gic all contain the energy of the universe or God if you wish.  Prayers, spells, invocations all channel this energy in order to achieve som desired result.  There, hopefully I have explained the essence of what healing dolls are so that you can at least p

In order to actually make a healing doll all you need to do is meditate on the person you wish to aid.  The doll should come to you.  You can also use the meditation exercise included in this section to help inspire you.  You can use any pattern or design your own.  Color is very important to the over all effect.  Check out your local library for books on the affects of color on the psyche.  Some new age books are good sources for using color associated with different types of healing.  Use crystals, beads, gem stones, and charms to give your doll more impact.  I like to paint sacred healing symbols on my dolls to add to there healing energy.  If you need help with these Please feel free to contact me.  I would be happy to help you.  Some of this information is offered here to get you started.
 

The first thing I  highly recommend is to get yourself a blank journal and use it to write down ideas, sketch out your visions of dolls or whatever comes to mind when set out to create.  I am sure many of you have heard artists say that they do this.  Well I am one of those artists who do.  It is a hidden resource for information and understanding.  A place where you can speak in doll language and no one else has to have access to it.  Of course that doesn’t mean you can’t share it with others if you choose to.

Before we begin  I would like to offer a brief history of dolls used as healing tools.  Throughout history man has used their own images to represent themselves to the Gods in rituals and ceremonies in order to evoke an energy.  Many of these rites were performed for healing.  The ancient Scots used dolls called poppets filled with herbs of various kinds to aid in healing, banishing curses or protection against dark forces.  These poppets were simple cloth dolls stuffed with lavender and other herbs.  Usually a blessing or incantation was said over the doll and then it was given to the individual to keep while in use.  Once the purpose was fulfilled the doll was then buried to stop the spell.

Other cultures such as the Incas and ancient Egyptians placed dolls in their burial chambers and tombs as guardians, guides or companions in the after life.  American Indians used a type of doll in medicine ceremonies to bring healing energy to the sick.  Haitians use a type of talisman called Voodoo dolls to invoke various types of favors from the Gods.  These dolls could be used for healing, fertility, gaining power, luck and placing curses on someone.  Many African tribes use wooden dolls for similar purposes.  The list goes on and on.  Are you ready to begin the journey?  Put on some relaxing music, refresh your cup of tea and read on.

I have left the supply list vague on purpose.  This exploration isn’t about designing a specific doll.  So you are free to pick and choose you materials as you need them.  That is part of the imagination this experience imparts.  Anything can be used as materials for constructing your doll.  I am only providing a foundation, a jumping off point.  The rest is up to you
 

How To Begin

The purpose for creating a healing doll is obvious.  To promote the healing of someone that is close to you or yourself  that is the purpose.  My philosophy and belief stipulates that these be done for the good of the individual/s in order for them to work.  We are not in the business of causing harm.  I have made healing dolls for many types of illness and emotional distress.  The first thing you need to establish is who needs the healing, then what type of healing needs to be encouraged. Once you have those two things in mind then you need to prepare your mind for the creative adventure ahead.

Step One

You need to obtain some basic information from the recipient of the doll in order to get a clear idea of the person you are trying to help.  First, get a name.  This is very important in establishing the energy connection with the doll’s owner.  Next get a date of birth.  The month, day and year will be just fine.  The third thing I always ask for is if they are attracted to certain colors at this time in their life.  Believe it or not you may actually use this color in the doll at some point.  You are now ready to go on to the next step.

Step Two

The process of preparing the mind for creating anything can be achieved in many ways.  The best process I have discovered is to first place yourself in a meditative state.  This calms the mind and allows you to receive any intuitive information that may help you create your doll.  I have included a creative visualization that helps me focus my mind.

If you are  having trouble charging up those creative batteries give the following exercise a try.  This always works for me.  Listed here are the steps for a creative visualization exercise.  It is a great way to relax your body and give your creative self a chance to communicate with you.  Before you begin get a notebook for writing in and a pen.  Now find a quiet spot in your home where you will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes.  Do not answer the phone during your exercise.  This time is for you to get to know yourself  better.  Sit in a comfortable chair.  Do not lay down because you may fall asleep.  Now that you have prepared your special quiet place you are ready.  It is OK to listen to soft instrumental music, burn incense or candles if that helps enhance the mood.  Step one, sit comfortably in your chair and close your eyes.  Breathe in a regular steady fashion one way to regulate your breathing is to inhale through your nose on a count of six.  Hold your breath for a count of one and exhale through your nose on a count of six.  Keep this rhythm going for a few minutes.  While you breathe envision a white light filling your body with each breath.  Notice how it fills every part of your body.  As this light enters and begins to fill you allow it to push out the stress and tension that has built up.  Feel your muscles relax.  Keep breathing in a rhythmic fashion.

Step Three

 After you have completed step two you are ready to go to a special place.  I would also like to point out that it is OK if your mind chatters allot.  That is normal.  Don’t try and force it to shut up.  Eventually it will slow down on it's own.  Just keep breathing until you notice the noise subsiding.  Now as you breathe imagine yourself walking to a special place.  This place is your creative center.  This is where all of you creating comes from.  Your special place can be any place that gives you a feeling of joy and happiness.  Some envision a forest or garden.  Others see a seashore or mountain top.  This part is up to you.  Now that you have your place in mind look around you and take in all that you see.  Notice the colors, smells and sounds.  You can make it anyway you want.  Take a few moments to survey your creative space.  You are now ready for step three.

When you are ready you can now ask for a doll spirit to come and visit with you.  I usually ask for a new doll spirit to come and introduce itself to me.  I call them doll spirits because they haven’t been born yet.  In asking for a visitor be open to what appears.  Don’t try and force and idea.  Let it come to you.  Sometimes they can be a little shy.  Be patient.  It may require you to ask again.  When the doll spirit appears  welcome them and notice everything about them that you can. .Take time to look at their body, hair eyes, and costume.  Pay attention to every detail you can. Remember everything you see.  Take as much time as you need for this meeting. Sometimes I even have conversations with these doll spirits.  You may have this experience too.

When you are ready, thank the doll spirit for it’s visit and begin your walk back to your quiet room.  After you have returned takes a few moments to wake yourself up.  Now in your notebook write down everything you remember about the doll spirit.  Describe in as much detail as you can colors textures and patterns.  Writing down this information right after you return is essential because it is fresh in your memory.  You are now ready to go forth and create.
 

Basics

Now that you have established the type of healing , for whom, and conceptual idea of how the doll should look it’s time to began the deign process. You have basically two choices here.  You can go with a predefined pattern or you can design your own.  With those two choices in mind it is important that you keep the doll simple.  :You can certainly embellish to your hearts content but, I feel it is important to keep the doll itself as simple as you can without compromising the design.  A basic rag doll pattern works well for most purposes but,  sometimes you may need to create an animal doll or just need something a little different.  If you don’t want to design your own than go with a pattern you feel best conveys your idea.  However, if you would like to try and design your own doll I am going to offer you some simple ways to start.

Designing your own doll is not an impossible task.  Especially if you break down the body into simple shapes.  Many designers do this when they begin to create a new doll.   You can refer to figure 1 to see what I mean.  The head can be a circle, oval or egg shape.  The neck is a cylinder or rectangle.  The body is a square or rectangle depending on how you want the doll to look.  The arms and legs are just simple tubes or rectangles and the hands and feet can be ovals.  All you have to do is play around with placement of these basic elements to get the pose and proportions you want.  It is a lot of fun to experiment  using different shapes for the individual body parts.

Once you have the general layout of the body pieces it needs to come together.   Next you draw connecting lines between the separate elements to refine the shape a bit. Another thing to keep in mind.  When you are ready to draw the final pattern pieces add a quarter of an inch all the way around the shape.  This will compensate for stuffing.  Your flat shape will change dramatically when it is sewn and stuffed.  So increasing the dimension of your pattern by that amount will help maintain the original look you wanted.

This is a very simplistic way of designing your own doll but, it works.  One doll designer that uses this method is Sally Lampi.  I personally use this method most of the time.  Also, it is a good idea to study different techniques for designing a doll.  There are several good books out there to help.   It may take a couple of trial runs to get the doll just the way you want it but, remember to have fun with it.  Joy is one of the greatest healing energies to infuse your doll with.  In figure 3  I have shown you some examples of how to use other shapers to create interesting dolls.
 
 

 Believe it or not healing dolls can have themes.  To illustrate this, creating a healing doll to mend a broken heart would obviously have the heart as a central theme element.  This could be accomplished by using fabric with hearts printed on it, painting heart shapes on, using heart charms, buttons and beads as embellishments.  Another example of a theme would be if the doll was to resemble an animal.  For example if the doll had cat energy you could use cats as the central image.  I have seen fabrics with cats on it.  You could also use fur print type fabrics such as tiger stripes or leopard spots.  I will discuss the use of animal themes later in this class. In figures 4 and 5 I also show thematic color.  Figure 4 shows cool calming tone while figure 5 illustrates more warm energetic colors.

Once you have settled upon your theme you can now begin finding the right colors to use.  Color and healing go hand in hand.  Much research has been done on the effects of color on the human psyche.  There are many good books on color and healing and I certainly encourage you to do your own research but, I have included a list of the basic colors here for your convenience.  Take a minute to study it and see where these colors may help enhance the healing properties of your doll.

Colors for Healing Use

Green:  for general healing, promotes growth.  Not a good color for those suffering from cancer.

Blue:  used to bring a sense of calm and piece.  Good color to use for any healing for skin, bones and connective tissues.

Red:  Purifying color to cleanse the system of negative energies.  Promotes courage and is good for sexual dysfunction.

Orange:  Good color for any ailment pertaining to the groin or sexual organs.

Yellow:  Good color to use for mental disorders.

Purple:  Brings divine energy into play, detoxify the body and emotional bodies.

Pink:  Good color to use to heal emotional wounds or broken hearts.

Black:  wards off negative energy; and evil vibes.

Gold:  Attracts male energy and calls down angelic energies.

Silver:  Associated with the moon and female energy.  Good for intuition.

There, you have a basic idea of what color goes with what energy you can begin to combine different colors to create a more complex energy for the doll.  Here is an example of how you can combine colors to create a good healing doll.  You have been asked to create a doll for someone who has had their heart broken due to a loss of some kind.  I would use pink for helping to ease the pain, red to give courage to move on, purple to cleanse the emotions and gold to help this person connect to their higher self essence.  You can use any type of pattern or texture as well as any type of fabrics.  The colors can be put together in many different ways.  Sometimes I actually make a patch work of different colors to use for the body of the doll.  This creates a very unusual and interesting doll.  You can also make clothing for the doll utilizing these colors.

Another important element in creating the healing doll is the thread which binds it all together.  I bet you never thought that thread color was important.  Well, it is an important part of the process.  Symbolically it serves to bind the energy together.  Let me illustrate this by giving you the four basic colors.

White thread represents purity and light.  This is a good universal color to use in any healing doll project.  Black is used to ward off negative energies.  This color would be used if you were making a doll for protection.  Red is a color which carries the energy of courage.  It is usually associated with the warrior energy and is good to use with healing that require courage and strength.  Green is a color which represents growth and healing.  It is a good color to use for most intense healing needs.  One word of caution here.  If the doll you are making is for someone with cancer or tumors do not use the color green.  This color promotes growth and that is something you do not want in this case.

Now of course you can use the color chart I gave before as a means of fine tuning the thread color.  But, it is important to consider in the construction phase.

Stuffing; color is important also in that sometimes you can use herbs for the stuffing.  If you choose to do this please ask the person you are making the doll for if they have any allergies that may actually be aggravated by the herbs.  The most common stuffing is polyester fiberfill which is white in most cases.  This is great because that is the best overall color to use.  However, there have been colored versions introduced lately that can be beneficial.  Black of course would work well to ward off negative energy.  I would not recommend brown only because that is a muddy color energetically.  It would be OK to use brown if you were making a doll for healing the earth.  I think that would be obvious.  Brown is the color of dirt.