Medicine pouches were big in my day. They contained crushed herbs and other elementals. By elementals, I mean things like mushrooms, roots, small pebbles, small pieces of ferns, and berries. I had many different concoctions for different ailments. The belief was that if you wore a medicine pouch; it would absorb the illness out of your body. It did work. I usually said a small incantation when I gave the pouch to the person. Basically, I would activate the healing power. After the illness was gone, I would instruct the person to bury the contents at least 12 inches below the soil.