Items needed: An eighth of a yard of clot or leather; thread; a needle or sewing machine; several small sacred items; ribbon, rope, yarn, or twine; and thin black cording (optional)

Moon Phase: Full

Seasonal Phase: The extremes of the year—summer or winter

This power bundle will be a contained collection of trinkets that reminds you of your warrior nature. During difficult situations, it will help you maintain your strength of mind and body. In times of stress or anxiety, it will help you acknowledge the wisdom of your inner truth. When confronted by deception and false hood, it will guide you onto the valiant path of justice. You can choose to wear your power bundle, keep it in a sacred place in your home, or store it in a hidden location until such time as you need it. This craft is fairly simple and, once you have gathered all of your items, takes very little time to accomplish. Children often enjoy making power bundles, especially if they are having difficulty with bullies or complicated tests at school.

Your first step in crafting a power bundle is gathering the items to put inside. These items should be fairly small, especially if you are planning on wearing your bundle. Since this bundle revolves around the goddess Skadi and your own inner warrior, you should gather items related to those concepts. As the number nine is sacred to the Norse culture, I recommend gathering nine items, in groups of three: collect three items that remind you of Skadi, three items that remind you of warriors, and three items that remind you of your inner warrior. You might choose to find small charms that recall the armor you received in the meditation or things that recollect Skadi's clothing or hall. Some suggestions might be dried herbs, colorful buttons, pieces of ribbon, a lock of your hair, semiprecious stones, coins, acorns or leaves, homemade paper snowflakes, glitter, or anything and everything else that calls to you.

After you have gathered your items together, visit your local fabric store and chose our cloth. I like transparent cloth, because then you can see items in your power bundle and draw energy from them without having to untie the bag. However, if you are drawn to a dark wool or a vibrant snowy cotton, go with your instinct and purse what feels right. Buy only an eighth of a yard of the fabric, and then choose some ribbon, yarn, rope, or twine to close the bundle.

Once at home, cut the fabric into an eight-inch rectangle and fold it in half, with the wrong side facing outward. Using a sewing machine or hand-stitching with need and thread, sew the two long sides of the rectangle. If hand-stitching, make sure your stitches are fairly small and close together so your smaller items (like herbs) won't fall out. When you are finished, you will have an inside-out "pocket," with two sides sewn up, one side closed along the fold, and the fourth side open. Turn your pocket so that the right side of the material is facing outward.

Take each item that you gathered and name it before dropping it into your cloth pocket. For instance, you might say, "This is a piece of onyx, stone of protection and defense. I place its power in my power bundle in remembrance of the warrior." Once all nine items are placed in the bundle, gather the open end of your bundle together and tie your ribbon, twine, or rope around the end. If you want to wear the bundle, sew thin black cording (found in most craft stores in the jewelry aisle) on either side of the gathered edge, making sure the cording is long enough to fit over your head.

Excerpted from Goddess Afoot!: Practicing Magick with Celtic & Norse Goddesses by Michelle Skye