Ohki Siminé Forest
P.O Box 15
Maynard, MA 01754-0015
"The majority of the world does not find its roots in Western culture or traditions. The majority of the world finds its roots in the Natural World and its traditions, which must prevail if we are to develop truly free and egalitarian societies. The people who are living on this planet need to break with the narrow concept of human liberation, and begin to see liberation as something which needs to be extended to the whole world of the Natural World. What is needed is the liberation of all the things that support life, the airs, the waters, the trees, all the things which support the sacred web of life."
Excerpted from " The Hau De No Sau Nee Address to the Western World." 1
The primary teaching of the medicine wheel resides in the learning and integration of the spiritual rainbow warrior known among the Maya as Nichimal Vinik, the Flowering Humans, and among the Mohawk people as Ongwhe Onhwe, or the True People. This knowledge teaches a way to self-respect, inner dignity, and loyalty to the spirit of the community regardless of individual status in the society. The precepts of the Council ways always seek the conciliation of differences that can only come when a deep love for sacred Mother Earth is commonly expressed in the inclusiveness of diversified community ways.
The Woman's Lodge and the Man's Lodge give birth to the Council Ways that stand as the perfect hoop and create the most powerful shield for people to live in harmony, based on the Medicine Wheel ways. These ways offer a matchless model for all the tendencies of a society, both democratic and communal, toward a united government ruled by the people themselves. These ancient and important archetypes are now reemerging as the true ways of people and as one of the only balanced approaches to relating to one another in a larger planetary sense.
Most people in the individualistic societies that assail us today have not retained an awareness of relating to the larger circles of people. So the medicine wheel is a major guide that consolidates the meeting of our brothers and sisters in the circle of this world. For this, the Council way is the oldest form of relation within a community. A long time ago, all the ancient, balanced confederate governments were profiled and governed under the awareness of truly wise people, unlike today.
There are inherent laws, essential to a collective awareness that can eventuate on the wheel, beyond any particular and individual differences. Because the majority of our problems always come when we have to deal with others, whether in institutions or as individual, a sensitive knowledge and a sound disposition when relating to others are imperative. This is true whether we talk of the destiny of a nation, or of the relationship with our neighbors. It requires, first, a personal connection to our soul. This is what the wheel has to offer. The touching and the meeting of people on a deeper level confer a true sense of sisterhood or brotherhood. This has apparently been lost in the genetic memory of humanity after an era that evinced thousands of wars. Many people have lost contact with their true soul.
On a smaller scale, individuals often cannot meet in the wheel of people because they are unaware that they even stand in one, having no understanding of their single perspective on the circle of people. Competition and struggles in relating to others begin when you are unable to open to other viewpoints as part of the same wheel. You may see contradictions, when there is only natural opposition-simply not seeing that they hold a natural opposition. This occurs mostly when your ego is the ruler of your own impulses, causing discord instead of clarity. Then you lose the awareness of the larger circle. Conquering your ego requires much abnegation, something most people do not have. But true abnegation leads to neutrality of emotions, nobility of the heart, and the capacity to stand tall with your inner truth, beyond personal reactions, which is essential in learning to relate to the wheel of people.
Connecting the World Medicine Wheels
One of the afflictions of the modern world results from the great difficulty that people have in learning impersonality, collectively and individually. This is the principal motivation of the genuine Ongwhe Onwhe. Impersonality means natural objectivity, a capacity to achieve a proper distance from emotions and ego. We natives are usually raised to think of our community first and how our actions will affect the larger wheel. When facing a problem, however, the general tendency of individuals in Western societies is first to get involved on a personal level, perceiving through the ego's eyes. This is when the collective mess begins and when the heart simply closes. Blame, confusion, distress, offenses, are all created by the anguished grasping of ego, incapable of recognizing a greater wisdom beyond the little self. We then confuse true humility with self-humiliation. This is wrong. Our hearts and our minds are just refusing to learn.
The Medicine Wheel ways offer a natural ground for solving internal and external conflicts among all people, for avoiding hostile separation. Although, sometimes the resolution may conclude with a strategic withdrawal from conflict, this occurs through a natural understanding, not due to a human inadequacy to resolve it in the circle.
My statements on the ancient Council ways do not refer to a romantic vision of a perfect society. This is not a Utopia. This natural model, based on the balance of Earth and Sky paths, leads men and women to a great point of balance. It really exists and is at hand, even though it may take another era to develop completely on a planetary scale! The true Council ways unite all ideologies from the right to the left (or up and down), as long as every mind is willing to meet, share, and respect every position at the center, symbolized as the fire of people, a self-responsibility to the larger circle. In the end, even the most rigid tendencies of the extreme right of the mind are recuperated by the larger wheel. One day or another, discerning confrontations will become the only mirror of spiritual advancement for all people to accept each other.
1 " The Hau De No Sau Nee Address to the Western World," in Basic Call to Consciousness, ed. by Akwesasne Notes (Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Company, 1978), pp. 72-78.
Excerpted from DREAMING THE COUNCIL WAYS: True Native Teachings from the Red Lodge by Ohky Siminé Forest, Red Wheel/Weiser, 2000, Chapter 12, Order: Manifesting the Ancient Council Ways, pp. 264-266.
Ohki Siminé Forest
PO Box 15
Maynard, MA 01754-0015
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