Shamanic Leaf Rattle

Shamanic Leaf Rattles 
 
A shamanic leaf rattle, also known as a Chakapa or Shakapa, Chacarpa or Huaira Sacha, is a bundle of leaves, wrapped up. Indigenous cultures in the Andes and Amazon regions of South America work with them. They are known mostly in the West as being used by Mexican and Amazonian Shamans. They are used in sound journeys, trance journeys, and other rituals to create sacred space, call on spirits, and facilitate healing. The rattle’s sound and vibrations are thought to help the journeyer relax, alter brainwave activity, and access deeper levels of consciousness, to break up and shift dense energy. 
 
They are really simple to use, you just shake it over the person, or around the space, intuitively, allowing the sound, movement and energy to flow through you, through the heart, following the intention for the healing, ritual or ceremony that is taking place.
 
The sounds are like the wind blowing through the trees, the movement allowing the air to circulate in the space. They are particularly suitable for wind or air rituals. Leaf rattles are perfect for using in many different types of healing work, sound therapy and sound baths, and can be used like percussion instruments. Bringing in other senses, you can use aromatherapy sprays as you shake them, adding an aroma dimension and energy to the session.
 Evenly beaten or shaken, the rhythm also supports trance journeys, can be used for energetic massages and sweat lodge ceremonies.
As with all my creations, I work with the plants and trees that are native to my own land and heritage, as our own indigenous Shamans, Witches and Healers would have done.
These, like my smoke sticks, are seasonal items, as they can only be made in the spring or summer.
I will only take from trees that are willing, after I have sent my petitions and healing requests to them. I harvest gently and mindfully. I then create them in ceremony, with intention. 
My leaf rattles are made from local trees, some even from my own garden, harvested around the new and full moon energies (I can do this to your specific requirements), always asking permission from the trees and giving back healing, sometimes I play my flute for them, everything is done with sacred intention and I always get a clear yes or no as to whether the tree is happy for me to take a small piece of it. I never over harvest from one tree, very young trees or very very old trees, so everything is done as mindfully and gently as possible.
 All indigenous cultures across time have worked with trees, with the element of air, with the element of earth, and so using a leaf rattle to break up energy to ground people, to bring people’s consciousness around, and for cleansing space is a natural practice that has been used for thousands of years and feels good to us. I believe that working within our own culture and with our own indigenous plants rather than appropriating other cultures, brings more power to whatever it is we’re doing, whether that is a sound bath or healing or a ceremony, a cleansing, a calling in of Spirits and Ancestors, whatever it is we’re doing, if we’re working with our own indigenous plant life we’re going to be more powerful and have more connection to those wonderful energies. 
I can make them to order, using any specific tree or shrub that is meaningful to you, although they do need to be able to have a certain quality that allows the sound, message me and let’s have a chat about what you would like!
For example, my largest, and first leaf rattle consists of trees that are sacred to me, that I work with a lot in my herbalism and celebrant roles, and consists of a combination of linden, willow, hazel and cherry.
I also have made oak, ash and hazel individual ones. 
You will see these rattles for sale all over Etsy and other sound instrument websites, with some of them on sale for up to £100! They've got fancy handles and crystals adorned on them, but at the end of the day these are a natural product, made of leaves,  and so they are meant to degrade - they are not designed to last, so I make all of mine with a natural hemp handle that just makes it comfortable to hold, with a loop so you can hang it up when not in use and keep it protected. For me personally I also feel that keeping them as natural as can be is how they should be. 
So how long do they last? That depends on how often and how energetically you use it, where you keep it etc. Everywhere I have seen says with consistent ceremonial use you should get 50 to 150 hours of use out of your shamanic leaf rattle. I have not been able to put this to the test because I’m only just working with mine this year but do bear in mind how you treat it, where you keep it, and how hard and how often you shake it will determine how long it will last you. 
 
Being a seasonal product will determine what you are able to make yoour rattle from - good trees are linden, ash, oak, beech, hazel, willow, cherry, depending what energy and magical properites you need from your rattle, but I can incorporate pretty much anything you might like to have held within the structure - message me so we can discuss what you would like.