New Moon Medicine Bundles Seeding the Waterways with Prayers for Peace
What is this ceremony? Why do it and how does it work?
Water carries vibration in a special way. Indigenous people have been creating medicine bundles filled with prayers and beautiful things from nature since the very early days of humanity. By filling a bundle with prayers and natural substances and offering that to the waters, we release our prayers to the Divine and know that Spirit will do with the prayers as Spirit sees fit. All water leads eventually back to the ocean, a symbol of our oneness, a metaphor for the Divine Mother or for God. Holding a ceremony at the new moon is like planting a seed in spring. It is naturally a time to set our intentions and then watch them grow into realization.
In the Medicine Bundles Seeding the Waterways with Prayers for Peace practice, the “facilitator” begins with a prayer to focus the group on Oneness and Spiritual Love. The person will “draw” on a 16" x 16" piece of cloth by dripping a fine line of corn meal or flour or rice to create the shape of a circle. Then a different substance is used to "draw" a cross that intersects the circle in each of the four directions - the north, south, east and west. This is done as prayers are offered to honor the four directions. Now we have a Medicine Wheel.
Each person then has an opportunity to choose from a variety of natural substances – rice, dried beans, corn meal, flower petals, seeds, crystals, shells, gemstones – and place the substance on the cloth to create a beautiful mandala. People are encouraged to offer their prayers for peace and loving oneness out loud so everyone can hear their prayers, hopes, dreams and intentions. People are encouraged to pray in whatever language is native to them. They may also sing their prayers. Each person’s prayer resonates and the prayers build as we see our own reflection in each person’s prayer.
After everyone has prayed, the group chants together – the vowel sounds, chants for peace and/or other sacred verses.
After the chanting, the opposite corners of the clothe are joined together to hold the contents and a string is used to tie it up, just as we do with tobacco ties or prayer ties. Now we have a Medicine Bundle.
The bundle is taken to a body of water, and the natural substances are released with a prayer that the Divine hear the vibration of our hearts. Maybe the bundle is released at the ocean. Or it is taken to a river or stream. We often have someone take the bundle to a place called Lake Tear of the Clouds, which is a lake high up in the Adirondack Mountains that is the starting place of the Hudson River. The lake feeds the river and then the river takes our prayers to the Ocean, where the prayers are released to go wherever needed.
Anyone can do this ceremony. Peace Chamber communities around the world did this ceremony at the time of the new moons of September, October and November 2025. Communities around the world are still offering the ceremony monthly at the new moon.
Water carries vibration in a special way. Indigenous people have been creating medicine bundles filled with prayers and beautiful things from nature since the very early days of humanity. By filling a bundle with prayers and natural substances and offering that to the waters, we release our prayers to the Divine and know that Spirit will do with the prayers as Spirit sees fit. All water leads eventually back to the ocean, a symbol of our oneness, a metaphor for the Divine Mother or for God. Holding a ceremony at the new moon is like planting a seed in spring. It is naturally a time to set our intentions and then watch them grow into realization.
In the Medicine Bundles Seeding the Waterways with Prayers for Peace practice, the “facilitator” begins with a prayer to focus the group on Oneness and Spiritual Love. The person will “draw” on a 16" x 16" piece of cloth by dripping a fine line of corn meal or flour or rice to create the shape of a circle. Then a different substance is used to "draw" a cross that intersects the circle in each of the four directions - the north, south, east and west. This is done as prayers are offered to honor the four directions. Now we have a Medicine Wheel.
Each person then has an opportunity to choose from a variety of natural substances – rice, dried beans, corn meal, flower petals, seeds, crystals, shells, gemstones – and place the substance on the cloth to create a beautiful mandala. People are encouraged to offer their prayers for peace and loving oneness out loud so everyone can hear their prayers, hopes, dreams and intentions. People are encouraged to pray in whatever language is native to them. They may also sing their prayers. Each person’s prayer resonates and the prayers build as we see our own reflection in each person’s prayer.
After everyone has prayed, the group chants together – the vowel sounds, chants for peace and/or other sacred verses.
After the chanting, the opposite corners of the clothe are joined together to hold the contents and a string is used to tie it up, just as we do with tobacco ties or prayer ties. Now we have a Medicine Bundle.
The bundle is taken to a body of water, and the natural substances are released with a prayer that the Divine hear the vibration of our hearts. Maybe the bundle is released at the ocean. Or it is taken to a river or stream. We often have someone take the bundle to a place called Lake Tear of the Clouds, which is a lake high up in the Adirondack Mountains that is the starting place of the Hudson River. The lake feeds the river and then the river takes our prayers to the Ocean, where the prayers are released to go wherever needed.
Anyone can do this ceremony. Peace Chamber communities around the world did this ceremony at the time of the new moons of September, October and November 2025. Communities around the world are still offering the ceremony monthly at the new moon.
Medicine Bundle from Moonlight Dance Den Chamber
Longmont, Colorado
