TALKING CIRCLE
The Talking Circle is the foundation to create healthy and harmonious relationships in the community and between communities in the Native North American Tradition. It is a sacred form of communication used to live in peace, by tribal communities throughout Turtle Island, to make decisions about the community´s future and to balance and heal conflict situations inside the community or with other communities.
In the Talking Circle all members have equal rights to express their visions and insights related to the reason of the meeting, without being limited or controlled by time or personal importance. The intention is to create and to maintain connection with the Great Spirit and spiritual connection between each other during the meeting, to find solution or resolution in consensus, through self-respect and respect and caring for others, in the sacred form of the circle. The circle goes on until consensus is achieved.
When a circle is called to take place in the community, each member has the responsibility and the right to be present or not in the circle. The utmost respect of individual freedom and sacred space, and to maintain balanced and harmonious relationships are fundamental values of this form of community. The final decision is respected and followed by all community members.
All people are purified by smudging, sometimes also in sweat lodge ceremony, before entering to the circle. The main elder or chief opens the circle with a prayer, to make a sacred connection to the Great Spirit and to the people, and to introduce the reason for the council. Sacred Pipe or Pipes are lit and passed around and smoked with prayers. A talking stick or an eagle feather used to maintain the spiritual connection. Only the person with the feather talks and all the others listen in respect, in patience and in complete silence. The feather goes around until the end. Then the main elder closes the circle with a thanksgiving prayer.
In writing this site I intentionally avoided giving descriptions on ceremonies, because my respect for them and because for me it is not the way to understand something about Native American Tradition and Spirituality. I did a short description about the Talking Circle because I consider it is very important to see in which form and how the Native North American people communicate traditionally.
These writings are my reflections and visions about my experiences and my understandings of what I learned on the Sacred Red Road with my Elders and also some parts of the teachings I received. For me life and creation are teaching us in every moment and we are all here to learn and to share.
I have noticed many misunderstandings and prejudices about Native Americans, conscious and unconscious misuse of their spiritual ways and wisdom. I hope this site can help a little to heal that. I would like to open a talking circle to people wanting to use it to heal through sharing, like I did when I was creating it. All my relations.
Everything in this site is free to copy, to distribute and to share with anybody, in any country and at any time, if it is not for monetary gain. Please do not change anything in the text you copy and indicate the origin where it comes from, referring to this site and to me when you share it.
If you want to organize ceremony, teaching or healing with me, send me your inquiry and I will answer as soon as I can.
