you for the rest of your days.

Campy Out!