June 12, 2008
To share with people to know who you are.
Why do we use Sweetgrass for teaching?
So people are not humiliated in learning the truth about themselves.
Now learn this today…
I use this to represent a man or a woman, bad or good, or young. Which is it? Which are you? They are all there together. All of them are represented. Each strand represents each person.
The braid is man and woman – everyone together. They agree together to learn to share together and to learn new things together.
Within the braid we become new today. We become younger because we learn together. We become stronger and younger. We are learning to learn together. We learn to share and we become balanced. A ‘young’ and an ‘old’ – together.
The colour. The end of the strand (the oldest part of the stem) is purple – purple like a queen which represents wisdom.
Every day within the embrace of the braid we learn from our mistakes and share with others to prevent errors in others. We become younger ourselves because we share our errors, our learning. We are saying to others, ‘I used to do this before!’
Entering the Circle…I thank-you my Father, for helping me change my life and to keep growing. You teach me to never look back - to keep going forward.
Smudging…I do this to prove that I will speak honestly.
Everyone is asked, ‘Do you agree with this?’ When everyone says, ‘We agree to work together’ each person gives his separate strand and it is braided together with the other strands representing each separate person. One person holds the Sweetgrass while another person braids it or ties it. Then we agree. We made a deal to learn together and to burn the Sweetgrass. And the smoke is for the Spirit - a promise from all of us to learn together.
When getting Sweetgrass, don’t pull out the root. Cut the plant above ground and root will produce a new plant.
Burning Sweetgrass is burning the past. You offer up your old life.
You all say the truth and you receive amnesty and amnesia afterward.
Forget the mistakes of others – no punishment – all burnt away – gone.
And then love each other when you leave!
From The Spirit
