Walking on the Wind
Cherokee Teachings for Harmony and Balance
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
In the spirit of the highly acclaimed Medicine of the Cherokee, coauthored with his father J. T. Garrett, Michael Garrett shares with us the delightful, all-ages stories passed down from his great-grandfather and other medicine teachers. Blending his background as an Eastern Cherokee with his skills as a counselor, Michael reveals through these tales how to make sense of our experiences in life, see beauty in them, and be at peace with our choices.
"Michael's blend of traditional Cherokee ways with that of science and psychology illustrates that both Native and non-Native peoples can learn to thrive together...for the betterment of all" --Native Peoples magazine
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
How does one learn from the wisdom of Native American cultures without adding to the violence that has been done to the sacredness and integrity of those traditions? In this volume, Garrett, an Eastern Band Cherokee who teaches education at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, provides profound and beautiful answers to that question. As he notes, the book has two goals: to honor his people's vision of a balanced life and to share their accumulated wisdom about health and wellness with the larger, contemporary culture. Each chapter features delightful narratives of Cherokee stories and myths--the love of Moon for Sun, how the animals teach humanity to respect the harmony of nature, why possum's tail is bare, why turtle's shell is scarred, as well as recollections from Garrett's childhood. He notes that his father taught him that it was his task "to discover through the stories--the beauty and lessons offered to us through everyday experience." Garrett discusses lessons learned about how to make difficult choices, how to hear our intuitive sense of right and wrong and how to deal with painful experiences. Also included in this wide-ranging book are descriptions of the purposes of Pow-Wow, Iroquois False Face Societies, managing a modern kitchen in ways that respect the balance of nature and brief discussions about acid rain and greenhouse gases. Written in accessible language, Garrett's book is a useful primer on Native American spirituality.
