The Cherokee Full Circle: A Practical Guide to Sacred Ceremonies and Traditions

A comprehensive overview of Native American spiritual principles and their application for personal spirit-healing.

• Includes traditional sacred exercises, teaching tales, case studies, and suggested rituals for individual and group healing.

• Outlines the core principals of Native American traditional values and teaches how to apply them to the contemporary path of wellness and healing.

• Publication to coincide with annual Full Circle gathering in September 2002

The Four Directions, the four seasons, and the four elements that make up the sacred hoop of the full circle must be in right relationship with one another or disharmony will result. Native American ritual has always emphasized the restoration of balance through ceremonies that provide a forum for learning, transition, and expressions of personal growth. Now Cherokee authors J. T. and Michael Garrett share Native American traditions to explore interrelationships as a tool for growth and transformation.

The Cherokee Full Circle gathers techniques representing Native American cultures from across America--stories, exercises, and individual and group rituals--to teach the inherent dynamics of right relationship and apply them to the healing path. The authors provide a comprehensive overview of Native American spiritual principles and traditions and demonstrate how these ideas and methods can be applied universally to deal with life's situations--from depression and grieving to finding purpose and establishing positive relationships.

J. T. Garrett, Ed.D., is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee from North Carolina. His son, Michael Garrett, Ph.D., is the author of Walking on the Wind and together they are the authors of Medicine of the Cherokee. As students and teachers of Indian Medicine, they draw on the ancient wisdom teachings of their Medicine Elders on the Cherokee Reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains.