Ancient Mystic Healer

The Kinship Circle

A village was composed of numerous related families each with it's own Headman, and among those Headmen was a village Chief. A group of related villages formed the Tribe and the village Chiefs collectively formed a Tribal Council. Another hierarchy manifested within the Tribal Council based upon each Chiefs individual wealth and respect status. Larger villages commanded greater economic power and wealth imbuing their Chiefs with greater authority, yet the power of personal character and family lineage played a crucial role in a Chiefs position as well.

The Talking Circle
Our people demonstrated a highly evolved model of group decision making in the form of the talking circle. The most important people within the social hierarchy sat in the inner circle. The rest of the community would arrange themselves in the outer rings of the circle, their distance from the center ring denoting both social standing as well as a desire to be heard. Everyone in the circle could have a voice in the decision making process. This created an organic form of democracy in which all adult members of the village participated.

The Great Circle
Our people respected and understood the land as Spirit expressing itself in the natural world surrounding us. We were connected to the land with certainty and gratitude. It sustained us and we appreciated and nurtured the land, knowing life would not be possible without it's role in supporting all of the spirits which share this world. Our gift economy reflected the relationship of the Creator to the People. The acquiring of objects and products of both aesthetic and utilitarian value was a measure of an individual's wealth and status, yet acquisition was not an end in itself. Each winter the Potlatch became the setting for individuals to give away their possessions to others, further mirroring the Creators relationship to the People. The spiritual import of gifting your earthly possessions to others remains a powerful personal experience and an unequivocal statement of faith and trust.

Our Tribes administered it's laws with transparency and a focus upon the collective rights of the people. Individualism at the expense of community was not tolerated. Victims of an offense participated in the forming of appropriate punishments in a public arena where justice and fairness were, like other decision making processes, a group affair.

Our management practices created sustainable human communities in which all of our needs were met without the risks of self extinction and biosphere degradation we face today. This thoughtful management style was an outgrowth of our reverence for the natural world. We carefully considered our actions in relation to it's effects upon a seventh generation grandchild's life. We respected the lives of the salmon people, sister bear and all of the other creatures who shared our paradise on earth.