The Medicine Wheel Program - Level 2

Traditional Life Skills – Module 2

Traditional teachings edify that everything existing must be in harmony and balance, they teach about maintaining equilibrium of the spirit.  The teachings also show that people need to develop on a continual basis.  Life is explained as a passage that is packed with events that confront and impinge on the paths elected for us.  We have a choice to lead our lives in a chaotic manner or one of traditional values and teachings.  As Aboriginal people we were blessed with ceremonies, such as sweats, fasts, vision quests, teachings of traditional law, age-grade teachings, traditional medicines, traditional healing practices and feasts.  The participants, who take Traditional Life Skills, will discover how these ceremonies restore balance and harmony in their lives.  They also learn how to access these ceremonies and the protocol involved.  Some of the more salient topics we will explore in this module include:

• Smudging and the power of listening
• Traditional listening skills
• The protocol of life-givers on their cycle
• Stage one teachings: name giving, moss-bag teachings, smudge, prayer & songs
• Stage two teachings: puberty and rites of passage, fasting, male and female roles
• Stage three teachings: ceremony, fasts, feasts, healing medicines, traditional law
• Stage four teachings: guides & balancers, roles of elders, performers of ceremony, the right to call upon ceremony, the right to speak and correct balance
• Stage five teachings: all levels of life teach about the passage home
• Knowledge Keepers: traditional teachers use the following skills: ceremony;  guidance; traditional healing; age-grade teachings; prescribe traditional medicines
• Ceremonialists: have traditional knowledge to perform certain ceremonies
• Traditional healers: their treatment is holistic; they have powers to explain the unknown; there is protocol for accessing their services; utilize old time offerings
• Role of a helper: there are different types of helpers and protocols in this area
• Self-assessment tool
• Traditional meals and spirit plates
• Certificates of completion