All quotes from
Russell, David and Robert's book
A lot of times the
spirits tell you to use a particular combination. You don't select it; you are told what to
use. You don't question it. But if the combination is passed on from a
human, you really have to check.
The circumference of
the [Medicine Wheel] circle represents the sweetgrass trail, around which the
individual travels as he seeks to pass through life successfully and eventually
return to the Great Spirit.
The primary role of
a healer is to help people who approach him in the correct way, asking for
healing and guidance from the Great Spirit.
Since the Great Spirit is too holy to be approached directly, the healer
must work with Spirit Helpers, the Grandfathers. The Grandfathers carry requests from the
healer to the Great Spirit and return to the healer with information and
spiritual power. The healer then
channels this assistance to those who have requested it.
Rocks are some of
the most important Grandfather spirits, as they have been here from the
beginning of the world and will be here long after people, trees, and plants
have gone.
Each species of
animal, plant, fish, and insect has its own Grandfather spirit, of which all
members of that species are living expressions.
Everything that
works for good in the world is duplicated by an equivalent set of spirits that
work for the bad…. The only exception to this dualistic worldview is the Great
Spirit, which does not have an evil counterpart.
An important task of
a good healer is to diagnose which problems are caused by curses as opposed to
problems due to natural causes.
There are a lot of
predictions that people laugh at, such as that a time will come when money is
no good or that the trees will be very important…. People will try to
survive. But they will need a different
kind of building that can withstand the winds.
An individual is
composed of three elements: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Illness upsets these elements and thus has
spiritual, psychological, and physiological manifestations. Regardless of the etiology of an illness,
treatment must address itself to all three of these elements.
