Tanisi! Welcome

Join us on Zoom on Tuesday, September 20th at 5:00 p.m. MT as Cree Elder and Storyteller Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes shares Medicine Wheel Teachings, traditional knowledge that can guide any journey using the fundamental concepts of wholeness, inter-relationship, inter-connectedness, balance and respect.

This is the first of three events AUSU is hosting for Indigenous Week, 2022.

Meet Elder Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes

Cheryle’s ceremonially gifted Cree name translates to “Healing Woman Who Walks Far”. She has resided in Calgary, Treaty 7, Alberta, since 1993. Cheryle earned a BA in Communications and a BA in Canadian “Native” Studies from the University of Calgary, as well as a Diploma in Advertising & Public Relations from Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. She also earned the rank of Corporal in the Canadian Air Force during five years of service.

Cheryle has been an Indigenous activist in and around Calgary for the past two decades, speaking, marching, singing, and drumming for women, MMIWG2S, Sisters in Spirit, Justice for Jackie Crazybull, Indigenous Justice, and much more. She is a champion for the environment and equality and believes in speaking up for those who cannot.

Recognized as a Traditional Knowledge Keeper, Cree Elder, and Pipe Carrier, Cheryle provides service sharing Indigenous protocol, Territorial Acknowledgements, Medicine Wheel Teachings, Indigenous cultural teachings and stories, prayers and ceremony (upon request). She is a member of the Storytellers of Canada and Storytelling Alberta as an Indigenous storyteller and performer.

Cheryle is also a mother of two and Kokum to five beautiful grandchildren.

If you have any questions about this event, please email ausu@ausu.org.

Medicine Wheel Teachings: an overview

by Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes

As Cree people, we were given the gift of being named for the four parts of human beings. We are called Nehiyawak, which means being balanced in the four parts found in the four directions of the Medicine Wheel. These four parts for human beings are the spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental aspects of the self. We need to try and balance these four parts that were given to us, to function best as people.

HOW THE MEDICINE WHEEL REPRESENTS THE LIFE JOURNEY OF PEOPLE

The old people will tell you it is life itself. Look at the four seasons and follow the sun. Spring in the east, summer in the south, fall in the west and winter in the north. It tells the whole story of how all life came into being abundantly bright, rising in the east and then fading away as it moves west and north. All life rises and sets like the sun.

What we do in between is our journey. This is where the gifts of the four directions are needed – the gifts of the spirit, physical body, emotions, and mind – and where we need to find balance within these four realms.

There is no right or wrong way to use the medicine wheel as a teaching tool. It is both a universal symbol and a personal tool to help us remember.

PRESENTATION REQUIREMENTS

The presentation includes a PPT 23-slide presentation (computer & screen required), seeing and discussing various medicines, the sharing of songs and stories to support the teachings, and plenty of opportunity for Q&A. Length: 45 minutes to one hour, depending on Q&A.