What is a Messa Bundle?

What is a Messa or Medicine Bundle?

A shaman’s Mesa is a portable altar where he or she goes to meet the Spirits, and is used for healing, ceremony, prayer and divination.

The contents of a Mesa vary from shaman to shaman, but generally include healing stones and other artifacts representing elements of their personal healing journey.

The Incan Messa like the one I use contains 13 stones that I received during rites and initiations in my training.

Each stone, known as a khuya, represents a wound that has been transformed into a source of wisdom and courage and used in healing sessions to help others.

A Mesa may also contain special gifts and power objects that assist the shaman in communicating with spirits, warding off negative energies, and diagnosing ailments.

All these items are wrapped in a cloth or bag (often a colorful textile known as a Mastana).

Many shamans carry their Mesa with them wherever they go.

The Mesa is connected, through ceremony, to a lineage of medicine men and women throughout time, allowing constant access to their healing wisdom.

Among the many uses of the stones in the Mesa is to help move and transmute energies within a client’s energetic and physical body.