The Healing Totem of Sitka

This totem pole is said to carry a Tlingit name that means you are going to get well. It stands in Sitka in front of a community health building, and unlike most totem poles, which honor clans or tell old legends, this one was carved to speak to the present. A Tlingit carver designed it around the struggle to heal from things like substance abuse, diabetes, and cancer.

The imagery is deliberate. At the very top a raven, the creator in Tlingit tradition, carries the moon in its beak as a symbol of hope. Below, a bear and a shaman stand over a wolf, the wolf representing the act of bringing someone into recovery.

At the base a medicine woman holds a basket of healing herbs. It was raised in recent years as a public reminder that recovery is possible.