Goose Medicine - Creating and Writing with Light

My first experience with Goose medicine was in the early 2000s (I think). Time is so slippery to me. I was living with my youngest sister at the time in Wanaque, NJ. Recently, I had connected to my friends/family in the Lenape Turtle clan in Ringwood, NJ. I'd been feeling the "calling" by my ancestors and didn't understand any of it, but was open to paying attention.

One day, I went to the restaurant located at the little airport in Greenwood Lake, NJ. I sat at the counter and started talking to the man sitting next to me. I find it easy to talk to people: to ask questions and share what's going on in my life. I think I got better at this sort of thing after living in Georgia. As a northerner, I found it strange, at first, how southerners find it so easy to start telling you stories about the most ordinary things and make it so fascinating. I grew to have an ease with these kinds of conversations, and when I moved back up north, brought it with me.

So, what I remember about my conversation is talking about my meeting the Ramapough Indians and visiting the church many of the clan attends, being gifted a turtle shell by the medicine man and becoming friends with him & his family (my second family), and other experiences I'd been having. The man said to me: "I have something for you. I'm going out to my car & will be right back." He returned in a few minutes with a big bag of goose feathers. "These are for you," he said. He smiled, said goodbye, and I never saw him again.

I sat there thinking: "What am I supposed to do with all these feathers!"

Flash forward to today . . . One of the feathers is on my Leader stick/wand. I made quill pens out of a few of them, and I use them to write with regularly. I learned that among other things, goose medicine includes writing and creating with light, and travel to legendary places.