The Four Sacred Medicines

A Brief Guide to the Spiritual, Physical, Emotional and Mental Healing Practices of Canada’s Aboriginal People

What’s in a Word?

ABORIGINAL:•First Nations•Métis•Inuit

MEDICINE AND HEALING:

•Not only physical•For the soul, spirit & mind

CLEANSE AND PURIFICATION:

•Make clean•Start new•Goodness & positivity

The Medicine Wheel

NORTH

EAST

SOUTH

WEST

CAUCASIAN

ASIAN

ABORIGINAL

AFRICAN

AIR

FIRE

WATER

EARTH

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

FALL

MENTAL

SPIRITUAL

EMOTIONAL

PHYSICAL

CEDAR

TOBACCO

SWEETGRASS

SAGE

ELDER

INFANT/CHILD

TEEN

ADULT

CEDAR

TOBACCOSAGE

SWEETGRASS

CEDAR

• Purification• Attracts positive energy,

feelings, balance and emotions

• Vitamin C • Used in smudging

ceremony or in a tea

Tobacco• Connects us to the spirit

world• Absorbs prayers and carries

them to the spirit world• Honors a promise or

agreement• Offer your thanks to the

Creator and Mother Earth for their gifts

• Usually not smoked, unless for very special ceremonial occasions

Sweetgrass

• Cleansing• Represents elements of

virtue (bends but wont break)

• Virtue- wrong doing can be returned with kindness

• Braided before harvest to honor and respect Mother Earth

Sage

• Brings strength, wisdom and clarity of purpose

• Purifying• Drives away negative

energies

Smudging Ceremony• A “smudge” is smoke used in ceremonial cleansing• Stand in a circle (connection to all things)• Traditional practice for some Aboriginal cultures • Purifies and cleanses negative energy, feelings or

thoughts from a person or a place• Sacred medicines are burned in a shell (water)• Sage, sweetgrass and cedar (earth)• Burning (fire)• Smoke (air)• Person uses their hands to smudge areas of the

body that need cleansing and purification (mind, heart, back, feet, eyes, mouth)

• Smell of smudge may stimulate brain to produce beta-endorphins which triggers a healing process

• Positive thoughts and prayers are carried to the creator in the smoke

• NOT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL

• NO PICTURES

• NO METAL (Jewelry, watches, lighters)

• RIGHT TO PASS

• NOT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL

• NO PICTURES

• NO METAL (Jewelry, watches, lighters)

• RIGHT TO PASS

Sources

• http://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/Aboriginal_Medicine_e.htm

• Google Images