Monday’s
class was a presentation by Dr. Shulash Shukla whose professional background is
in Natural Resource Management. Accompanying Dr. Shukla was local herbalist,
Chad Cornell. Cornell is the owner of Hollow Reed, a store providing medicinal
plants to the community of interest. Before the gentlemen began, Dr. Pelletier
started by introducing the pipe she was gifted with from the late Tabasonakwut Kinew
and began with an opening prayer. Dr. Pelletier acknowledged she is a novice
pipe carrier, but more importantly shared teachings of the pipe she learned
with the class. Further than the four
directions that Dr. Pelletier mentions, these are, to point to the creator, to
acknowledge creation and one creator, and secondly the direction to mother
earth, to represent that people survive through air and water, and all sustained life from earth. And thirdly
the people smoking the pipe as they smoke and touch the stem of the pipe,
represents human beings that includes First Nations. Elders say one should
understand the seven sacred directions of the pipe as a framework or circle of
the teachings of the Anishinabe people to be aware of the teachings it
represents.
Chad began by talking about the holistic
aspect of his work, the interrelationship and a brief personal history. In his
late 20’s he left his government job to fulfil his inner desire to learn about
the medicinal properties of plants. Chad played a film which he described as a
medium to reach out to future generations. In Our Common Roots, Chad gave a more detailed reason version of his
introduction, an expression that seemed to reflect his time out on the lake. He
was on anti-biotics in his late 20s which upset his system. He took a job as a
wilderness guide in Haida territory (B.C) where he experienced healing. Chad attended
the Natural Healing College in Wildrose, Alberta. He studied ayurveta (written
history of Indian and Chinese traditional medicines, 5000 years old). He learned
way chemicals are used in everything and used the term ‘chemical empires’ to
describe our relationship to earth today.
The
film was shot at the bannock point petro-forms, a sacred place to First Nations
peoples. A discussion between Chad and
another fellow in film detailed the reasons why botanical energy is green
energy, the energy source for sustainability - decay (fungus) and plant life,
feminine and masculine relationship, and what should be the energy direction
Canada takes collectively. Plants
capture light and the more light we ingest, the more well we will be. Chad
spoke on acknowledging the spirit of plant. There are medicines within the
boreal forest. Kaniknik is commonly used for urinary tract infections; it can
be smoked as a filler to supplement tobacco; Juniper protects the body’s aura; addressing
a subtitle in film, Legends of Nature – Birch. Chad explained Paper birch is
being studied a lot. The vetchilinic acid can be used to treat tumors, ect., -
Opposite of decay – helps the body shed toxins.
Ron
Bell was interviewed, began by singing a Sioux song. Said the sick people are
placed in the middle of petro forms - Healers reside outside. Said it’s easy to
stand up and preach, practice kindness to strangers and have them say, ‘oh he
is a nice guy’, but the hard part is to go home and live it. He has a family
and home, a roof to keep clean; that the key is to live the teachings. Chad and Ron discussed how traffic has picked
up to the petro forms, there are more people coming; these people are from
other faiths who come. Chad commented that the people are rekindling, there was
time away, a disconnection; Bell clarified that practice was outlawed. Things
taken away, people come and express hurt. One elderly lady cried and told Ron
that her grandmother told her that she would receive that very teaching that
she just heard someday, at that site.
Chad
expressed public opinion and thought that were are headed for difficult time
ahead, especially for our children. A view fueled by media and cinema films
like the Day After Tomorrow. He
expressed his opinion that he doesn’t share the same thought and holds out hope
for a future of brighter minds. Eclectic doctors resulted because First Nations
traditions met with European doctors, a blend of both is what they practiced. A
global mind is emerging. Prophecy- Warriors of the Rainbow, is about people of
different tribes who share a common goal and defend it. Whose information is
it? – Its global knowledge. He told story about ‘Neem’, how he received
information, he felt like a recipient rather than one to take credit. He said
First Nation healers held a cosmic ontology that the new comers and followers
of church identified as a threat that had to be destroyed. He told us, similar
thinking still exists; Codex[sic] may be looking to shut down Hollow Reed someday;
Harvard Research is looking for the spirit molecule – dmt.
The
class stimulated thinking, I began thinking about the White Earth Land Recovery
Project Dr. Winona Laduke has founded and implemented into the school
curriculum in her own community and if the presentation was headed in that
direction. I have often daydreamt about a garden and greenhouse; I could grow
tobacco, squash, and a variety of goods at my parent’s property near Riding
Mountain National Park. There are traditional teachings about the petro-forms
that should be done through the languages, what’s in the songs. What is in the
prayers? - Oil has a purpose in the
land, and the exploitation of it is creating the imbalance of climate change,
in other words, it’s more than greenhouse gases.
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