The Seven Sacred Teachings with Carolyn Landry

Welcome to the 7 sacred teachings where ancient wisdom meets modern living. Join us as we journey through the timeless teachings of truth, courage, respect, honesty, wisdom, love, and humility, guided by the wisdom of indigenous ancestors and the sacred connection to the land. Every story shared, every lesson learned, is a step towards harmony, sustainability, and the deepening of our spiritual paths. Now, let's walk the red road together with your host, Carolyn Landry.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for tuning in to my podcast. Welcome. My name is Carolyn. I've received these teachings primarily from my mother and grandmother. My grandmother came to Nova Scotia from Maine when she was 15 years old.

Her ancestry was Penobscot First Nation. She met my grandfather who was half Mi'kmaq and half German. They married and had 9 children. Their way of life was rooted in First Nation culture. They camped and moved across the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and visited Maine regularly to work, live on, and with the land.

Eventually, they settled in the small village of Kingston, Nova Scotia. My mother married a non indigenous man and had 6 children, of which I am the youngest. My father left the family when I was 4 years old and he returned 5 years later. My earliest memories are of living with basic and bare necessities and as close to the land that was possible in the 19 sixties seventies. I watched my grandmother, my mother, uncle, and aunt harvest ash trees, making baskets and axe handles.

They harvested medicines from the small forest around our home, and we all gathered together through ceremony and living in a society where where it seemed difficult to be indigenous. Things were rough at times with the influences of alcohol, drugs, illegal activities within the family. But as we move through those difficult times, there was always something present that could not be influenced, tainted, damaged, or corrupted, and that was and still is the 7 sacred teachings. I've come to know that these teachings are inherent in all human beings. The way that I was taught was rooted in the laws of the land that we call Nedugelim, which in a nutshell means simply not taking any more than one needs.

Because Mi'kmaq people live this way for 1000 of years, they reached a plateau in their society and their ancient civilization that reflected peace and harmony, coexistence, and balance, their true nature. The 7 sacred teachings when practiced in daily life, ensures that we walk the red path. A responsibility of each individual to make sure that the principle of nadugaliq is maintained, and by doing so the balance of the environment and the universe will be respected and maintained not only for this generation, but for the next generations, the next 7 generations to come, and so on and so on. While walking the red path, we are able to see clearly without prejudice, to make fair judgments, and live our best life. The teachings are non physical abilities that we all have, so we are able to walk the red path, which means just doing the next right thing.

The 7 teachings are pure awareness, the witness to the human form. The human being has arrogance and that is why we watch the 7 sacred animals and learn how we are like those 7 animals as they are the ones to show us and remind us that we are spirit first experiencing a human existence. When the human violates the 7 teachings, it always happens to self first. We immediately suffer the consequences of these violations to self and then we project our beliefs onto others. I come to know that we can end this type of suffering and that it is completely preventable, but we need to be open hearted and open minded with an earnest desire to be the best human being that we can be.

That is when we are at our happiest, most spontaneous, and most loving state that the human can reach, and this is always a work in progress. I'm bold enough to say that we all want to live in that state. It may seem to some that that state is unreachable, too good to be true, or something that we can never attain because we have looked at life as being hard or the universe throws us us curve balls or it's a cruel world and so on. We believe these things and they are just merely thoughts that we have believed in for years. And sometimes when we believe so hard and believe that it's the truth, it becomes our reality, and then we suffer.

I can only speak of 7 sacred teachings from experience and not opinions. I practice to stay true to myself and speak with honesty and integrity on a daily basis. I ask you not to believe me, but to open your mind and test the 7 sacred teachings. Curit is represented by Muin, the bear. It is the ability to face our fear and not live in it.

Wisdom is represented by Gobek, the beaver. It is the ability to make fair judgments to self. Respect is represented by Diem the most. It is the ability to acknowledge and honor self. Love is represented by Get Bu, the eagle.

It is the ability to connect to self through mind, body, and spirit. Honesty is represented by a Whigalata Mooj, the little people, or our conscience, and it is the ability to be true to self. Truth represented by Mick Geech, the turtle, is the ability to recognize reality, the constant inner life which is unchanging. Humility is represented by baptism, the wolf, and it is the ability to be selfless. I can teach you what the abilities are by definition, and I can tell you stories and guide you through storytelling or give you examples of life experiences.

And then it is your responsibility to turn the teachings into a daily practice. It's simple to do, and we all have the tools within us. The only thing we need to make the leap towards freedom is the desire for ending our suffering. When we change our old ways of thinking and become a seeker of truth with those attachments to our stories, we are stepping onto and into the red path. Please keep in mind that every journey begins with a single step.

Come and take the journey with me. Wlalio, umsuhtinogama gesalulo, namoltis. Thank you all. All my relations, I love you all, and until next time.