lectures

Most people are surprised to learn American Indians do not practice an organized religion. Our Lifeways, or way of Life, are wholistic; they incorporate and associate everything we do with the Great Mystery, as a matter of everyday Life. When the word "religion" is applied to Indian culture, it is an accommodation to mainstream thinking. It has also taken on certain legal ramifications in the mainstream.

Among the benefits of attending this lecture is learning a contrasting worldview that will help you understand more fully a philosophy that creates and supports inner peace and happiness of the individual, who in turn is better able to support the community.

Prayer as Commitment: Perhaps the most common prayer we hear is the "intercessory prayer," where one is asking God to do something. Unfortunately, people who pray for themselves in this way are missing the point when they ask God to make some change in them that only they can make. Consider prayer as a time to make commitments to yourself, with Creator clearing the obstacles beyond your control. You will learn the Hollow Bone exercise, a powerful and simple clearing and guidance techinque, and an excellent place to be when in prayer.

Inipi (sweatlodge): A simple igloo-shaped structure usually made of willow saplings, the purpose of the inipi ceremony is to pray and to purify; physically, mentally, and emotionally. It creates an environment that helps participant move beyond the bounds of ego and to get real in prayer.

Language: Differences in linguistic structure, such as verb based or noun based, have an enormous impact on worldviews and the ability of different cultures to effectively communicate with each other. Language is one of the more revealing illustrators of culture and cultural differences and touches on literally every aspect of life. This is not at all a dry topic. In this section, you will learn the Relationship Exercise, a very useful tool that will improve your relationships and help you fully understand the phrase, "We are all related," as literal and immediate.

     The Medicine Shield: A device for guidance and support when dealing with specific issues. (see Medicine Shield page)

     The Medicine Wheel: The ancient and mysterious Medicine Wheel is most commonly interpreted by mainstream academia as a religious artifact and/or celestial calendar. The common perception of the Wheel is that it is an unsophisticated attempt by primitive people incapable of reasoned thought, to control their environment. However, understood as a seasonal guide, it is undeniably sophisticated in that Wheels set up for this purpose were a tremendous aid to tribes's decision-making processes regarding planting time, moving/hunting time, meeting time, and so on.

     These are all valid uses of the Wheel. However the one use that is least talked about or even seriously considered by the experts, and rarely taught in mainstream culture, is the Wheel as a personal Life-guide. The Medicine Wheel's deepest purpose is as a tool for understanding one's Lifepatterns and for personal guidance. As such, the Wheel has an unerring ability to reflect back Lifepatterns in a non-threatening, compassionate way. We use the Wheel as an eminently competent tool for profound psychological healing and Life coaching. A tool that allows each person who works their own Wheel total autonomy and independence, allowing her or him to really get real with self as nobody else is involved. (see Medicine Wheel page)

The Colonizer has had some 500 years to write, rewrite, edit, revise, propagandize, distort, revise again, impose, embed, invent and otherwise spin the tail of the relationship and history between Indigenes and European-Americans. This lecture counters these fairytales with a generous dose of reality.

Here Come the Anthros. Modern academics, known affectionately as anthropologists and archeologists, have laid claim to the history of Turtle Island both pre and post-contact. Perhaps the biggest and best-known fairytale is that favorite theory known as the Bering Strait Land Bridge: Why would people living large on the moderate-climate and productive Steppes of Eurasia, traverse no less than 12 hostile, desolate, and snow-capped mountain ranges, cross the sea on an iffy-at-best land bridge, only to end up in Alaska?

Treaty Wrongs. The U.S., on becoming its very own sovereign nation, assumed the treaties made with its predecessors, the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and so on. In addition, some 900 treaties were made after July 4th, of which only 396 were ratified by the Senate. Yet all treaties, ratified or not, were enforced against the Indians. And of the 396 that were ratified, 396 we broken by the United States.

Nation to Nation; A Brief Overview. What is the condition and standing of Indian Country today, and what direction is it headed in? We are about 30 years into what has been called the Self-Determination Period. What does this mean, what’s it all about, now and for the future?