Transcript The Four Sacred Medicines

The Four Sacred Medicines
A Brief Guide to the Spiritual, Physical, Emotional and
Mental Healing Practices of Canada’s Aboriginal People
What’s in a Word?
ABORIGINAL:
•First Nations
•Métis
•Inuit
MEDICINE AND
HEALING:
• Not only
physical
• For the soul,
spirit & mind
CLEANSE AND
PURIFICATION:
• Make clean
• Start new
• Goodness & positivity
NORTH
CAUCASIAN
AIR
WEST
WINTER
EAST
ELDER
AFRICAN
EARTH
MENTAL
CEDAR
ASIAN
FIRE
The Medicine Wheel
SPRING
SOUTH
INFANT/CHILD
PHYSICAL
ABORIGINAL
SPIRITUAL
SAGE
WATER
FALL
ADULT
SUMMER
TEEN
EMOTIONAL
SWEETGRASS
TOBACCO
CEDAR
TOBACCO
SAGE
SWEETGRASS
CEDAR
• Purification
• Attracts positive energy,
feelings, balance and
emotions
• Vitamin C
• Used in smudging
ceremony or in a tea
Tobacco
• Connects us to the spirit
world
• Absorbs prayers and carries
them to the spirit world
• Honors a promise or
agreement
• Offer your thanks to the
Creator and Mother Earth
for their gifts
• Usually not smoked, unless
for very special ceremonial
occasions
Sweetgrass
• Cleansing
• Represents elements of
virtue (bends but wont
break)
• Virtue- wrong doing can
be returned with
kindness
• Braided before harvest
to honor and respect
Mother Earth
Sage
• Brings strength, wisdom
and clarity of purpose
• Purifying
• Drives away negative
energies
Smudging Ceremony
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A “smudge” is smoke used in ceremonial cleansing
Stand in a circle (connection to all things)
Traditional practice for some Aboriginal cultures
Purifies and cleanses negative energy, feelings or
thoughts from a person or a place
Sacred medicines are burned in a shell (water)
Sage, sweetgrass and cedar (earth)
Burning (fire)
Smoke (air)
Person uses their hands to smudge areas of the
body that need cleansing and purification (mind,
heart, back, feet, eyes, mouth)
Smell of smudge may stimulate brain to produce
beta-endorphins which triggers a healing process
Positive thoughts and prayers are carried to the
creator in the smoke
• NOT UNDER THE
INFLUENCE OF
DRUGS OR ALCOHOL
• NO PICTURES
• NO METAL (Jewelry,
watches, lighters)
• RIGHT TO PASS
Sources
• http://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/Aborigi
nal_Medicine_e.htm
• Google Images