An intricately beautiful hand-painted and decorated gourd rattle named Bear Goes Fishing
- About 11" long
- Bob made and sewed this teal color suede sleeve with subtle orange thread
- Suede lacing
- Lightning Wood and Copper beads
Learn more by watching the above video (reveals all four rattles in action) and/or by reading "Bob's Observations" in the column at right.
Sold only in America.
Bear Goes Fishing Rattle
It didn't require much convincing when retired artist Glenn Lewis was presented with the opportunity to paint a limited number of sacred gourd rattles. "I thought I had painted on about every possible medium available to me during the past 65 years," he said, "from countless canvases to huge murals, and on glass, brick, stucco, metal, wood, drywall, hundreds of Bob's special drums and more, but never on a sacred gourd rattle. I was honored and especially excited for an opportunity to interpret and express my deep appreciation of Spirit animals and the deeply moving language, sometimes encoded, that is transmitted by spiritual symbols."
Each of the rattles in this Collection is unique, a one-of-a-kind, impossible to duplicate. Each is beautifully shaped as it was when picked from the garden. Each is beautifully hand-painted by artist Glenn Lewis, and I decorate each too. This goes deeper than shape, paint or decoration however. These rattles have their very own voices that result from the separation of the original seedpods within their very shells. Thus, the more one shakes a gourd like this, the more seeds separate and the more varied becomes the rattle's voice. Now that's one-of-a-kind for certain!
Something else however joins these rattles spiritually. A Lightning Bead (coming from a lightning-struck tree) in union with one or more copper beads becomes a welcomed energy source for a shaman familiar with their use in ceremony. You can read more about this here, an article I wrote, "The Hidden Majesty of Lightning Wood."
Bob's Thoughts About the Bear Goes Fishing Rattle:
Artist Glenn Lewis captures the excitement of the quintessential image of bears catching salmon at the waterfalls. You can feel the cold water on the legs, the steely stare at the prizes teaming out of the rushing falls, the ever-present dynamic of hunter vs. prey or the threat that failure could result in starvation.
Bear is not complicated, but neither is it worry free. When it hibernates in the winter, we are told that it sleeps. But spiritually attuned healers know that bear is quite busily engaging another proclivity of its existence. Introspection. Bear is the perfect symbol of going inside for a long period of self-analysis and contemplation.
We could all learn this from Bear. When we let the world claim all our attention with its titillations and trials, what chance do we have of recognizing our mistakes or shortcomings, or of giving ourselves time for an in-depth life review, or even of making a good solid plan to deal with life on a solid emotional level? Do we take time to dream? To enjoy the silence? To growl at failure and dream of a solution to make our endeavors a success?
It is said that Bear is mostly associated with the sacred direction of the West, and I can see sense in that. Given the West's limitless pool of undifferentiated energy and pure potential, it would be a logical place for Bear to be while resting and eventually seizing and transforming potential into a reality of joy for a full life.
But I also see Bear in the North, the place where the elders gather to tell the stories that sustains their tribes and teaches their young. Bear is both. A superb teacher and a glorious storyteller. Never has this trusted teacher let me down when I have sought its advice for helping me deal with personal challenges or putting the advice to work for someone else with problems.
Give the Bear Goes Fishing rattle a shake and seek what wisdom you can catch.
Aho & Namaste,
Bob
This rattle can only be sold in America. A special $20 shipping charge has already been added to the price shown. This allows for the expense of wrapping, double boxing, packing and thus protecting this sacred rattle while in transit to U.S. customers.
We do not have special boxes for shipping this rattle, so it will be secured in suitable boxes that may show one or another company logo or other identifying information on it. This does not mean that the company whose logo or other identifying information appearing on a box is an endorsement of or otherwise an acknowledgement of the box's contents. The Thunder Valley Drums name will appear on the shipping label however.
