I love cedar. The look of it, how it clumps together, and especially how it smells.
I was reminded of this while trimming my neighbour's hedge.
Yes, the same one that kindly lent me her weed wacker.
While I need a lot of practice / instruction on proper hedge trimming I did find it to be rather relaxing and I think that is down to the aroma released by the cut cedar.
And while I am certainly not very knowledgeable about the Anishinaabe Teachings of the Four Sacred Medicines, on some level I understand why cedar is one of them.
More introductory information on these sacred teachings is pasted below, from the Downie Wenjack Fund (link to site in comments):
The information on this page is only a small portion of the many and extensive sacred Indigenous teachings and protocols that exist. Teachings vary from community to community and from one geographic region to another.
For more information, please consult with a Traditional Elder, Healer or Medicine Person.
Tobacco is the first plant that creation gave to the Anishinaabe. Three other plants, sage, cedar and sweetgrass, follow tobacco, and together they are referred to as the four sacred medicines.
The four sacred medicines are used in everyday life and in ceremonies. All of them can be used to smudge with. It is said that tobacco sits in the eastern door, sweetgrass in the southern door, sage in the west and cedar in the north...
Like sage and sweetgrass, cedar is used to purify the home. It also has many restorative medicinal uses. Cedar baths are healing, and cedar tea can be an excellent source of vitamin C.
When cedar is put in the fire with tobacco, it crackles. When it does this, it is calling the attention of the spirits to the offering that is being made.
Cedar is used in fasting and sweat lodge ceremonies as a form of protection: cedar branches cover the floor of the sweat lodge and a circle of cedar surrounds the faster’s lodge.
#Cedar #Anishinaabe #Sacred #Medicines #Indigenous #TurtleIsland #Learning #HamOnt #RandomMusings
