Medicine Wheel Teachings
Regulating Emotions Through Opposite Action
Emotions are neither good or bad, they are all essential for survival. But sometimes I get so overwhelmed by an emotion I can’t think straight. For example when I get angry I often make bad decisions and hurt my loved ones. However, suppressing my anger makes things worse and eventually comes out in a rage. A simple and effective technique for regulating anger so that it is more manageable is: OPPOSITE ACTION.
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Our emotions are always urging us to take some action. For example the action urge for anger is to attack and lash out. Thus, the opposite action is showing kindness. That does not mean you have to do something nice for the person you are angry at as that is not practical and hard to do authentically. But showing kindness to someone outside the situation will still help bring your anger down. I often do this when I am angry at a loved one. After I do something nice for even a stranger, I am usually calm enough to express my anger in a healthy way.
Similarly, as I scroll through my Instagram feed, I have noticed envy is becoming a more common emotion. The opposite action is gratitude. Gratitude reduces my envy to a level where it is no longer overwhelming but rather motivates me to work harder and dream bigger.
This motivation has to come from within for it to truly work. For anxiety, our fear urges us to avoid the thing we are scared of. However, the best way to decrease anxiety is to find small ways everyday that you face your fears.
Dr. Priyanka Halli, Psychiatrist
For more information, find her on Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/dr.halli/
The Sacred Fire
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When a person passes on, a Sacred Fire is lit and is kept burning from four days to eight days.
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During this period, the spirit of the deceased person is making its final visits to people and places it has known during its life on Earth, and the Sacred Fire acts as a beacon so that the spirit can find its way back.
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When a spot has been chosen for the Sacred Fire, we will begin to clear the area of any obstructions to the ceremony. Rocks are placed around the fire area to create a circle. We dig a pit for the fire and use the soil as an altar, placed outside the first circle of rocks that surround the fire. We now make a second, larger circle with rocks placed around the Sacred Fire.
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The entrance to the Sacred Fire will always be in the Eastern direction because that is the direction the spirit comes to enter the fire. We also enter the Sacred Fire this way and exit in the West, just as the Sun.
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We lay down Cedar between the Sacred Fire and the second boundary we created. The Cedar is placed with tip pointed to the west. The medicine guides the spirit in this direction and purifies the path.
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We will use an arrow, spear or staff to mark the entrance of the Sacred Fire.
At the entrance will be tobacco and sage to offer the Spirit. We will follow the direction of the Cedar to the altar, where we can place our loved ones favourite food as well as their favourite and sacred items.
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The important role of Fire Keeper can now be given to keep the fire going and to protect the ceremony for its duration.
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Because of this importance, if you are chosen to be a Firekeeper, it is necessary that you be aware of your role and duties.
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The most obvious duty, of course, is to simply keep the Sacred Fire burning. While this seems simple, it can sometimes be a challenge, particularly if a sudden violent rainstorm should develop. In cases like this, you may have to use considerable ingenuity to maintain the Fire, perhaps by adding more wood, or by moving the Fire under cover until the storm has passed. This is your ultimate purpose, and unless you are told by a knowledgeable medicine person that the Fire can be allowed to go out, you must make every effort to ensure that it stays burning.
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You should also be aware that a huge bonfire is not necessary. Using up vast quantities of firewood is not in keeping with the old traditions of limiting your impact on the land around you. A small tidy fire, carefully tended, is generally more respectful and appropriate than a gigantic blaze.
Be painstaking in tending the Fire, as that is part of putting your good energy into the ceremony that you are supporting.
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As part of the commitment to keeping the fire burning, Firekeepers should keep all of their attention on the Fire. You should not sleep, and you should not get involved in any conversations. You should simply concentrate on the Sacred Fire, and on praying for the people involved in the ceremony for which the Fire was lit. However, if the Fire is to be kept going for a long period, this also means that there should be more than one Firekeeper, and they should be rotated on a regular basis to prevent fatigue.
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You also need to keep in mind that not all people understand the significance of a Sacred Fire. You must be prepared to prevent people from throwing garbage into the Fire, or from roasting hot dogs, or other inappropriate behaviour. A Sacred Fire is not a campfire, and should not be treated like one.
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As the days pass, family members and friends are encouraged to visit as often as possible to spend time with each other and the spirit of the Sacred Fire. This helps with the healing and grieving process of loosing a loved one.
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When it is time for the ceremony to end, we allow the fire to burn out on its own. We will also close the Eastern entrance and open the Western door to make way for the spirit to leave for the spirit world.
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This is when our loved one joins our ancestors and has time for reflection about the time they spent on Earth.
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When it is time, the journey continues to the next stage of our spirits path.
The spirit is as infinite and limitless as the journey.
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Dedicated to the loving memory of Boyd Tenniscoe from Pikwakanagan First Nation and Isaac BigCanoe from Georgina Island First Nation.
Baa Maa Pii Minwa Gwaabin
(Until Our Spirits Meet Again).
"Fire"
Painting by: Tarisse King was born in Adelaide, South Australia on the 4th September 1986. She is the older sister to fellow artist, Sarrita King and daughter to the late highly regarded artist, William King Jungala (1966 - 2007). Tarisse inherits her Australian Aboriginality from her father who was part of the Gurindji tribe from the Northern Territory.
Cree Tipi Teaching
The Cree people use 15 poles to make the structure of the tipi. For every pole in that tipi, there is a teaching. So there are 15 teachings that hold up the tipi. Other Nations use 16 poles, and maybe more or less.
The tipi does not have to face east all the time; it can rotate in any direction. It is only the first time that it is requested that the tipi face east, because of the opening ceremony.
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To start, we take three poles and bind them together to make a tripod. Each pole also has a very specific meaning.
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These three together fortify the structure. They are obedience, respect and humility. Notice the poles, the way they stand. If they stood straight up and down, they couldn’t support a tipi. But balanced properly together, they are able to reinforce each other.
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There’s a teaching in that. In order to make a family, you need three: the two parents and the child, to make that balance.
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​The tops of the poles have many teachings. Each one points in a different direction. We are like those poles. We all need the strength and support of our families and communities, but we accept that we all have different journeys and point in different directions.
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​The poles also teach us that no matter what version of the Great Spirit we believe in, we still go to the same Creator from those many directions and belief systems; we just have different journeys to get there. And where the poles come out together at the top, it’s like they’re creating a nest. And they also resemble a bird with its wings up when it comes to land, and that’s another teaching: the spirit coming to land, holding its wings up.
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​We could talk about each of these poles for a long time; each one holds many teachings, and takes a long time and much experience to truly understand. I will give you some words on each pole, to give a beginning idea of what the poles represent.
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​OBEDIENCE
Obedience means accepting guidance and wisdom from outside of ourselves, using our ears before our mouth. We learn by listening to traditional stories, by listening to our parents or guardians, our fellow students and our teachers. We learn by their behaviours and reminders, so that we know what is right and what is wrong.
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​RESPECT
Respect means giving honor to our Elders and fellow students, to the strangers that come to visit our community, and to all of life. We must honor the basic rights of all others.
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​HUMILITY
We are not above or below others in the circle of life. We feel humbled when we understand our relationship with Creation. We are so small compared to the majestic expanse of Creation, just a “strand in the web of life.” Understanding this helps us to respect and value life.
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HAPPINESS
After the tripod is up, the fourth pole completes your doorway. This fourth pole teaches us happiness. We must show some enthusiasm to encourage others. Our good actions will make our ancestors happy in the next world. This is how we share happiness.
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​LOVE
If we are to live in harmony we must accept one another as we are, and accept others who are not in our circle. Love means to be good and kind to one another and to our selves.
​FAITH
We must learn to believe and trust others, to believe in a power greater than ourselves, whom we worship and who gives us strength to be a worthy member of the human race. To sustain our spirituality, we need to walk it every day. Not just sometimes, but every day. It’s not just once a week; it’s your life.
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​KINSHIP
Our family is important to us. This includes our parents, brothers and sisters, who love us and give us roots that tie us to the lifeblood of the earth. It also includes extended family: grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and their in-laws and children. They are also our brothers and sisters and give us a sense of belonging to a community.
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​CLEANLINESS
Today when we talk about cleanliness, most people think hygiene, and that’s very important. But years ago, when old people talked about cleanliness, they meant spiritual cleanliness. When I used to sit with the old Kookums in their tipis, spiritually, they were so powerfully clean. Clean thoughts come from a clean mind and this comes from our spirituality. With a clean mind and sense of peace within we learn not to inflict ills on others. Good health habits also reflect a clean mind.
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​THANKFULNESS
We learn to give thanks: to always be thankful for the Creator’s bounty, which we are privileged to share with others, and for all the kind things others do for us.
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​SHARING
We learn to be part of a family and community by helping with the provisions of food and other basic needs. Through the sharing of responsibilities we learn the value of working together and enjoying the fruits of our labor.
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STRENGTH
We are not talking about physical strength, but spiritual strength. That was instilled in us when we were young people through fasting. We must learn to be patient in times of trouble and not to complain but to endure and show understanding. We must accept difficulties and tragedies so that we may give others strength to accept their own difficulties and tragedies.
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​GOOD CHILD REARING
Children are gifts from the Creator. We are responsible for their wellbeing, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and intellectually, since they are blessed with the gift of representing the continuing circle of life, which we perceive to be the Creator’s will.
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​HOPE
We must look forward to moving toward good things. We need to have a sense that the seeds we are planting will bear fruit for our children, families and communities.
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​ULTIMATE PROTECTION
This is the ultimate responsibility to achieve the balance and well being of the body, mind, emotions and spirit for the individual, the family, the community and the nation.
CONTROL FLAPS
The control flaps on a tipi teach that we are all connected by relationship and that we depend on each other. Having respect for and understanding this connection creates and controls harmony and balance in the circle of life. When we don’t know how to use the flaps, it gets all smoky inside the tipi, and you can’t see, which is like life – because if we can’t live in balance, we can’t see clearly where we’re going.
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​CONCLUSION
For every time that a pole is added, a rope goes around to bind that pole into place. You have to be there and see it to appreciate that teaching. That rope is a sacred bond, binding all the teachings together until they are all connected.
I have shared these teachings with you with the hope that they will help keep the women strong and will help our communities to nurture healthy, balanced people.
- Mary Lee, Cree Elder
Painting by: Aaron Paquette
Artist Link: https://www.aaronpaquette.net/
Animal Speak
Animals play a significant role in Medicine Wheel teachings. Indigenous stories almost always include animals because they taught people about how to survive in the natural world, such as which plant life was edible and that which was not. Animal behaviour has much to teach us.
If you talk to the animals
they will talk with you
and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them,
you will not know them,
And what you do not know
you will fear.
What one fears one destroys.
Chief Dan George
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AWAKENING TO YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL
The reality of spirit beings and their assistance to those in the physical has been part of every major religion. The Greeks spoke to spirits and gods through oracles. The Bushmen of Africa developed ritual and myth from the movements and activities of animals such as the eland and mantis. The Native Americans imitated animals in dance and ritual to establish links with the spirit realm. Belief in the spiritual realms of life and all of its varied manifestations is universal. The most common belief in many societies is that spiritual guides often use animals or animal imagery to communicate their purpose and roles to humans.
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In modern, rational society there is a tendency to scoff at such possibilities. Spirit
beings--whether in the form of saints, angels, ancestral contact, fairies and elves, demons, and even animal totems--fill our ancient myths and scriptures. When beliefs are as universal as these, some credence should be given them.
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Their descriptions show them to be as diverse as the humans we meet on a daily basis. They serve many functions upon the planet. They help us to recognize our own innate abilities. They help empower us and protect us. Their energies can be used to help heal, inspire, and grow.
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...A totem is any natural object, animal, or being to whose phenomena and energy you feel closely associated with during your life...The study of animal totems is essential for understanding how the spiritual realm is manifesting within your natural life.
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We can use animal totems and their images to learn about ourselves and the invisible world. We do not have to believe that these images and totems are beings of great intelligence, but there is an archetypal power that resides behind, oversees, and manifests through these creatures. These archetypes have their own qualities and characteristics which are reflected in the behaviours and activities of the animals.
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A shaman works to reconnect conscious human life with nature and spirit through animal totems. The image of the animal helps the shaman to transcend the normal, waking consciousness so that he or she can more easily attune to the more ethereal realms and beings. By discovering your animal totem, studying it and then learning to merge with it, you will be able to call its energy forth whenever needed. You will be able to connect with specific archetypal forces and patterns through the animal and understand the patterns of your own life more effectively. When you honour the totem, you honour the essence that lies behind it--be it an actual force or a specific spirit being who uses the image and form of the animal to communicate with you.
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Ancient priests and priestesses used animal totems to assist them in coming face to face with the spirit world. They would imitate the animals in posture, dress, and dance, creating rituals around it so as to invoke and share the energy manifesting in the world through that animal. The animal became a totem--a power or medicine. It became a symbol of a specific kind of energy. When they awakened to that totem and honoured it, they released the archetypal energies behind it into their lives.
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You can learn to access that same energy. By doing so, you begin to learn the language of nature and open yourself to her secrets. The first step, though, is to determine what your animal totem(s) might be. There are techniques to help you identify your personal animal totems. Most are simple and require little more than increased observation and the application of your own creative imagination.
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...Most people equate the imagination with unreality. Nothing could be further from the truth. The imagination is a power of the min to create and work with images. It is this ability which can open us to other realms, assist us in healing, help us to discover lost knowledge and to open to higher vision and even prophesy.
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Through creative imagination we begin to see the spiritual energies surrounding and interplaying with the physical world. What we consider imagination is a reality in some form on levels beyond the normal sensory world. With creative imagination, we create a new kind of awareness, a new kind of experience in colour and form. This triggers higher forms of inspiration and intuition, giving us a higher understanding of the conditions of our lives and the spiritual energies affecting it. Images are the tools to link with the spiritually creative world. It is what helps you to identify your spirit totems and awaken their energies in your life.
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As you begin to identify and recognize your animal totems, you will begin to understand your life more effectively. You will be able to develop a more unique view of yourself, along with a new look at reality. You will find yourself filled with new inspiration, and you will find yourself more creative within your life. The more you understand your totem, the more you will understand yourself.
(Ted Andrews From Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Power of Creatures Great & Small. Pg. 7-9)
My Personal Animal Totem
My main animal totem is Moose. I have dreamed of Moose many times over the years and there is simply a knowing within me that this is the animal that provides a compass for my life.
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I have had many other totems come to me at various times in my life that provide me with direction and healing. Those animals usually come during life's challenges, or during transitions.
Once when I was a teenager, I dreamed I was an armadillo. The word, 'armadillo' is Spanish for "little armoured one", which is a perfect description of me. I am very petite at 5 ft., 96 Ilbs, and I fiercely guard my heart. During the time that I dreamed I was an armadillo was shortly after I had suffered a trauma at the hands of someone I trusted. Armadillo taught me how to protect myself without losing the wild within me. It protected me from myself and it protected others from my rage. Armadillo taught me that there is a way to protect myself without causing harm to others and how to temporarily shut out the world until I was ready to reemerge from my armour.
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Armadillo frequently returns to me when I need it.
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I also dreamed once that I was a young native boy running through the forest away from a bear. I was terrified. When speaking to an elder about the dream, I was asked, "I wonder what would have happened if you had turned around to face the bear?" After sitting with this question for awhile, I realized that Bear represented my own power and spirit, from which I was running. There is a poem by Marianne Williamson that begins with, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us."
What I learned from Bear was to embrace my power rather than to run from it; to know that in order to become all that I am meant to be, I must embrace the greatness I already am.
Painting by: John Rombough
Artist Link: http://denecreations.ca/
Do You Know Your Animal Totems?
(Begin the process of discovering your animal totems by examining the animals you have been most interested in and the times of your life that interest was piqued. Use the following questionnaire to help you determine which animals are probably totems to you in your life.)
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Which animal or bird has always fascinated you? (We are drawn to that which most resonates with us. Those animals which fascinate us have something to teach us.)
2. When you visit the zoo, which animal do you wish to visit the most or first? (As a child, this is especially important. Children are more naturally open and thus are able to more easily recognize the animal that will be important to them.)
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3. What animal(s) do you see most frequently when you are out in nature? Have you had encounters with animals in the wild? (The animals we encounter, in the city environment or in the wild, have significance for us. We can learn from them, even if only about survival within that environment.)
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4. Of all the animals in the world, which are you most interested in now? (Our interests in animals change. Yes, we usually have one or two that are lifetime, power animals, but others become prominent when there is something important or specific to teach us.)
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5. What animal most frightens you? (That which we fear the most is often something we must learn to come to terms with. When we do that, it then becomes a power. Some shamans believe that fears will take the shape of animals, and only when we confront them without fear do their powers/medicine work for us instead of against us. Such an animal becomes a shadow totem.)
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6. Have you ever been bitten or attacked by an animal? (Historically, if a shaman survived an attack, it was believed that the animal was the shaman's spirit totem and the attack was the totem's way of testing the shaman's ability to handle the power.)
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7. Do you have dreams with animals in them or are there animal dreams you have never forgotten? (This is especially important if the dreams are recurring or if at least he animal image in the dream is a recurring one. Children often dream of animals, and attention should be given to these animals. They will often reflect specific spirit totems of the child.)
(Ted Andrews From Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Power of Creatures Great & Small. Pg. 9-10)
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PAY ATTENTION
My personal advice if you are interested in animal medicine is very simple. PAY ATTENTION! The minute you start taking notice, animals will present themselves to you. Make a conscious decision to notice when you see certain animals on television, or when they come up in conversation, when you see pictures or when you dream. Take notice, write it down if you need. There is no need to make any judgements or decisions about if or what an animal means, if it has shown up in your life. But after awhile, you will start to see patterns and repetitions. At first they will seem like coincidences, but after awhile you will begin to intuitively understand that the animal is there for you.
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I was in a toxic relationship for a period of four years, and I would constantly see coyotes within city limits. Once one was walking right down my street and stopped at my front gate to look at me. Most Indigenous nations have stories of Coyote as the trickster. It was very clear to me what Coyote was trying to tell me, and as soon as that relationship ended, I stopped seeing Coyote. In fact, I have not seen one since.
The Basics of Animal Totems
Animal totems go by a variety of names. They are called spirit animals, power animals, totem helpers and others. Regardless of how people refer to them, certain beliefs are common:
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1. Every animal has a powerful spirit.
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2. This spirit may be its own, or that of a being who uses the animal image to communicate messages of the world to humans.
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3. Every animal has its own talents. A study of its talents will reveal the kind of medicine, magic, and power it can help you to develop within your own life. Remember, every animal has a specialty.
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4. Lifelong power animals are usually wild, not domesticated animals. There are a few exceptions, but even these exceptions are often just links to the true power animal. For example, people may have dogs or cats as totems. These have their own medicine and power, but the domesticated animal may only be a softened form of its wild counterpart. A dog may be a link to the wolf, coyote, or any of the wild canine family. A cat may be a link to a member of the wild feline family, such as panthers, lions, tigers, and such. For many, beginning with the domesticated form of the totem is a way of laying a foundation so that some day they will be able to handle and work more effectively with its true power form.
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5. The animal chooses the person, not the other way around. Many believe that they can just choose an animal and start communicating with it. Usually ego gets in the way at these times. The individual chooses the animal he or she believes to be most glamorous and powerful, rather than what is harmonious to the individual. The results are ineffectual and often frustrating. No animal is better or worse than any other. Every animal's medicine is unique. It is always much better to be powerful in mouse medicine than to be clumsy and ineffectual in eagle medicine. You will find your greatest success in the animal that comes to you...
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6. You must develop a relationship with your totem. To communicate with them demands respect. You must learn their point of view...
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7. You must honour your totem for its medicine to be effective in your life. The more you honour them--the more significance you give them within your life--the more powerful and effective they become. Some of the ways you can honour them and draw them closer into your life is by:
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Hanging pictures of them
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Drawing pictures of them
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Reading and learning as much about them as possible
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Buying figurines of you totem for yourself or purchasing small tokens and images of you totem and giving them to friends as gifts. These fetishes are a reminder of the power and spirit of your animal totem.
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Donating to wildlife organization with time and/or money.
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Dancing to honour your totem is a powerful link. Learn to mimic its behaviours...
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8. Once you learn to work with the medicine of your power animal, it then becomes a doorway to connecting with others of the animal realm. You are not limited to just one totem. Each can teach or add something to your life that the others can't. Working with you power animal will help teach you how to align with others. This way if you need greater strength, you can call up the image and draw upon the energy of a bear. If you need speed, you can connect with the energy of a cheetah. Through your power animal, you learn to align with and shapeshift to the energies of other animals and beings.
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9. Although there are one or even several totems that are strongest in your life and remain with you through most of it, others do play a role. You may have a totem for a day. You may have totem that assists you through a particularly rough period in your life.
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One may come to you and stay with you through a cycle of several years. Another may be present when you do creative work. You are likely to have different totems for different areas of your life. There's no limit to the totems you can work with. The key though is to connect strongly and fully with at least one. This expands the consciousness and opens the bridge to others more easily.
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(Ted Andrews From Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Power of Creatures Great & Small. Pg. 10-12)
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Sweetgrass / Wiingashk
The elders tell us that it takes longer for us to heal today and the reason is because the old trails our ancestors used to use to find us have been destroyed. by colonialism, assimilation, manifest destiny, and ethnic cleansing, towns and cities where the old trails used to be...so now our ancestors are having a hard time finding us to help us heal.
So we must burn sweetgrass~
a kindness medicine...with a sweet gentle aroma when we light it
21 strands to make a braid..the first 7 strands represent those 7 generations behind us~
Our parents
Our grandparents
7 generations behind us~who we are and what we are is because of them~they've brushed and made the trails we have been walking up til now...the trails have been destroyed.
The time has come to heal and connect with our ancestors. They paid a tremendous price for us to be able to speak out against injustices, we do not have the right to remain quiet.
The next 7 represent the 7 sacred teachings...
Love, Respect, Honesty, Courage, Wisdom, Truth and Humility
The elders tell us how simple, powerful and beautiful the teaching are
Love: unconditional affection with no limits or conditions that starts with loving yourself.
Respect: due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights or traditions of other, with consideration, thoughtfulness, attentiveness, politeness, courtesy, civility, deference.
Humility: freedom from pride or arrogance, being humble, when we truly understand the teaching of humility, that we are not any better then anyone else and you are not any better then me. that at the end of the day we are simply human beings, this is what makes this teaching powerful and beautiful.
Courage:bravery, permitting one to face extreme dangers with boldness withstanding danger, fear or difficulty
Wisdom: the quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgment the quality of being wise.
Truth: the face of the matter, veracity, sincere, candor and genuineness
a determined in principle entirely by how it relates to things
Honestly:have a character of integrity, and honour be free from fraud or deception, legitimate truthful.
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The last 7 strands are those of the 7 generations in front of us~
Our children
Our grandchildren
Children yet to be born
It is important because everything we do to Mother earth will one day effect them...
We have lost our way, everything we do to Mother Earth gives us everything we need to heal ourselves and the earth. We must go back to our roots and bloom.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children"
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These teachings need to first start from within ourselves, respecting ourselves, they tell us that the teachings need to first start from the inside.
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So on the morning you /we burn Sweetgrass, we can get a white or yellow cloth (1 meter) with Tobacco: hang it on a tree facing the east direction.
This should be done in the morning and not at night.
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Lest us never forget we are the whispered prayer our ancestors prayed.
They are waiting for us.
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Author Unknown.
Retrieved from: MishkikiL https://www.facebook.com/Mishkiki.Org/
Writing as Resistance
The purpose of my writing has always been to tell a better story than is being told about us. To give that to the people and to the next generations. The voices of the grandmothers and grandfathers compel to speak of the worth of our people and the beauty all around us, to banish the profaning of ourselves, and to ease the pain. I carry the language of the voice of the land and valiance of the people and I will not be silenced by a language of tyranny.
--Jeannette Armstrong (Okanagan)
In the anthology Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Writings of North America, Native women talk about their writing as a tool of resistance against all the negative outcomes of colonization. Editor Gloria Bird recognizes the importance of this form of resistance: "One of the functions of language is to construct our world. We are the producers of this world who create ourselves as well as our social reality, and we do this through language. Writing offers both a means to resist and an opportunity to reinvent.
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Many Native women started writing because they wanted to respond to negative materials they encountered in school. Emma LaRocque describes her primary motivation:
As soon as I knew what writing was in grade eight, I wanted to do it. And mostly I think it came from a profound need to self-express because there was so much about our history and about our lives that, I quickly learned, has been disregarded infantalized, and falsified. I think had this missionary zeal to tell about our humanity because Indianness was so dehumanized and Metis-ness didn't even exist.
In Harmut Lutz, Contemporary Challenges: Conversations with Native Canadian Authors
Mi'kmaw poet Rita Joe, who began writing in her thirties, was also moved to write because of the negative stereotypes and the negation of Native history she found in school textbooks. Shocked by the history and science textbooks that were being brought home her teenage children during the 1960s, she encouraged them to speak the truth. With each piece of her own truth-telling writing, she found more strength in her ability to define herself out of racist paradigms: "I call my words a chisel, carving an image. Our image has been knocked down for too long by the old histories and old chronicles...When I wrote my second book, and into my third, I didn't give a damn what the histories said about us" (Rita Joe)
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Writing also gives women a means of surviving oppression and a way to engage in a healing process. Anne Lee Walters points to the liberatory qualities she has experienced through this practice: "Writing released years of oppression. It made me whole and free." Expressing her voice also allowed her to stop trying to follow the mainstream ways and to stop denying her tribal essence" (Anna Lee Walters). This is true for many Native women -- the process of writing creates a space where they can deal with anger, pain and sadness, and then begin to kindle positive feeling about their identity. As women heal and reclaim their identity, the overall healing movement for Indigenous people takes hold. Beth Brant, a Mohawk writer who has conducted writing workshops throughout North America, agrees that Native female writing heals "not just the individual, but the broken circles occurring in our Nations" (Beth Brant). In writing about experiences with racism, sexism, colonization, loss of language and culture, Native women are able to fuel the healing process on both a personal and national level.
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The desire and demand for Native female literary expression, so absent in the past, is increasing as there are more opportunities for Native women to publish. One of the major outlets for this literary production is Native Women in the Arts. Sandra Laronde, the NWIA founder, acknowledges that writing projects of NWIA have picked up at incredible pace over the course of the three in this time. Projects such as these create a much-needed publishing space for Native who wish to express and recreate the world as they see it. This in itself challenges the false representation of Native women so widely circulated in the dominant culture.
Kim Anderson