aid in prayer and meditation.
Lakota prayer ties are spiritual symbols created by wrapping tobacco into a cloth while praying and meditating. After prayer the Lakota are then burned in a respectful and reverent ceremony with a belief that the prayers will be sent to the heavens and Wakan Tanka--the Great Spirit--in clouds of smoke. The Lakota believe there is a sacredness to the ritual of making prayer ties and often pray and give thanks throughout the tie-making process.
Instructions
1. Dust yourself and your materials with sage or light a sage smudge stick and wave it over yourself and your materials to begin the ritual of creating Lakota prayer ties.
2. Cut or tear cotton fabric into 2-inch squares.
3. Place a small pinch of tobacco in the center of a single square of fabric.
4. Gather the fabric together and secure the "pouch" you have created with a single piece of 2-foot-long string, tying the first pouch with the beginning of the string.
5. Make your next fabric-wrapped tobacco pouch and attach it on the same string as the first, creating a continuous long strand of prayer ties.
6. Repeat the process until you as many prayer ties as you wish.
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