Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire

About ten years ago I found a book called Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire by Dhyani Ywahoo that I haven't been able to fully comprehend. Perhaps the more I read Ywahoo's book, the more I'll eventually understand it. But there are tidbits in the book that immediately hit home for me.

Ywahoo, a member of the traditional Etowah Band of the Eastern Tsalagi (Cherokee) Nation, said she was "charged with the duty to rekindle the fire of clear mind and right relationship in these changing times" and that's why she wrote the book. She is a guide to all who walk "the Beauty Road."

The back jacket of the Voices of Our Ancestors says that it "teaches practical ways of transforming obstacles to happiness and good relationships, fulfilling one's life purpose, manifesting peace and abundance ... It includes teachings on how to practice generosity and harmony.

Here are some of the jewels I've discovered in the book:

Our elders taught that forgiveness was a great balm--the most great medicine that brings freedom from hurt.

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Everyone has some idea of what another's vice or fault is and what ought to be corrected. The real issue is to clarify one's own consciousness, be one with the stream of clear mind in oneself, that one may act in the present rather than react to issues of the past.

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Affirmation is a skillful means for transforming energy, and it begins with the deletion of negative statements about self and others. A negative statement freezes one in time and space without room for harmonization.

And here's a message that made my mind and body sing:

Each of us has a song in our heart. Through thought, through action, each one is creating vibration in the atmosphere. When we think about the dancing atoms that build and sustain the forms of life, we can see ourselves forever in the dance. Everything is vibration. Our action rings out in many dimensions, and in that way our thoughts and actions return to us. We call it karma or destiny.