Living in Balance by Michael Roberts Zhinguak by Happiness Alliance happycounts

Living in Balance with the Creatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Original Instructions as Facilitated by The Medicine Wheel and the Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers 3.0 Compiled from Teachings and Understandings From Anishinabeg Elders and others By Michael Roberts (Zhinguak) December 2016 THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR SALE IT BELONGS TO CREATION COPY IT AND DISTRIBUTE IT AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE BUT MOST OF ALL USE IT

Questions, Comments, Corrections, Criticisms Michael Roberts redhawkma@gmail.com and Facebook

Contents Introductions ..................................................................................................................... 8 Why................................................................................................................................. 8 Meeting on the trail...................................................................................................... 9 Dedication ................................................................................................................... 10 About the Peoples of the Eastern Door ................................................................... 12 What I Believe ............................................................................................................. 13 Orientation and Context ................................................................................................ 14 Stepping into another world .................................................................................... 15 Vine DeLoria Speaks .................................................................................................. 16 Manifestations of the Mysterious Presence ........................................................ 17 Understanding the Nature of Symbolism ........................................................... 18 What it means ......................................................................................................... 20 What is the Eighth Fire? ................................................................................................ 21 The Prophecy of the Seven Fires (www.7fires.org) ............................................. 21 Where These Ideas Came From .................................................................................... 26 How the Medicine Wheel and the Gifts Were Given ............................................. 27 How the Medicine Wheel Was Given. ..................................................................... 28 Living in Balance........................................................................................................ 32 Organizing and Balancing the Universe ................................................................ 36 Directions................................................................................................................. 36 Colors........................................................................................................................ 36 Seasons ..................................................................................................................... 37 Animals .................................................................................................................... 37 Our Well-being or Happiness .................................................................................. 38 Emotional Being ..................................................................................................... 38 Physical Being ......................................................................................................... 38 Spiritual Being......................................................................................................... 38 Mental Being ........................................................................................................... 39 The Sacred Tree .......................................................................................................... 39 4

Volition ..................................................................................................................... 39 Vision ........................................................................................................................ 40 Identity ..................................................................................................................... 40 Values ....................................................................................................................... 41 The Seven Gifts (Teachings), Values or Sacred Laws ................................................ 43 The Turtle Lodge ........................................................................................................ 44 The Nature of the Seven Gifts ................................................................................... 46 The Seven Gifts and You............................................................................................ 47 RESPECT as Represented by – BUFFALO ......................................................... 48 LOVE as Represented by – EAGLE...................................................................... 51 COURAGE as Represented by – BEAR ............................................................... 53 HONESTY as Represented by – SABE ................................................................ 56 WISDOM as Represented by – BEAVER ............................................................ 58 HUMILITY as Represented by – WOLF ............................................................. 60 TRUTH as Represented by - TURTLE ................................................................. 62 Living in Balance Today ................................................................................................. 64 Balance and the Seven Gifts (Teachings) ............................................................... 65 Balancing our lives to be a blessing to the world ...................................................... 70

The Emotional quadrant of the Medicine Wheel

............. 72

Psychological Well-being (satisfaction with life, self-esteem, spiritual activities, emotions) ................................................................................................................. 72 Time Balance (control of time, time pressure, pace of life) .............................. 73

The Physical Quadrant of the Medicine Wheel

.... 74

Physical Health (health, disability, behavior patterns, sleep, nutrition) ........ 74 Material Well-being (income, financial security, debt, housing) .................... 74

The Spiritual Quadrant of the Medicine Wheel

.. 75

Cultural Vitality (local traditions, festival, artistic skills, recreational access, core values, discrimination) ......................................................................................... 75 Environmental Quality (water, air, soil, biodiversity, access to nature) ........ 76 Community (sense of belonging, relationships, safety, volunteering) ............ 77

The Mental Quadrant of the Medicine Wheel

.......... 78

Education and Lifelong Learning (formal and informal education, skills, involvement in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education) ................................................................. 78 Governance (citizen engagement, media, trust, transparency) ....................... 78 Workplace Experience (employment satisfaction, job conditions, productivity, compensation) ......................................................................................................... 79 Remember ................................................................................................................... 80 WE WERE ALL ABORIGINAL PEOPLE AT ONE TIME...................................... 80 Some Final Thoughts ..................................................................................................... 81 Phantastes ................................................................................................................... 81 6

Tewa elder from San Juan Pueblo ............................................................................ 82 Psalm 23 ...................................................................................................................... 83 In Closing ......................................................................................................................... 84

Introductions Why For the twenty or so years studying and practicing the ways of the Anishinabeg people as taught by our Ojibwe elder Larry Matrious, I was constantly bumping up against the « Seven Gifts of the Creator ». They showed up in our discussions, in much of the literature I was reading, and in images in catalogs. It was clear to me that these gifts (I choose to call them values) were some of the keys to walking the “Red Road.” They are simple English words – Respect, Love, Bravery, Truth, Wisdom, Humility and Honesty. They are easily discussed in the educational institutions of the dominant culture of North America. How you treat each other, your environment and yourself are some of the things that are taught. BUT how do indigenous peoples see these values? How important are they in day to day living? Are they applied differently than we non-indigenous peoples? The more I read the clearer it became that these values are central to the lives of traditional and non-traditional indigenous peoples.

When asking to learn more about them and how they were used, the answers were not very satisfactory – I NEEDED TO KNOW MORE!! Larry always said I was hard headed!! (Sometimes I would wear my hardhat to circle). One of my compadres on this journey told me there was this great guy out in Wisconsin (or was it Michigan?) who really knew how to explain the Seven Gifts. Unfortunately, Wisconsin or Michigan was not in the cards for me for any length of time. So I began to research and extend my reach into remote villages and inner-city organizations throughout North America. It soon came clear that I also needed to learn the ways of the Medicine Wheel as the gifts don’t work well without the balance of the Medicine Wheel. What follows is the results of my work. I now have a better understanding of these values and how they fit into our lives. I am sharing this with you in the hopes that you may receive some good whether or not you are indigenous. All peoples must walk this road and understand these values together if we are to begin to heal Mother Earth. At least that’s what Black Elk and Larry as well as this Welshman believe.

Meeting on the trail In the distant past, when indigenous peoples would meet, the first thing they would do is to look carefully at the other and observe the cloths, the weapons, the things carried or held. The purpose was to identify the nation, clan, rank, spirituality and any other bit of information that would help in introducing each other. And so as we meet on this new trail I will introduce my teacher and myself in order for you to understand the foundations and reason for the creation of this document.

Meegwetch (thank you)

Dedication This Work is Dedicated To Larry Matrious (Na gon way we dong First Thunder) Who Carried the Buffalo Thunder Pipe for the People And Found My Name : Zhinguak And My Clan: Ajijak And My Colors: Yellow, Green, Black, White, Red, Brown and Blue Larry, my kinomageinini (teacher) was a hunter. He hunted in Spirit World to learn how the ceremonies and the traditions of the People (Anishinabeg) were originally given in order to renew his people and the earth. He believed that the Creator intended many (not all) gifts of the Creator to belong to all of Creation, all the two-legged, all the winged, all the four-legged, all the crawling creeping things, all the plant nations, all the fish nations, all the stone and earth nations, all the air and wind nations. He understood that the People (all of the indigenous peoples) were “let down” to Turtle Island (North America) to be caretakers of this land. Each nation was to live in its own way and in its own place as their traditions and the land instructed them. Larry also understood as Black Elk did that only when native peoples and nonnative peoples shared knowledge and worked together could there be a hope of healing Mother Earth (Misakomikwe) and become the strong and happy nations of the Eighth Fire. Larry traveled to the Eastern Door to try to understand his emotions (see the Medicine Wheel) and to help in “kicking it open” and let Spirit World unite all peoples in healing our Mother. He dropped many seeds of knowledge and wisdom, sometimes in ways so subtle that it has taken years to recognize the changes and notice the ripples of his spirit move through the land. I believe that I am one of those ripples and it is time I took up the task of my clan to pass on those instructions meant for all peoples. I will not pass on those ceremonies in which I have participated that belong to indigenous nations, as it is not my place and I have not been authorized to do so. I will pass on the gifts of the Seven Grandfathers as they were given to all two-legged. To help people live the Seven Gifts I will first pass on some of the teachings of the Medicine Wheel, which is designed to instruct us in establishing balance and order in our lives as it represents the Universe. The Medicine Wheel represents the four colors of man (all man). As I pass on these teachings I will also be learning. This document is a step in walking that path. Our ultimate goal is to help light the Eighth Fire as described in the Prophecy presented in the Context section of this document.

Larry and To the Memory of my Friends Mali Keating (Grandmother Buffalo) John Balco (Makwa) Paul Pollard Including my late Life Companion Georgess McHargue And my Friends who are also ripples over the land Rona Balco Sussy Rose Shields Robert Pictou Lisa Burton Pat Lilly Althea Stepsinit And with respect to kinomageikwe Noreena Matrious And with thanks to Dr. Laura Musikanski, Executive Director of the Happiness Alliance KEEP THE CIRCLE STRONG

About the Peoples of the Eastern Door

The ancestors of today’s New England American Indians have persisted on the land for over ten thousand years. They experienced changes in climate, migrations across the landscape, and incursions of peoples from outside New England and the arrival of Europeans bringing disease, advanced weapons (and rarely good will). As Euro-American populations increased, New England’s American Indians adapted to new ways of life. They adapted to life as farmers, shop owners, mill workers, doctors, lawyers and housewives. The key word here is adapted. Today’s New England American Indians survived and changed as their world changed but always on the landscape of their ancestors. One of the keys to survival as well as adaptation is the maintenance of tradition. The natural world of New England holds special meaning and connects today’s American Indians to their ancestors through stories, ceremonies, special places, medicinal plants, animals and their habitats; mineral concentrations and a myriad of other subtle characteristics of the New England environment. Thus what we today call “Traditional Cultural Properties” in all their forms are essential components of a survival mechanism that has served New England’s American Indians for millennia. The consideration and protection of these resources is mandated through law and regulation. Michael Roberts Groton, MA

What I Believe I believe that the universe is a song sung by the Creator. The harmonies and harmonics create matter and energy. The distance between notes creates time. And I believe the song is about Love and Hate Galaxies and Mouse whiskers Good and Evil Hard and Soft Courage and Cowardice Joy and Misery Babies and Black holes Balance And I believe we can use the song to make our lives better or worse. The song flows through us and around us. And I believe the song tells us we are all related. We are brother and sister to the ant, the tree, the rock, the rain, a supernova. And I believe we hear the song in the ripple of a brook. In a clap of thunder. In the song of a bird. In words from a friend. In the calving of a glacier. The wind in the trees. The pain in our back. The growing of grass. A flower. And I believe we are meant to be in harmony with the song. And I believe the indigenous people of Mother Earth have heard the song for thousands of years. In it they recognize the gifts of Respect, Love, Bravery, Truth, Wisdom, Humility and Honesty. They call it spirit or chi or the force.

Zhinguak 2008

Orientation and Context

Boozhoo. Hello.

Zhinguak indishnicauze. Zhinguak is my name.

Ajijak dodem. Crane is my clan.

I am not only introducing myself to you but to all of Spirit World who are here with us and will know who is speaking about them. Boozhoo nindinawaymaginaag â&#x20AC;&#x201C; jawaynimishin wedocowashin ge guyaco bimoseyan omah aki. Hello all my relations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; forgive me if I make a mistake, help me to walk the straight path here on earth.

Stepping into another world “They call it spirit or chi or the force” “ One tribe may call this energy Orenda, another tribe may describe it as Puha, a third may refer to it as Manitou, and yet a fourth may refer to this presence as Skan, implying energy with but a hint of personality.” (DeLoria)

To get the greatest benefit from the following material it will be important for the reader to understand as much as can be understood by non-indigenous people raised in western traditions of the world, about the people whose values have been honed from millennia of watching, listening, dreaming and living the natural world around them. They have learned to understand their Universe from the heart of Mother Earth to its furthest reaches. They recognize the existence of this energy, accept it and interact with it with little fuss and welcome it as an old familiar friend.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE READER MUST CHANGE THEIR OWN BELIEFS, BUT IT DOES MEAN THAT THE READER MUST UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT OTHERS BELIEVE.

One way we can come to an understanding of this energy is through popular movies. Yoda of “Star Wars” calls it “the Force . . . through us, around us, throughout the Universe.” In the movie Avatar, the world is interconnected and everything and everyone communicates. Another way of understanding this energy comes from a totally different source – the world of the Theoretical Physicist. Two new ideas in theoretical physics are beginning to look a lot like this mysterious force. String theorists tell us that at the very heart of atomic particles are strings. Strings vibrating at the unique frequency of the particular atomic element they inhabit. Thus within a rock are a mass of vibrating strings giving “Spirit” to the object we once considered inanimate. We are also told that there is dark energy. Energy which makes up 75% of the energy in the universe and connects to and is in the spaces within each atom 15

down to the level of vibrating strings. Wouldn’t it be great if we could call this force Love? And doesn’t this feel hauntingly like the world known and understood for thousands of years by indigenous peoples throughout the world including the first peoples of Turtle Island? Indeed the ancient Olmec peoples of modern Mexico knew of this force and called it intent. And let’s not forget, regardless of who is reading this, we were ALL tribal peoples at one time. Which implies that we all understood these ideas at some time in the past.

Vine DeLoria Speaks Vine DeLoria, noted spokesman for indigenous peoples, in working to explain these concepts wrote the following: Native and tribal peoples experience and intuit beneath the plenitude of physical entities in the natural world, the presence of a mysterious, personal energy. One tribe may call this energy Orenda, another tribe may describe it as Puha, a third may refer to it as Manitou, and yet a fourth may refer to this presence as Skan, implying energy with but a hint of personality. In general these words indicate an apprehension of the basic life-force of the universe which flows through or is found in everything. Inherent in this concept is the idea of a guided mission or plan which directs the universe to proceed along certain lines. The task of our species is to become positively aligned with that direction and maintain a balance between the seen and unseen forces that constitute our world. Aside from the words describing the existence of this energetic presence, unlike western and world religions, there is little effort made by traditional practitioners to achieve a clear definition of the substance, the role, or the meaning of this presence. There is, in fact, extreme reluctance to pronounce the sacred name of this mysterious presence and consequently the language of allusion and indirect discourse are used when referring to this mystery. Many tribes have the same prohibition on speaking the sacred name that we see in the Old Testament tradition regarding the Hebrew God. Sacredness, in its first and deepest encounter, requires that a boundary of respect be drawn around our experience and/or knowledge of this personal energetic presence. At the very deepest levels of religious knowledge, Native people do not, and as a rule will not, speculate on the basic functions of ultimate reality. They simply accept it as a given. (Author’s emphasis.) 16

In the book Spiritual Ecology Geneen Marie Haugen asks:

If we approached rivers, mountains, dragonflies, redwoods and reptiles as if all are alive, intelligent, suffused with soul, imagination and purpose, what might the world become? Who would we become if we participated intentionally with such an animate Earth? Would the world quicken with life if we taught our children – and ourselves! – to sing and celebrate the stories embedded in the body of Earth, in the granite bones of mountains and rainy sky tears, in trembling volcanic bellies and green scented hills? What if we apprehended that by nourishing the land and creatures with generous praise and gratitude, with our remembrance or tears, we rejuvenate our own relationship with the wild Earth, and possibly revitalize the anima mundi – or soul of the world? In the world of the Creator’s Original Instructions, these are not questions – these are facts.

Vine DeLoria continues:

Manifestations of the Mysterious Presence In spite of the speculations of non-Indian scholars, and the sometimes compliant agreement of some Native spokespeople, Native peoples do have a keen sense of the historical process and of the passage of time. Consequently the cumulative historical experiences of each tribe have been distilled over millennia into a complex network of interrelated stories and scenarios in which the interactive experiences of these people with this mysterious power have taken concrete historical-event form. Most tribal traditions begin with the process of creation, continue with migration traditions in which the people move through a variety of worlds, through changing conditions within a particular world, or in pilgrimages across now-familiar landscapes to arrive at designated locations where they are instructed to live. A significant proportion of ceremonial activity enacts the primordial experience of creation or migration and is understood as the primary balancing of cosmic forces to ensure continued existence of the world as we know it. 17

During the course of the historical journey made by each American Indian tribe, events of major significance take place and various personalities emerge which represent the dominant expressions of this mysterious universal power for the life of any particular tribal people. These personalities are not "gods" in the sense that peoples from the western tradition describe their historical religious personalities but they are endowed with a sacredness which stands in direct contrast to secular activities and beliefs. These personalities are more generally described as "spirits" which is to say that while they have specific roles to play in the creation and continuation of the physical universe, and in the definition of meaning for human societies, they are also known by specific personality traits which in turn define their relationships with human beings and with each other.

Each and every entity that helps to constitute the natural world is believed to partake of the mysterious personal energy and to have parity with every other entity in the sense that all together share responsibility for the physical world and for the creation of meaning within its moving processes as seen in the passage of time. No entity in and of itself has value exceeding that of any other but the roles which various entities are asked to play may vary considerably in significance when understood from the human perspective. Given this cosmic parity, there is very little emphasis on "worshiping" these other entities. Rather the concentration is that of petitioning the spirit to assist the human in certain kinds of tasks and in certain kinds of situations. Ceremonial focus could be said to consist of petitions and thanksgivings for past assistance.

Understanding the Nature of Symbolism In the western European religious tradition, in its American stepchild (American Christianity), and in some of the non-western world religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism we find a great complex of symbols which remind us of the basic features of religious story lines. Symbols "stand for" realities that we acknowledge as being important to our religious expression. While the symbol may invoke great emotional response in those who see it, there is a sense in which the symbol serves primarily as a communications device and 18

does not, in and of itself, participate in the religious experience. In the western context, when we say that a symbol "represents" a certain religious reality, we intend to communicate the importance of remembering how that particular thing fits into the total scope of our religious understanding. But we intend to convey the meaning that the symbol "stands for" another, higher reality, and that the symbol is not, in and of itself, sacred. Hence we are generally speaking of a device for recalling important teachings.

The Native American and other tribal traditions do not use symbols in this sense. When a religious practitioner in an American Indian ritual or ceremony states that a rock represents the earth or a familiar mountain, the designation means that the earth or the mountain is actually present in the ceremony, present in the same way as if the entity had personally sent a representative to the ceremony with full instructions to participate in the proceedings. Insisting that the entity is actually present means that the ceremonial event is a real and integral part of the ongoing cosmic process. The event then has a historical content and is not simply an occasion when clarity of purpose or communication has been established. In a real sense it is a special kind of intervention in the cosmic process to give meaningful focus to future activities. When the Sioux could no longer use the buffalo in one of their ceremonies there was great debate over which of the new domestic animals brought by the white man could be safely used as a substitute for the bison. Similarities in morphology, function, personal characteristics, and ways of relating to human beings were discussed before it was agreed that the sheep could be used as a substitute for certain kinds of rituals. But some ceremonies have simply been abandoned because they were so animal or bird-specific that substitution could not be made. As an example, occasionally participants in an Eagle Dance will relate how they found themselves suddenly high in the sky circling the dance pavilion, actually experiencing what it means to be an eagle. Other times in Visions, the Eagle appears at first as a human being and then becomes transformed into an eagle. In these two instances we see the sacred dimension of being able to experience what other entities feel and understand about the world. People can feel what it is like to be a plant or animal and, we assume, these other creatures can know what it is like to be human.

What it means These ideas set the context for understanding the nature of the Medicine Wheel and the Seven Gifts. Safe to say that when you believe that everything is endowed with spirit and is equal to all other components of the Universe, your relationship to the Universe changes and you can more readily see how our lives and actions affect the nature of balance within the Universe and thus the health and balance of our world and ourselves. Understanding the ideas of the Medicine Wheel and the Seven Gifts are important prerequisites for lighting the Eighth Fire.

What is the Eighth Fire? Above we have introduced the idea of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eight Fire.â&#x20AC;? This idea comes from a prophecy of the Anishinabeg. Much of this prophecy has come to be over the history of the people from the time they left the Eastern Door to today. There are many versions of the prophecy. The one below I like the best as it is associated with a well-written history of its fulfillment and identifies the path of the spirit and the path of the mind as the fork in the road leading to the Eighth Fire or disaster.

The Prophecy of the Seven Fires (www.7fires.org)

Then seven prophets appeared to the people. The First Prophet told the people that in the time of the First Fire they would leave their homes by the sea and follow the sign of the megis (Cowrie shell). They were to journey west into strange lands in search of an island in the shape of a turtle. This island will be linked to the purification of the earth. Such an island was to be found at the beginning and at the end of their journey. Along the way they would find a river connecting two large sweet water seas. This river would be narrow and deep as though a knife had cut through the land. They would stop seven times to create villages but they would know that their journey was complete when they found food growing on the water. If they did not leave, there would be much suffering and they would be destroyed. And they would be pursued and attacked by other nations along the way so they must be strong and ready to defend themselves. 21

The Second Prophet told them they could recognize the Second Fire because while they were camped by a sweet water sea they would lose their direction and that the dreams of a little boy would point the way back to the true path, the stepping stones to their future. The Third Prophet said that in the Third Fire the Anishinabeg would find the path to the lands prepared for them and they would continue their journey west to the place where food grows upon the water.

The Fourth Prophet was two who came as one. The first told them to expect a race of people who had light skin. The future of the Anishinabeg would be known by the face the lightskinned people would wear. If they come in brotherhood there would be a time of wonderful change. New knowledge would be joined with the old knowledge and the two peoples would join to make a mighty nation. Two other nations would join to make four and they would become the mightiest nation of all. If they brought only their knowledge and their good-will they would be like brothers.

The second being of the Fourth Prophet warned the light-skinned race might wear the face of death that would almost look the same as the face of brotherhood. "If they come carrying a weapon and if they seem to be suffering, beware. Behind this face is greed. You shall recognize the face of death if the rivers are poisoned and the fish are unfit to eat."

The Fifth Prophet said that in the time of the Fifth Fire there will be a struggle between the way of the mind of the light-skinned people and the natural path of spirit of the many nations of natural people. "As this fire loses its heat there will come among the people those who promise great joy and salvation. If the people accept this promise and abandon the old ways, the struggle will continue for many generations. This promise is false and it will nearly destroy those who accept it."

The Sixth Prophet told them that in the time of the Sixth Fire it would be clear that the promise accepted during the Fifth Fire was false. "Those who were deceived by this promise will take their children away from the teachings of the elders. The elders will lose their purpose in life and many will become sick and die. Many people will be out of balance and the cup of life will become the cup of grief." 22

The Seventh Prophet was younger than the others who had come and there was a glowing light from his eyes. He said that there would come a time when the waters had been so poisoned that the animals and plants that lived there would fall sick and begin to die. Much of the forests and prairies would be gone so the air would begin to lose the power of life. The way of the mind brought to the red, black, and yellow nation by the white nation would bring danger to the whole earth. In this time there will be a new people who will emerge from the clouds of illusion. They will retrace their steps to find the treasures that had been left by the trail. The stories that had been lost will be returned to them. They will remember the Original Instructions and find strength in the way of the circle. Their search will take them to the elders and the new people will ask for guidance. But many of the elders will have walked the Path of the Souls to the Star Web. Many elders will have forgotten their wisdom and they will not be able to help. Some of the elders will point in the wrong direction and others will remain silent because of their fear. Some of the elders will be silent because no one has asked them for their wisdom.

If the New People will find trust in the way of all things, in the circle, they will no longer need the selfish voice of the ego and they can begin to trust their inner voice. Wisdom will be once again be found in dreams of the night and of the day. The sacred fire will once again be lit. The Light-skinned People will be given a choice between two paths. If they choose the right path the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth Fire and final fire of brotherhood and sisterhood. If they choose the wrong path, remaining on the path of the mind, then the destruction they brought with them will come back to destroy them. The people of the earth will experience much suffering and death. (Authors emphasis)

There are many versions of this prophecy which identify the two paths as the path of the natural way or the path of technology, leaving many readers to believe that all technology is a bad thing. But technology to many is a good thing. We know from archaeology and anthropology that the ancient ones used technology to help them live in the sometimes harsh environments they found in their movement over the land of Turtle Island. The thrusting spear was adapted to the atlatl (the spear thrower) which in turn was replaced by the bow and arrow. The many finely crafted â&#x20AC;&#x153;arrowheadsâ&#x20AC;? illustrate an evolution in lithic technology that 23

few today can replicate. The invention of irrigation, ceramic pottery, woven basketry and many other inventions of daily life are testament to the skill and ingenious use of materials and characteristics of Mother Earth that are properly characterized as “technology.” We know that today there are many Native American engineers and scientists who are also walking the “Red Road.” Accordingly, I do not believe that the right and wrong paths are defined as nature verses technology. The Seven Fires prophecy of the “path of the mind,” I believe, reveals the real divergence that will lead to the Eighth Fire or disaster. This notion describes the imbalance in much of the world with its glorification of “more stuff,” more knowledge, more money, and more power without considering the effect of these ideas on the seventh generation or the consequences on our children, grandchildren and beyond. “We must walk softly on the earth as our children’s faces are looking up at us,” Oren Lyons instructs us. What IS missing on the path of the mind is RESPECT for the technology. The Deer in the North (the quadrant of the Mind) reminds us to listen to our intuition when assessing the values of a new technology and integrate that assessment of the good and the bad to obtain a balanced perspective of the value to the world. This is part of the “original Instructions.” It will be this respect that makes the inventor or user step back for a moment to understand the technology in full; how its use will fit within the guidance of the Seven Gifts; and to warn others of the limits and hazards associated with the technology. This respect is a kind of sustainability checklist that can be widely understood and easily implemented.

The Medicine Wheel tells us that our mental being must be balanced with our emotional being, our physical being and our spiritual being. It tells us that it was being out of balance that made the “people” so miserable in earlier times. That’s why we believe that learning the lessons of the Seven Gifts and the Medicine Wheel are critically important to guide us along the right path to the Eighth Fire. The choice is before us. Which one will we take? If we are to 24

be the New People we will find trust in the way of all things (by living the Seven Gifts) and in the circle (Medicine Wheel). We will no longer need the selfish voice of the ego, and we can begin to trust our inner voice and become nurtured by the warmth of the Eighth Fire. (Adapted from the prophecy above).

Where These Ideas Came From The Algonquian peoples of the northern woodlands hold a tradition that Seven Grandfathers gave the people Seven Teachings or gifts by which to live in harmony with all creation. While different groups may know them by different names, the Anishinabeg peoples (the Ojibwa, Odawah, and Potawatomi among others) who originally lived by the Eastern Door of Turtle Island, know them as RESPECT, LOVE, BRAVERY, TRUTH, WISDOM, HUMILITY and HONESTY. Many indigenous peoples hold similar traditions as do many modern religions. We will explore each of the grandfather’s seven gifts, which many indigenous peoples call “our original instructions” from the Creator. We will discuss how we can use them in our daily lives to make the lives of others and ourselves better, to begin healing our Mother Earth and to live meaningful lives. Before we explore each teaching we will explore the Medicine Wheel which represents the Universe. It leads us to the concept of BALANCE, and the proper order of things. It is necessary in understanding and living of the seven teachings. Our explorations will examine the opposite of each teaching as this is necessary for balance, and help us to better understand the teaching itself; recognize that opposite; and protect ourselves from letting it overtake our lives. No presentation of the Grandfathers’ Seven Gifts can avoid the importance of The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway by Edward Benton-Banai. Dedicated to the students of The Little Red Schoolhouse in Saint Paul, MN, the book has reached around the world as an ambassador from Spirit World. It is one of the keys to walking the path to the time of the Eighth Fire. Published in 1988, it brought questions from some as to the appropriateness of presenting Anishinabeg spiritual information to the wider world. As it has turned out it has been an invaluable resource for Anishinabeg around the globe and a source of pride and information for elders as well as school children who are recovering their heritage. Check out web sites for First Nations villages from the isolated far north to Anishinabeg organizations of inner cities. Virtually all of them draw on The Mishomis Book for many of their teaching tools. Many of these invite non-Anishinabeg to participate in the teachings in the spirit of reaching the time of the Eighth Fire. They do not all use the exact words of the book (although some do). Some modify the words as inspired by their own elders and Spirit World, 26

but never the meanings. What follows is a synthesis of many of these sources designed to help as many people as possible learn of these ways to improve their lives in a sustainable way and prepare to become citizens of the Eighth Fire.

The following story is adapted from The Mishomis Book.

How the Medicine Wheel and the Gifts Were Given Long long ago before the great migrations, the people (the two-legged) were having a very hard time. There was unhappiness everywhere. They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know when the right time to hunt was, to plant, to collect berries, when was the right time to honor their ancestors, to honor their plant and animal relations. Everything was â&#x20AC;&#x153;all messed up.â&#x20AC;? Some of the people hated some other people. They would lie, cheat and tell false stories to get other people to follow them. They were on a path to go over a cliff. There was chaos. The people were always crying, and starving and confused and angry and unhappy.

The Creator saw that they needed help. They needed balance and order in their lives and a suite of VALUES that they could rely on to help them live meaningful lives and be blessings to the world. So she asked the Seven Grandfathers (who were the caretakers of the earth) to help.

The grandfathers began looking for someone to give sacred teachings that would help the people. They asked Nigig the Otter to seek out someone to give these teachings. Nigig searched all over the earth for someone but always the grandfathers found some flaw in the candidate. Finally Nigig brought a newborn baby boy to the grandfathers and they saw that he was the perfect person for the job. They told Nigig to show the baby all the universe that the Creator had sung so that he could be prepared to receive the gifts. After many years they returned. Thereupon each grandfather gave the man (he had grown by now) a gift represented by a colored piece of cloth. The man was to give the gifts to the people to help them understand how to treat each other, all their relations, Spirit World, Mother Earth and all of Creation and to become blessings to the world.

The Medicine Wheel How the Medicine Wheel Was Given. Mishomis tells us that after the gifts were given, Nigig the Otter accompanied the man (who was getting pretty old by now) back to his village in order to give the teachings to the people. As they approached the village Nigig noticed how poor and hungry the people were. Otter realized that the people did not have the power of the four directions to help them order their lives. Ordering their lives would be necessary before they could effectively use the Seven Gifts. He called the people to explain these powers. He dove into the nearby lake and swam to the east and back to the center, then south and back to the center, then west and back and finally north and back (always returning to the center of balance of the wheel). He then accompanied the man to his village. The man was reunited with his parents and his relatives and friends.

What was it that Nigig noticed as he observed the people? I believe that he noticed that they had little understanding of their relationship to the earth and the greater universe. No symbols of a spiritual life relating to the four directions could be seen. There was no sign of ceremonies being given to honor Spirit World. No sign that they understood the value of sacred medicines and how and when to seek them from Spirit World existed. In short they had no spiritual life. What Nigig gave them was the gift of understanding TIME and its relationship to the turning of the Earth and the Universe on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. He helped them understand the ebb and flow of Spirit World throughout the year that had to be honored by all of creation. A gift that every plant, animal, insect and living thing except humans had known from the beginning of time. As the Shakers say â&#x20AC;&#x153;a simple gift.â&#x20AC;?

With this gift the People could organize their lives. They no longer interupted sleeping spirits in the Winter. They knew that Spring was the time much of Spirit World came back to life and that young things should be honored as new life began. They understood that Summer was the time of seeking and coming of age. They knew that adults worked to prepare their families for Winter as they gathered food and medicines in the Fall. They knew that winter 28

was the time when stories of the ancestors and spirits could be told by the elders. Most of all, they recognized that there was a creator who had organized the universe and there was a natural order to all of Creation.

Once they had the Medicine Wheel and understood its power, the People could explore more of it and build on the basic teachings. This has led to the many teachings of the different tribes related to the Wheel.

Vine DeLoria explains these ideas in more depth: The purpose of the physical universe (as represented by the Medicine Wheel), in its most pristine sense, is the coordinated participation of every entity in the activity of full realization of potential. In its purest form the Native American view of the universe is a ritual expression of possibilities and potential performed by various entities coordinated in fulfilling relationships. This expression depends on the awareness of every entity of its responsibility and the relationship of that role to the functions performed by others. The ceremony is a coming-together of the various entities and the merging of the various experiences of individual time to produce a ceremonial moment in which something new in the cosmos takes place.

Obviously, within the physical universe, it is extremely difficult to correlate the "times" of each entity to produce this moment of complete coordination. The world as we experience it, therefore, is a product of the activities of all entities as they attempt to correlate their personal times with the larger cosmic process. "Religion" as practiced and experienced within American Indian tribal communities is a series of rituals with various origin points in the past practiced in an effort to bring harmony and coordination to the present physical universe.

Unlike the Mass or the Passover which both commemorate past historical religious events and which believers understand as also occurring in a timeless setting beyond the reach of the corruption of temporal processes, Native American religious practitioners are seeking to introduce a sense of order into the chaotic physical present as a prelude to experiencing the universal moment of complete fulfillment. Consequently Native American rituals are designed to deal with immediate adjustments of the situation confronting human beings. What may appear to be the most insignificant ritual may actually have great significance in formulating 30

the completeness of the whole. A healing ceremony, for instance, would adjust the health condition of the person receiving the healing, the spirits participating would be able to bring their healing powers into the physical universe, and the other entities, birds, plants, and animals, would experience joy and fulfillment in assisting in the corrective measures being taken.

Participation in ritual activity places on the practitioner a moral/ethical burden in which responsibility for the well-being of the other entities which assisted in the ceremony are assumed. Even when the ceremony requires the killing of a bird or animal or the complete destruction of the plant, it becomes the task of humans to ensure that the other entities have not made sacrifices of their lives in vain. In a real sense, for most Native American traditions, the human being acts as facilitator for a variety of other entities in creating the ceremonial or ritual moment and setting to generate the experience of cosmic completeness of all participating entities. Rituals which ensure the continuation or renewal of the world, or which express thanksgiving for the physical world as we know it can be said to be performed for the benefit of other creatures and only minimally for our species.

Living in Balance We have learned that the Medicine Wheel and Seven Gifts are important tools for helping each of us better understand ourselves and how we should relate to all of Creation as the Creator instructed at the beginning of this world. Like an automobile tire or a spiral galaxy, balance is required to keep them from coming apart and doing damage to Creation.

Both the Medicine Wheel and the Seven Gifts help us to understand ourselves and readies us to live meaningful lives. When you understand yourself you can see what you need to do to recover that balance you had before you left the Creator’s side. You can use the knowledge and power of the Medicine Wheel to help you walk through the world in balance, honoring all of Creation; to “walk the straight path here on earth.” With these gifts we can explore the Medicine Wheel and use its teachings to learn how to be “a blessing to the world.”

As the people explored the Medicine Wheel they discovered that each person in the human family is a link between the individual, Mother Earth and Father Sky and required the understanding of SEVEN directions: the four cardinal directions, plus the sky, the earth and each individual’s heart at the center of each personal wheel. The Medicine Wheel graphic above is the wheel of all mankind as I learned it from Larry and contains guidance in balance for us all. But each of us is an individual as we will learn by studying that gift of Wisdom. As we stand between earth and sky we must understand ourselves and our hearts and how each of us can honor the Creator and contribute to our communities. The seventh direction is the key to that understanding.

(Anishinabe) Elder Lillian Pitawanakwat helps us understand this seventh direction and says: Welcome to this sacred knowledge that’s been gifted to us, to all the two-legged that walk on Mother Earth. These teachings that are being shared are sacred teachings. From tribe to tribe, the details may differ but the basic teachings are the same. They have been followed and shared for many, many years. So we honor the ancestors, the ones that have walked before us, because they’re the ones that sat in circles many times before, and prayed that their children

and their grandchildren would follow in their path. When we honor the ancestors, we honor ourselves.

The Teachings of the Medicine Wheel are vast. There are seven teachings within each direction on the Ojibwe wheel, and all these have sub-teachings to them, such as where all the medicines like sweetgrass came from, and what they mean. The four directions of the Medicine Wheel remind us of many things, such as the need for balance in the world, and the balance we must strive for everyday within ourselves.

At its center (unseen in the wheel above), is the red of the heart representing the seventh direction the “fire within.” Each of us carries a fire within. Whether it’s through the knowledge we have, or through our experiences and associations, we are responsible for maintaining that fire. And so as a child, when my mother and father would say, at the end of the day “My daughter, how is your fire burning?” it would make me think of what I’ve gone through that day: if I’d been offensive to anyone, or if they have offended me. I would reflect on that because it has a lot to do with nurturing the fire within. And so we were taught at a very early age to let go of any distractions of the day by making peace within ourselves, so that we can nurture and maintain our fire.

We have many teachings on the value of nurturance. When I was a child my father told us about the Rose Story. He said the Creator asked the flower people, “Who among you will bring a reminder to the two-legged about the essence of life?” The buttercup answered, “I will, Creator, I will.” And the Creator said, “No, you can’t, because you’re too bright.” All of the flowers offered their help. At the very end the rose said, “Let me remind them with my essence, so that in times of sadness, and in times of joy, they will remember how to be kind to themselves.”

So the Creator, the Master Gardener, took a seed of the rose and planted it in Mother Earth. The winds tilled the soil and the warm rains gave it water until a very small sprout came through the ground. Day after day it grew. The stem sprouted little thorns that were very, very sharp. After the thorns came the little leaves. As time went on, a little bud formed. After much care this little bud bloomed into a full rose. And so life is like a rose. The thorns are our life’s journey; without them we would lack the hard-won teachings that we need in order to grow. Life’s experiences make us who we are. And like the rose, we too decay and die many times in a life time only to come back to fruition again and again, after reflection, meditation, awareness, acceptance and surrender.

My father told us the rose is both life and its gifts. So when I am making my own Medicine Wheel, I put the rose in the centre as a reminder of my own life’s journey and its gifts. For this, I say “meegwetch” Thank you.

The connection from our Mother Earth (brown) through the “fire within” (red) to the universe (blue) is required to keep our personal Medicine Wheels in balance. If those connections get broken we quickly become unstable and lose our balance and our ability to be in harmony with the song of the Creator. These connections get broken when we forget that everything is connected by spirit world, forget to realize that we are related to all things in Creation and we no longer respect “all our relations”

This is my Wheel and my Seven Colors

Organizing and Balancing the Universe Directions The four directions of the Medicine Wheel are sometimes called “the Four Winds.” In North America (Turtle Island) winds may come from any of the four quadrants of the Medicine Wheel. Depending on where you live these winds may seem to have their own personalities. In the northeast woodlands, the east wind can sometimes be called a Nor’easter, which brings strong damaging winds. Winds from the south can be warm and gentle but sometimes bring hurricanes and tornados. Western winds are the “weather bringers” as stormy weather generally comes from the western quadrant. The northern winds sweeping down from Canada in the winter can bring temperatures and wind chills to zero or below and require significant preparation to survive. The gift of understanding time and its relationship to well-being and survival was, as one anthropologist noted, “the roots of civilization.” Indigenous peoples for millennia observed their environment and took note of every change of every characteristic of that environment. As a result, whether nomadic or sedentary, they developed sophisticated astronomies integrated with the observed environment by which to order their lives. The movement of the sun, moon and stars and the stories around these movements helped the People transmit this information down through the ages. The relationship among the four directions and the movement of the cosmos helps to provide a sense of order and logic to a life in close harmony with the Creator. To understand the Truth of this relationship is to love Creation and be in harmony with the song of the Creator.

Colors Each of the colors represents one of the four races of mankind. Notice that each color is an equal quadrant of the full circle. The red races are equal to the black races, the yellow races, and the white races. The Medicine Wheel reminds us of this equality and the balance within the human family. To respect this equality helps us to balance our lives and honor the Creator.

Seasons The Medicine Wheel identifies the natural progression of the seasons. This is useful in establishing the order of ceremonies throughout the year. The seasons also help to remind us when to prepare for changes in climate, resource availability, and living conditions, all of which must be respected at the risk of life.

Animals Migizi the Eagle lives at that Eastern Door, the direction of sunrise. As the sun rises, more and more of the land becomes visible, which helps us to see the “big picture.” So also for Migizi – the higher he flies the more of the world and the world’s truth is revealed, which he then communicates to the Creator..

Amik the Beaver has the Wisdom to work hard to build for his community by using the tools given by the Creator. Look for him in the yellow of summertime preparing his lodge and pond for the coming of Fall and Winter. Makwah the Bear teaches us about looking within – introspection. At the end of the day as we watch the sun slide down through the gathering dark we look within and examine the events of the day and think about coming days. It is here that, as Grandmother Lillian teaches us, we look to the fire within. Bear also teaches us about the importance of the vision quest and fasting. It is through this experience that we learn about ourselves and our relationship to Spirit World and perhaps are given a glimpse into our future. These insights give us the strength and Courage to walk through hard times and create lives that are a blessing to the world.

Wawashkashi the Deer, by virtue of his speed and strong lungs, is related to the four winds and lives in the north. Deer is a gentle being and although he lives with the fierce winter storms, he reminds us that through the Creator’s Love there is gentleness in the fiercest places if you understand and Respect yourself and Mother Earth. Deer also teaches us to follow our intuition and listen to the silent advice of creation in your mind.

Our Well-being or Happiness For the â&#x20AC;&#x153;two-legged,â&#x20AC;? one of the most important lessons of the Medicine Wheel is the balancing of our human characteristics to become fully complete and happy people. Everyone holds within themselves each of these four characteristics in varying concentrations. It is the teaching of the wheel to come into balance.

Emotional Being Animals, including humans, communicate with their emotions either directly or indirectly through expression, tone of voice and other clues. There are times when more emotion is a good thing and when too much emotion can lead to wars and killing. A well-balanced human has learned how to control emotions in measure to the circumstance.

Physical Being Our physical being is the vehicle by which we interact with all of creation. If we neglect it or overuse it, it may fail and we will lose the opportunities set before us by the Creator. Our physical being speaks to us in the song of the Creator, and if we are well balanced we can pay attention to the song and adjust our behavior to keep from damaging ourselves, thus allowing us to be blessings to the world for as long as possible.

Spiritual Being Our spiritual being is the most vulnerable characteristic. If we are not watchful we can neglect this part of our being, which acts as the web holding all the other characteristics in place. Our spiritual being is like a radio receiver that is tuned to the Creatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s song and transmits those harmonies to every cell and fiber of our being. We can choose to ignore some of those messages and as a result become unbalanced and disconnected from the universe. But the universe would be happier if we stayed in tune. 38

Mental Being In some ways our mental being is like the captain of the ship. It has the power of decision and action and without much trouble can dominate the other three characteristics. If we let our minds dominate our humanity in a bad way, it can lead to destruction. However our minds have the power to act respectfully to the Universe and to understand the hazards of unbalance. But the mind needs to be educated in order to think critically and identify well-balanced decisions and actions. The mind must listen to our emotions, our spirituality, our body, the experience of our elders, as well as the song of the Creator to identify those actions in harmony with the universe.

The Sacred Tree Another important source of information regarding the Medicine Wheel is a book titled The Sacred Tree, published by the Four Worlds Development Project. It is the realization of information developed at a conference held in Lethbridge, Canada. Participants in the conference were Native elders, spiritual leaders, and professionals of various Native communities in North America. The book is designed to be a tool for education and to be used in programs dedicated to Native alcohol and drug abuse prevention. It uses the Medicine Wheel as the symbol of the Sacred Tree which in turn represents the Universe. Concentrating on the four characterizations of well-being/happiness the book makes further contribution to our understanding of the Medicine Wheel. In particular the teachings of Grandmother Lillian regarding the “fire within.”

Volition Another name for the “fire within” is volition. We can use our volition (i.e., our will) to help us develop the four aspects of our nature. Volition is the force that helps us make decisions and then act to carry out those decisions. We can learn to exercise our volition by carrying out each of its five steps: 1. Attention 39

2. Goal setting 3. Initiating the action 4. Perseverance 5. Completing the action Since volition is a primary force in developing all of our human potentialities, it is placed at the center of the medicine wheel.

Vision We gain a vision of what our potential is from our elders and from the teachings of the Sacred Tree. By trying to live up to that vision and by trying to live like people we admire, we grow and develop. Our vision of what we can become is a strong magnet pulling us toward it.

Growth and Change All human beings have the capacity to grow and change. The four aspects of our nature (the physical, the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual) can be developed when we have a vision of what is possible and when we use our volition to change our actions and our attitudes so that they are closer to our vision of a happy, healthy human being.

Identity A personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity consists of: 1. Body awareness: how you experience your physical presence 2. Self-concept: what you think about yourself and your potential 3. Self-esteem: how you feel about yourself and your ability to grow and change 4. Self-determination: your ability to use your volition (will) to actualize your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual potentialities

Values Values are the way human beings pattern and use their energy. If there is not a balance between our values concerning ourselves and our values concerning others, we cannot continue to develop our true potential as human beings. Indeed, if there is an imbalance, individuals, and whole communities suffer and even die.

The seven gifts are the values offered by the Creator to help the people live happy and useful lives and to build communities that are blessings to the world.

A well-balanced life is ready to walk the path to the Eighth Fire.

Other teachings of the Medicine Wheel we will leave to nature and to our elders. An important source for this is The Sacred Tree which we recommend for everyone. In addition we recommend that readers create their own Medicine Wheel and establish their own balance from Father Sky to Mother Earth. One approach to doing this is to create your own sacred space in the form of a Medicine Wheel garden. Guidance for this comes from The Medicine Wheel Garden by E. Barrie Kavasch. This reference was used to build the Medicine Wheel Garden at the First Parish Church â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Unitarian (Groton, MA).

Medicine wheel garden at First Parish Church Unitarian, Groton, MA

The pole at the center is a “Peace Pole” with the message “Let Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight different languages – English, Ojibway, Gaelic, Tibetan, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Hebrew.

The Seven Gifts (Teachings), Values or Sacred Laws The seven gifts are the values offered by the Creator to help the people live happy and useful lives and to build communities that are blessings to the world.

The Turtle Lodge Lighting the Eighth Fire will take many people working together with a clear set of values, guided by the Creator and strong against those who would try to keep this from happening. My teacher (Larry) told me that all any of us could do was to put our shoulder to the wheel and move it as much as we could. One who has moved the wheel a great deal already is Anishinabe elder David Courchene who founded the Turtle Lodge in Manitoba, Canada, and who teaches the Seven Sacred laws to all who would hear him.

(From turtlelodge.org) Dave Courchene Jr. – Nii Gaani Aki Innini (Leading Earth Man) has travelled internationally, carrying a message of hope and peace. Dave shares ancient Indigenous knowledge that he believes can act as the foundation in supporting the New Life that Mother Earth is now entering, and that the Elders have confirmed has arrived. He has created a special place for sharing ancient Indigenous knowledge – the Turtle Lodge – built based on a vision he received many years ago. Indigenous people have always relied on visions and dreams to give guidance and direction in life. Dave was honored by Indigenous leaders and Elders at the 2010 International Indigenous Leadership Gathering, and with a National Aboriginal Achievement (INDSPIRE) Award in Culture, Heritage & Spirituality, and the Volunteer Manitoba Award for Outstanding Community Leadership in 2012, for the work associated with his message and vision, including the work he has done inspiring young people.

His recent work has involved initiating International Roundtables Supporting Ancient Indigenous Knowledge at the Turtle Lodge (May 2010) and the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC (September 2010), which was co-led by US Congressman Dennis Kucinich. He delivered the Opening Keynote and conducted the Opening Ceremonies at the 2010 G8 Summit on World Religions.

In 2011, Dave shared the stage twice with the Dalai Lama to bring a message of peace in Newark, New Jersey and Monterrey, Mexico. In the Spring of 2011, Dave initiated the Makoose Ka Win and the Vision Quest rites of passage to take young people of all cultures 44

entering adulthood back to the land and to help the Elders to find their uniqueness and promote peace.” Dave’s Turtle Lodge information follows:

Our Vision The Turtle Lodge is founded upon spiritual, land-based teachings that bring balance to life. It has been built for our children ~ the center of our lives. Our fundamental goal is Mino-PiMati-Si-Win – A Good and Peaceful Way of Life. The Turtle Lodge is based on the Seven Sacred Laws and the Eight Paths of the Medicine Wheel, the ancient universal values of the Anishinabeg People of Turtle Island (North America).”

The Turtle Lodge is a place for sharing our universal and ancient knowledge, a place for reconnecting ourselves to the Earth and Nature, and also, a place for sharing among people of all races and nations.

The Turtle Lodge in Sagkeeng First Nation was built in 2002, in fulfillment of a vision received many years ago, and founded upon spiritual, land-based teachings that bring balance to life. It has been built for our children ~ the center of our lives.

The Turtle Lodge offers Children, Youth, Adults and Elders the opportunity to come together in a sacred environment for: Traditional teachings, Ceremony, Healing, and the sharing of Indigenous perspectives on how to have a good and peaceful life.

The Nature of the Seven Gifts With respect to Anishinabe Elder Dave Courchene and others who help me with the narrative (slightly adapted) I say:

Our belief system has evolved over thousands of years, now to be shared with the rest of the world. In a most humble way, in a most loving way, in a most respectful way, in a most honest way, we have come to share these teachings with the world because in our hearts we believe that if we do not share this then we stand to lose all that has been created for us.

The traditional concepts of respect and sharing that form the foundation of the aboriginal way of life are built around the seven natural laws, or sacred teachings. Each teaching honors one of the basic virtues intrinsic to a full and healthy life.

Each law is embodied by an animal to underscore the point that all actions and decisions made by people are manifest on a physical plain. The animal world taught people how to live close to the earth, and the connection that has been established between the animal world and that of people has instilled a respect for all life in those who follow the traditional Aboriginal way.

These 7 laws are symbolized and represented by animals, which reflect our connection to nature and our connection to the land. The spirituality of our people is deeply rooted and connected to the land. You cannot live on this land honoring all that there is on the land unless you understand these 7 laws. If we do not understand these 7 laws that we are inspired to live by, then there is a good chance that we will not respect the land and that we will disconnect ourselves from what comes from the land. But if we live by these 7 laws, that is when we will have a truly happy and peaceful life, in harmony with all of nature and each other as the human family.

The Seven Gifts and You. We are guided in the following posters by Migizi (the eagle) who is in regular communication with the Creator, as the animals teach us about each of the gifts (teachings).

RESPECT as Represented by – BUFFALO The Buffalo, through giving its life and sharing every part of its being, showed the deep respect it had for the people. No animal was more important to the existence of Indigenous families than this animal, and its gift provided shelter, clothing and utensils for daily living. Native people believed themselves to be true caretakers of the great herds, and developed a sustainable relationship with the Buffalo resulting in a relationship that was a true expression of respect.

If we think about it, Sustainability and Respect are interchangeable words for some things. If we Respect water, we won’t waste it or pollute it; actually, waste is a clear sign of disrespect, and waste is an unsustainable practice.

Another way to look at Respect is when we prepare a fire to warm us. In respecting that fire (ishkoday) we must start it the right way. We can’t just put some logs in the stove and try to light them with a match. We have to start with something that will burn easily like paper or birch bark, then we put some kindling in which will burn after the paper starts. The kindling

will then start the logs if they are placed right. All must be done with care and thoughtfulness of iskoday manado, the fire spirit. If you have to cut down a tree and you understand that it is your brother, you won’t waste any of it and you will offer some tobacco and explain how you need to use it.

If you respect those animals that live with you, you will treat them well, feed them on time and make sure they are supplied with water. Think Respect.

In his interview, Elder John Cappa tells us:

Grandfather picked up that cloth that represents that gift of respect. He had handed [it] to the boy. He says, “In this cloth, you will find that gift of respect, and what is respect. Respect into its fullest content, in its fullest meaning of what that word means, and to be able to absorb it and live that way, to respect all things, respect all people, respect the self.”

And he used to tell him that, “You take this gift and share it amongst people, that they will be strong, that they will be able once again, to respect all the animals, respect the trees, and leaves and waters, the grass, even those, leegaatchiin, 49

even those small little spirit beings, which are the ones that crawl on the ground, nidoonsuk, and they respect all the water beings, all the fish, and all the things that are in the waters,” say, “respect all the rocks, kinoopsiiniid all rocks, whatever type they are.”

Sometimes they talk about this old message in those rocks, when, when you find those rocks, it will tell you what it is that you were looking for.

Once again we see that to respect Creation you must also respect yourself.

Respect others, their beliefs, and respect yourself. If you cannot show Respect, you cannot expect respect to be given.

We learn from understanding the opposite.

The opposite of Respect is Disrespect. Disrespecting yourself, others, your world, is not sustainable and will lead to unbalance, destruction and unhappiness.

To dishonor any of Creation is to be disrespectful.

To honor all of the Creation is to have RESPECT.

LOVE as Represented by â&#x20AC;&#x201C; EAGLE To feel true Love is to know the Creator. Therefore, it is expected that one's first Love is to be the Great Spirit. He is considered the father of all children, and the giver of human life. Love given to the Great Spirit is expressed through Love of oneself, and it is understood that if one cannot Love oneself, it is impossible to Love anyone (anything) else.

The Eagle was chosen by the Great Spirit to represent this law, as the Eagle can reach the highest out of all the creatures in bringing pure vision to the seeker. Though the purveyor of the greatest and most powerful medicine, Love can also be the most elusive of the teachings, as it depends upon a world that acknowledges the importance of spirituality.

Perhaps we can understand about Love from the perspective of a flowering plant. In the spring, that plant begins as a seed wrapped in the arms of Mother Earth. As warmth reaches it, a sprout is sent up toward the surface. After a time the sprout breaks through the surface and sees all of Creation. The plant is so appreciative of creation that it gives its most valuable gift â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a flower.

To give Love to the Creator is to Love and honor yourself. Find out who you are, where your ancestors come from, their accomplishments, their language, everything you can. Study your 51

past and realize that we were all indigenous people at one time. My friend John (Makwah), when he learned this teaching, began studying his Irish ancestry and language. He followed the Red Road until his passing and worked to understand and use the seven gifts.

Elder John Cappa tells an interviewer: Suggestions for living the teaching. See the Creator in yourself. The other, the other grandfather, had picked up cloth, out of that â&#x20AC;&#x153;gukoohns,â&#x20AC;? and he had given him the ah, the gift of love, and all what is meant by, by love, and to, to understand that idea of love, and loving of all, all things, all creations, all people. And loving of self.

To Love yourself is to take care of yourself emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally. As we learned as we studied the Medicine Wheel.

Unconditional Love is to know that when people are weak they need your Love the most. They need to know that your Love is given freely, and you cannot put conditions on it or your Love is not true.

We learn from understanding the opposite. The opposite of Love is Hate. Hating means being willing to knowingly do harm to others and to deny the existence of the Creator. Hate is a self-centered, always angry state of mind. To know HATE is to never know peace. To know LOVE is to know peace

COURAGE as Represented by – BEAR The Bear provides many lessons in the way it lives, but Courage is the most important teaching it offers. Though gentle by nature, the ferociousness of a mother Bear when one of her cubs is approached is the true definition of Courage. To have the mental and moral strength to overcome fears that prevent us from living our true spirit as human beings is a great challenge that must be met with the same vigor and intensity as a mother Bear protecting her cub. Living of the heart and living of the spirit is difficult, but the Bear's example shows us how to face any danger to achieve these goals.

Many people believe that Courage (some call it Bravery) is willingness to get into a fight, to be macho or to be outspoken. But as I understand it, Courage is “walking through hard times.” Some of the most courageous people are those who silently live their lives not knowing how the oil bill is to be paid or where the kid’s next meal is coming from. Those people who know they have a life-threatening disease and wake each day with gratitude and just put “one foot in front of the other” throughout their day are the bravest of the brave. Courage is also shown in “speaking truth to power.”

To be brave however requires us to understand ourselves and our values and to live by those values (these seven gifts). Not everyone wants to stand out from the crowd and do things differently from everyone else. Some people enjoy going with the flow and being the average person. It takes courage to be different. A courageous person sees changes that need to be made in their lives, family or situation and despite opposition, goes forward and makes those changes. It takes a lot of Courage to listen to your heart and to your spirit as it’s telling you what to do even when your mind tells you something else, and that’s why the Bear is there. The Bear, some say, goes out and hibernates in the winter, but Anishinabeg people don’t understand it that way. They say the Bear goes to fast. She’s fasting all winter, and this is important for us as a people; the Bear taught them how to fast, how to go on a Vision Quest; that’s where we got the Vision Quest from. The Bear fasts for Mother Earth and she fasts all winter because she’s fasting for the Earth. She represents the Love and the Courage that is needed to show that Love of the land and of life. Here is a brief checklist of Courage:  I stand up for what is right even if I stand alone  I don't cave in to negative peer pressure  Fear of failure does not prevent me from trying things  I am not afraid to express myself just because some people might disapprove  I work to solve problems without violence  I never intentionally ridicule, embarrass, or hurt others To be brave is to do something right, even if you know it's going to hurt you.

We learn from understanding the opposite. It is said that Courage is the ability to face fear and to proceed anyway. Many people get bogged down in their fears and fail to realize their goals, and the contributions they have to make to the world. Quite simply, fear can make us less than we are. To be fearful is to hide from your true self

To have Courage (Bravery) is to confront the foe (ourselves) with integrity.

HONESTY as Represented by â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SA-BE (Bigfoot) Long ago, there was a giant called Kitch-Sabe. Kitch-sabe walked among the people to remind them to be Honest to the laws of the creator and Honest to each other. The highest honor that could be bestowed upon an individual was the saying, "There walks an Honest man. He can be trusted." To be truly Honest was to keep the promises one made to the Creator, to others and to oneself. The Elders would say, "Never try to be someone else; live true to your spirit, be Honest to yourself and accept who you are the way the Creator made you."

Our great Creator chose the Sa-be (Bigfoot) to represent the spirit of honesty... it is a very hard thing to do to be honest, so maybe that is why the spirit of Sa-be (Bigfoot) is so elusive. We see it and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone because we have a hard time being honest. The elders say the best way you could show Honesty or honor the spirit of the Sa-be (Bigfoot), is to speak from your heart and listen to your spirit that has given you the inspiration of the words you are to speak. When you are Honest with yourself, you are true to the words that you speak.

As I studied this teaching I had the hardest time understanding why Bigfoot (sometimes called Sasquatch) was the representative of this teaching. One day not long after I had a glimpse of my spirit helper (a Red-Tailed Hawk, also very elusive), it came to me. Bigfoot is a gift from the Creator to show us what happens if you are NOT Honest with yourself about your true nature. Sa-be is not being Honest with himself about who he really is. Is he man or animal? Understanding who you are and what you want to be takes the study of all these gifts as balanced by the Medicine Wheel.

The peoples of the northern woods, the Anishinabeg, have a special relationship with Sa-be, who is also a forest being. He (or she) helps the people not get lost in the deep forest and helps them find medicines and other helpful plants and animals.

To be Honest is to be truthful about your behavior and to be open to understanding how your actions affect others. It is important to learn about Power and Control and how it can be misused in relationships. Honesty is to practice fairness.

To achieve Honesty within yourself, to recognize who and what you are -- do this and you can be Honest with all others

Honesty is being up front in everything that you say and do without a hidden agenda or ulterior motive.

Honesty in facing a situation is to be brave. Always be Honest in word and action. Be Honest first with yourself, and you will more easily be able to be Honest with others.

We learn from understanding the opposite.

Being dishonest is to misrepresent yourself.

Being Honest is to be yourself.

WISDOM as represented by – BEAVER The building of a community is entirely dependent on gifts given to each member by the creator and how these gifts are used. Wisdom is to know that each of us has a gift, a special gift, a unique gift. That gift is to be used to serve life, to serve humanity.

The Beaver's example of using his sharp teeth for cutting trees and branches to build his dams and lodges expresses this teaching. If that Beaver chose not to use his gift and to lay on the shore while the other beavers were working, his teeth would grow so long that he would not be able to use them and he would die, physically die. The same can be said for human beings. One's spirit will grow weak if it is not fulfilling its use. When used properly however, these gifts contribute to the development of a peaceful and healthy community. If we do not use our gift we will also die or we will become sick, mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically.

How do we find out what our gifts are? Joseph Campbell the famous scholar of all religions and traditions used to say, “Follow your bliss;”. Follow what makes you happy. For some, what they do for a living is what they love, although this sometimes changes with time. For others, they love what they do for a hobby or in their off time. Examine what you love and discover the underlying skills necessary to be 58

good at what you do. These are the gifts given by the Creator for you to help your community, your nation and the world. Sometimes it takes years of self-examination to discover your gifts but trust the Creator, they are there.

We learn from understanding the opposite.

To despise self-knowledge and not recognize your need to learn is to be very unwise.

To cherish knowledge is to know WISDOM.

HUMILITY as represented by â&#x20AC;&#x201C; WOLF Recognizing and acknowledging that there is a higher power than people and it is known as the Creator is to be deemed truly humble. To express deference or submission to the Creator through the acceptance that all beings are equal is to capture the spirit of Humility. The expression of this Humility is manifested through the consideration of others before ourselves. In this way, the Wolf became the teacher of this lesson. He bows his head in the presence of others out of deference, and once hunted, will not take of the food until it can be shared with the pack. His lack of arrogance and respect for his community is a hard lesson, but integral in the Aboriginal way. The teaching of Humility is very important in our life. Much of the division we see in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world is because people have not understood the spirit of Humility: to understand the spirit of humility is to understand that no one is above another human being. No one is greater than another human being in this life; no one is lesser than another human being. To be Humble is to see us equally in the eyes of the Great Spirit through the unconditional Love of the Great Spirit. His Love is expressed to all of us in the same way that the sun will shine on us. The sun does not choose to shine on any one person alone or any one race of people, it shines on all.

We understand that all of Creation is a circle. Everything is an equal part of the circle. There is no one person or thing dominant in the center of the circle.

Humble yourself and recognize that no matter how much you think you know, you know very little of the entire universe.

We learn from understanding the opposite.

To be arrogant and think you are better than others is to have lost all Humility.

HUMILITY is to know yourself as a sacred part of Creation.

TRUTH as Represented by - TURTLE To know Truth is to know and understand all of the original laws as given by the Creator and to remain faithful to them. It is said that in the beginning, when the Creator made the people and gave them the seven sacred laws. Grandmother Turtle was present to ensure that the laws would never be lost or forgotten. On the back of a Turtle are the 13 moons, each representing the Truth of one cycle of the Earth's rotations around the sun. The 28 markings on her back represent the cycle of the moon and of a woman's body. The shell of the Turtle represents the body as real events as created by the Higher Power, and serves as a reminder of the Creator's will and teachings.

The law and the teaching that the Grandmother Turtle carries is the teaching of Truth. According to our understanding, the meaning and the essence of Truth are all these laws that I just talked about: Truth is Love, Truth is Respect, Truth is Courage, Truth is Wisdom, Truth is Humility and Truth is Honesty--- the essence of Truth is found in all these teachings.

Each of these Seven Gifts is a word. As I was learning the Ojibway language I learned that there are four levels of understanding of words:

1. The word itself.

2. The word in a sentence.

3. The word in a conversation.

4. The total understanding of the word. For instance, Makwah is Bear. If you know the truth of this word then you know everything about that bear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; how she lives, all her behaviors, what hibernation is for, her anatomy -- everything. It takes years of study to learn this Truth.

If you put a feather at the center of a circle each member of the circle will see it slightly differently than their neighbor and none will see the hidden side. The one in the circle who knows the truth of that feather sees all sides including the hidden side.

We learn from understanding the opposite.

To not know Truth is to not know these teachings.

To know TRUTH is to know all of these teachings.

Living in Balance Today In the following sections I will try to help us apply the Creatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Original Instructions to our daily lives here in the 21st century and begin the work to light the Eighth Fire. We also want to demonstrate that the Instructions are as relevant today as when originally given.

Balance and the Seven Gifts (Teachings) So why is it that Otter would not let the man give the Teachings to the People until he had taught them about the Medicine Wheel? And why was Otter not instructed by the Grandfathers to give them the wheel? It could be that all life except humans understood the turning of the Universe, the seasons, the ebb and flow of Spirit World throughout the year. It was an integral part of their nature and had been for millennia. It was too obvious to them. Humans were a relative new comer and had not enough time to learn these lessons. And perhaps Otter being of that world and being curious and observant was the best choice to teach this important lesson. I will leave it to our elders to ponder this puzzle. Needless to say they were given the wheel and understood balance before the gifts were given.

So what is Balance? Spin a bicycle wheel that is out of Balance and you see it wobble and shake the rider and make the handle bars hard to hold. A car tire that’s out of Balance needs weights placed at strategic locations to keep it steady. In the nineteenth century keeping highspeed Pelton turbines from shaking a mill apart required perfect Balance of the turbine wheel. A special machine was invented to identify the locations on the wheel where more or less weight would bring it into Balance. That same machine is used today to Balance spinning spacecraft. This type of Balance is appropriate for Planets, Solar Systems, Galaxies and the Universe and as instruction.

There is also another type of Balance. That of the teeter-totter or Balance beam. This is used to identify when equal weights are placed on either side of a fulcrum and can be used to measure weight against standard weights. A variation on this idea is the “three Bears” type of Balance – too little, too big, just right. It is this type of Balance that is the best way to explain the application of Balance to the Seven Gifts.

Too little = disrespect Too much = If you respect someone so much that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t question them when they say something you are not sure of then you are getting out of balance. Just right = Following the Original Instructions. Respecting those who respect you, elders deserving of respect, respecting yourself, mentors, friends and others as long as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too much.

Too little = indifference/hate Too much = Sometimes you can love someone or something too much and have it take up all your energies and time, leaving you no time to acquire balance in your life (I am not sure you can love Creation too much). Just right = Love yourself, Love Creation, love your family, your community, your country, Planet Earth and your life.

Too little = being afraid, overcautious, denial, Too much = leaping before looking, false courage. Just right = walking through hard times, doing what is right when it is not easy.

Too little = dishonest Too much = It is possible to be too honest and be really hurtful. Step Nine of Alcoholics Anonymous states this idea well: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.â&#x20AC;? Just right = Knowing who you are in all things.

Too little = Isolating yourself from your community. Too Much = I am not sure that one can be too Wise but you can let others know just how wise you are and become overbearing or arrogant. Just right = Being a respectful and useful member of your community through mentoring, contribution of skills and silent helping of others

Too little = arrogance Too much = â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hiding your light under a basketâ&#x20AC;?. This results in isolation and nothing useful for your community Just right = know yourself as a sacred part of Creation equal with all the rest of creation

Too little= Not knowing the Creator’s Original Instructions. Too much = There is no “too much” in knowing the Original Instructions. Just right = Know and live all of these Gifts, Teachings, Sacred Laws, Original Instructions or whatever you choose to call them. Also remember – there is your truth, my truth and the Creator’s truth. Our goal is to bring our truth as close as possible to the Creator’s truth.

Balancing our lives to be a blessing to the world.

Once again it’s time to turn to the Medicine wheel to help figure out how to bring balance into our lives. To begin with we need to make one very big assumption – that the Creator wants all of creation to be HAPPY. Why else would she want to give the Seven Teachings to the people after seeing how UNHAPPY they were? “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Aristotle “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the only legitimate object of good government.” Thomas Jefferson

With this in mind and observing the well-being level of the Medicine Wheel we notice the balance of Emotional Being, Physical Being, Spiritual Being and Mental Being is required for a well-balanced happy life. To help us to understand how to balance this important level of our universe we can look to new cutting edge work on the nature of well-being as explored and measured by organizations like the Happiness Alliance. (www.happycounts.org). They have been measuring the happiness of individuals, organizations, communities, cities and Nations for a number of years now and have developed a database large enough to be able to advise on policy, well-being and sustainable ways of living based on people telling them how their lives are going and where there could be areas of improvement. I am convinced that we can use these modern tools to help us return to the Original Instructions as given in ancient times.

One of the newest tools of the Happiness Alliance is their Individual Happiness Handbook. We will use this tool and its ideas to help us balance the well-being level of our Medicine Wheel. The Handbook uses the ten domains of their measuring tool to recommend actions we can all take to improve our individual happiness and come closer into balance with the Original Instructions.

These are ideas; use them to also come up with your own. To increase societal well-being we need to measure well-being properly and holistically. Currently, there is no systematic data collection (other than that of the Happiness Alliance)

that shows where people are hurting or thriving. The Happiness Alliance accomplishes this task. The tools are free for everyone. They measure ten conditions for well-being. They are:

1. Material Well-being (income, financial security, debt, housing) 2. Governance (citizen engagement, media, trust, transparency) 3. Environmental Quality (water, air, soil, biodiversity, access to nature) 4. Psychological Well-being (satisfaction with life, self-esteem, spiritual activities, emotions) 5. Physical Health (health, disability, behavior patterns, sleep, nutrition) 6. Time Balance (control of time, time pressure, pace of life) 7. Community Vitality (sense of belonging, relationships, safety, volunteering) 8. Cultural Vitality (local traditions, festival, artistic skills, recreational access, core values, discrimination) 9. Education and Lifelong Learning (formal and informal education, skills, involvement in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education) 10. Workplace Experience (employment satisfaction, job conditions, productivity, compensation)

The Emotional quadrant of the Medicine Wheel Psychological Well-being (satisfaction with life, self-esteem, spiritual activities, emotions) Three things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of psychological wellbeing: About 30% to 40% of your feelings of happiness are completely under your control. ď&#x201A;ˇ

Practice Gratitude: Keep a gratitude journal and write or post online something you are grateful for each day. Thank the people in your life from the grocery clerk to your 72

closest friend and family member often. Create artwork, poems or music to express gratitude… 

Practice Altruism: Be the giver in a random act of kindness. Give someone your undivided attention and deeply listen or play. Fully share your authentic self with those you trust and love. Give someone a gift…



Practice Compassion: Spend 5 minutes or 1 hour a day practicing mindfulness through meditation, prayer or quiet thought time. Replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk. Find ways to fully accept and love yourself.

Time Balance (control of time, time pressure, pace of life) Three things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of time balance: The U.S. is the only wealthy nation without nationwide laws for vacations, sick leave or maternity leave. 

Say No to Multitasking. Spending time concentrating on just one thing can alleviate the feeling of being rushed. Studies indicate too much multitasking may result in loss of short-term memory and concentration.



Limit Online Time. Taking time away from your cell, laptop, and otherwise “disconnecting” can actually lead to a greater sense of connection and relieve the stress of constant demands on your time.



Savor the fun stuff: Your time balance is out of whack when you are trying to do too many leisure activities. If you find yourself rushing from one activity you enjoy to the other, with little time to pause between, so at the end of the day you are exhausted, try cutting out some of the fun stuff. Take the time to really savor and enjoy the fun things you do, instead of trying to pack in as many activities as you can. 73

The Physical Quadrant of the Medicine Wheel

Physical Health (health, disability, behavior patterns, sleep, nutrition) Three things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of health: You can predict how often someone is likely to get sick based on how many friends they have. 

Sleep. How much you sleep affects your immune system, cell regeneration, mood and general sense of wellbeing. Consistent lack of adequate sleep can lead to irritability, depression, and even mistakes that could lead to serious injury.



Make new friends and keep the old. A little known fact is that social connection is key to physical health. Your chance of getting a cold or flu is indirectly proportional to the number of close friends you have.



Work less (if you work too much). When you work less, you usually have better time balance, have more time to exercise, and eat less fast food because you are less stressed.

Material Well-being (income, financial security, debt, housing) Two things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of standard of living/material well-being: After an income of about 75K a year for a family of 4, more money does not make you much happier.



Make Less Money: Longitudinal studies show that happiness increases up to a certain level of income: about $75,000 for a family of four. If you earn more, your happiness does not increase much. This is called the Easterlin Paradox.



Give: Studies show that giving money makes you happier. A donation to a local cause you believe in may lead to greater happiness than working the extra hours to make more money. You can also give time in volunteer hours, and not only increase your happiness but also strengthen your sense of community.

The Spiritual Quadrant of the Medicine Wheel

Cultural Vitality (local traditions, festival, artistic skills, recreational access, core values, discrimination) 

Explore Your Spirituality. Hiking, dancing, painting, meditating or worshiping at a temple can all be spiritual practices. Studies show that people who regularly practice spiritual activities (whatever that means to them!) are happier.

Two things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of social support: How you look has relatively little impact on your happiness, yet 89% of women are unhappy with their appearance. 

Take Time to Make Time: Studies show happy people take the time out of their schedules - no matter how busy - to spend time with friends and family. Even if, and maybe especially If, your life is super busy, take out the time every week to spend with a friend, your partner or a family member. 75



Communicate: effective communication strengthens bonds and can be an effective tool to negotiate conflict. Non-Violent Communication (NVC) is a methodology for listening and speaking that involves a four-step process to a) non-judgmentally observe what is happening b) state a feeling, c) state a need/values and d) make a request. The practice involves learning how to identify language of blame, judgment and domination, and learning to really listen.

Environmental Quality (water, air, soil, biodiversity, access to nature) Four things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of the environment: 

Don’t use herbicides, pesticides and fungicides in your garden so rainwater does not pick up excess and carry them into our waterways and soils.



Pick up your puppies’ poop so it does not end up in streams, rivers and soil.



Only wash your car at a car wash, never at home where the dirt and soap run off into the drain. These three acts can make a big difference in the quality of your local environment.



Eat Local and Organic. Food production has a large impact on our environment. When you can, buy locally or grow food in your yard. Local and organic food is not always more expensive than conventional food, so keep a look-out. Growing your own food in your yard, if you eat the food you grow and enjoy gardening, can be cost effective. Expanding your area’s capacity for local food can also enhance your area’s local economy and resilience. Locally focused conservation and restoration efforts show that one person (or a group) really can make a difference in a local ecosystem.

Community (sense of belonging, relationships, safety, volunteering) Three things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of community: According to one expert in positive psychology the secret to happiness in one word is “others.” 

Look people in the eye and smile. When walking down the street, at the grocery store, or doing errands, instead of looking away, try looking the people you encounter in the eye and smiling. All said, always keep your personal safety in mind!



Do a random act of kindness for someone in their presence. Studies show random acts of kindness done in the presence of the recipient increases a sense of well-being more than if done anonymously. All said, be mindful the act of kindness is desired by the recipient and not intrusive!



Grow food in your garden, then cook and share it with your neighbors. If you do not have the time or inclination to garden, try growing herbs in your kitchen or planting a hearty fruit tree or bush. If you do not have a yard, you might try growing and sharing kitchen herbs like basal.

The Mental Quadrant of the Medicine Wheel Education and Lifelong Learning (formal and informal education, skills, involvement in children’s education) Three things you can do to increase your happiness along the domains of education, arts & culture: We grow throughout our lives in terms of intellectual, emotional and other intelligence. 

Take a TV fast (including online entertainment). The time you spend watching movies or TV shows will be freed up for other activities and may help you catch up on sleep if you are sleep deprived.



Get Creative. Being creative can increase your sense of well-being and has other positive impacts. Writing poetry, drawing, taking pictures and other art forms are just one way of being creative.



Listen to new kinds of music, engage in conversations about topics you do not normally talk about, or reading books are other ways you can get creative.

Governance (citizen engagement, media, trust, transparency) Two things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of governance: 

Get Political. For many of us, it sometimes feels as though we do not have much impact on our governments. Studies show that “the more developed the democratic institutions and the degree of local autonomy, the more satisfied people are with their lives.” Doing your part to increase participation in governance, and increasing the 78

ways for others to participate, can increase your own sense of well-being. After community and once your material needs are met, involvement in the democratic process gives the biggest bang for your buck in terms of taking action for your happiness. 

Be a part of the change. Conduct a Happiness Initiative in your town or organization. Get involved in the Transition Town, Thriving Community, Compassionate Cities or another movement to more deeply connect with your community and the future wellbeing of all.

Workplace Experience (employment satisfaction, job conditions, productivity, compensation) Two things you can do to increase your happiness along the domain of work: Your compensation compared to others is likely more important to your satisfaction with your job than the actual amount. 

Work for a boss you trust. If you feel like you can trust your boss, you are more likely to explore how you can improve your own performance and that of your employer. You are also more likely to build trusting relationships with your peers at work, which increases your sense of community and happiness.



Don’t Gossip. Gossiping, bad mouthing and excessive complaining can give a false sense of community and connection with others, but it can also keep you from forming meaningful relationships built on common values and life-enhancing experiences. Gossiping, bad mouthing and complaining can also have unintended long-term negative impacts on yourself, others and your relationships. Instead of gossiping, find positive things you have in common with others to talk about.

Remember WE WERE ALL ABORIGINAL PEOPLE AT ONE TIME .

Some Final Thoughts For close to forty years I have had the following quotations on my office wall. The first one by Victorian writer and Minister George MacDonald I encountered while reading his novel Phantastes. As I read this passage I was amazed at how closely it paralleled my own ideas about understanding life and our passage through it. Several years later while reading a book of Native American literature I found the second quotation from a Tewa elder. The ideas are so similar but phrased in the unique style and wording of their place and time. To me this demonstrates that at the heart (the fire within), the values of two very different cultures can speak to each other over the centuries and beyond a lifetime of cultural indoctrination. This leads me to the conclusion that Native and non-native inhabitants of Turtle Island can come together in harmony, work together to heal Mother Earth and become the New People of the Eighth Fire and thus demonstrate to the world what can be accomplished by a people in harmony with the Creatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s song.

George MacDonald

Phantastes "Somehow or other," said he, "notwithstanding the beauty of this country of Faerie, in which we are, there is much that is wrong in it. If there are great splendors, there are corresponding horrors; heights and depths; beautiful women and awful fiends; noble men and weaklings. All a man has 81

to do is to better what he can. And if he will settle it with himself that even renown and success are in themselves of no great value, and be content to be defeated, if so be that the fault is not his, and so go to his work with a cool brain and a strong will, he will get it done; and fare none the worse in the end, that he was not burdened with prevision and precaution." â&#x20AC;&#x153;But he will not always come off well, I ventured to say. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Perhaps not, â&#x20AC;&#x153;rejoined the knight, "in the individual act; but the result of his lifetime will content him."

Tewa elder from San Juan Pueblo What I am trying to say is hard to tell and hard to understand ... unless, unless ... you have been yourself at the edge of the Deep Canyon and have come back unharmed. Maybe .. all depends on something within yourself--whether you are trying to see the Watersnake or the sacred Cornflower, whether you go out to meet death or to Seek Life.

It is like this; as long as you stay within the realm of the great Cloudbeings, you may indeed walk at the very edge of the Deep Canyon and not be harmed. You will be protected by the rainbow and by the Great Ones. You will have no reason to worry and no reason to be sad. You may fight the witches, and if you can meet them with a heart which does not tremble, the fight will make you stronger. It will help you to attain your goal in life; it will give you strength to help others, to be loved and liked, and to Seek Life.

And then there is this:

Psalm 23 A psalm of David. 1 The

LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his nameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sake.

4 Even

though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your

rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You

prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows. 6 Surely

your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the

house of the LORD forever.

In Closing We close by thanking all of Spirit World for being here to help us understand these things.

Gizimanado, Misakomikwe, Nokomis, Mishomis Miskwa Kaykak, Nindinawaymaganog,

Great Spirit, Mother Earth, Grandmother, Grandfather red-tailed hawk, all my relations:

Meegwetch, meegwetch, meegwetch, meegwetch.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you (once for each direction).

The Eastern Door is opening. Let the light of the dawn illuminate Turtle Island and show all peoples the path to the Eighth Fire.

LET US BECOME THE NEW PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN HARMONY WITH THE CREATORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SONG AROUND THE EIGHTH FIRE.