Medicine of the Wolf Page #7

And we need to hang on to it,

we've got to fight corporations.

We've got to fight this

recreation industrial complex

that's threatening these precious

wild lands that are so diverse.

The foundation that... that

supports our being here today

is all the micro-organisms in the soil

and the plants and the

animals that walk on it,

the animals that swim

and the animals that fly.

We're all intertwined,

it's that great web of life.

In Mahingan, the wolf, he's our brother,

he's right there with us.

We walk the earth with him.

I found that there are

many indigenous cultures

in the world that have

always revered the wolf.

I interviewed chi-Mahingan,

which means "big wolf"

from the red lake nation.

For the Ojibwe people,

there's no separation

between the wolf and them.

The wolf holds the medicine

and teaches humility.

You know, one of the first

designs that was created

was a circle.

And everything after that

was placed inside the circle.

And therefore, everything

moves in the circle.

Even the human,

from childhood to childhood,

the seasons go in circle.

All the stars, the sun,

the moon, the earth,

it always moves in a circle.

And what that creates

is what they call a rhythm.

There's a universal rhythm.

And I... and I kinda joke

about that, too, you know,

saying everything tries to be round,

they say everything a Indian

does tries to be round.

I try to be round.

They are, traditionally

Indians are round.

You have continuity.

Today they told the animals

to take care of their brother,

the human being.

Otherwise,

the human being would not have survived.

The animal people, yes,

we will watch our brother.

We will give them our hide,

we will give them our flesh.

We'll give them our bones

so they can live.

So we know that, said the animal people.

And today we're gonna pay

the animal people,

especially the wolf,

we're gonna pay him back

by killing him.

Medicine,

when I think of...

The role it has in bringing us back

to our own center of integrity,

which means wholeness, basically.

Where our own regenerative health powers

can find their balance again.

In that sense, medicine is a catalyst.

And I see the wolf,

in a sense, one can say

the wolf is medicine.

But then that raises,

for me, another question,

which is, well what are we ailing from?

What is the ailment?

And I think when one

looks around the lands,

across the world, there is one,

in this time we live in,

the ailment that we...

we struggle with, is fear.

It is fear of the enemy. It is fear of

the neighbor. It is fear of the self.

It is fear of power.

It is fear of love.

It is fear of so many things.

Fear of the loss of livelihood,

in the case of those living

directly with wolves,

and all these fear elements, for me,

are directly embodied by the wolf.

The wolf is a great mirror towards us.

We have so many similarities,

and as you talk about

in that Ojibwe myth,

the wolf is, in a sense, our partner,

and our brother, and was in the past.

And I think going forward, there is,

if one looks at the wolf

as a medicine in that sense,

there's really much that we can learn,

in our current society, from the wolf.

Inspired by the idea

of the wolf as a symbol of medicine,

I decided to go to California

and spend time with the group

that is doing something

very unique with wolves,

wolf-dogs and people.

That was nice.

Thank you, wow, I feel special.

A wolf rehabilitation center

in Acton, California

that believes strongly

that the wolf has great value

and is a teacher that we can learn from.

And we're at a wolf hike they do.

Each month, they'll take people

to see their wolves and wolf-dogs

and teach them about wolves.

They rehabilitate these animals,

and then they work with people

and inner-city youths,

and people with PTSD, it's quite

extraordinary what they do.

We have the kids come in, they're

coming from all different backgrounds,

most of them are at-risk youth

coming from inner-city situations.

They've come from gang violence

and that kind of a thing, and

they come in with their walls up,

always needing to protect

themselves, make sure they're safe,

they come in, they've got their

attitude, they've got their swagger

goin' on, and you know,

they're like comin' in

and they're like, "whatever,

what do you got to teach me?"

And they come in,

they got their, you know,

earphones in and stuff, we go,

"take your earphones out," you know,

"hand 'em over,"

"you're gonna stand here,

you're gonna sit here

and we're gonna make a circle."

"And we're just gonna

get really present."

"And the minute that

they all truly drop in,

and let go of that stuff

and center themselves,

the pack will actually begin to howl."

And this has happened numerous times,

and every single time the kids go...

"Oh my God!"

And for the rest of the program

they're putty in our hands,

it's incredible.

Oh, what a vicious wolf,

yes you are.

Yes you are.

You're a big vicious wolf.

Yes.

And inevitably, they'll pick one or two

particular wolves that they really feel

a connection with because of the story.

Then when they finally

get to meet that wolf,

and they get to sit with that wolf,

and they get to look into

the eyes of that wolf,

looking into the eyes of a wolf

it's like you're really

seeing your own soul.

And that is incredibly healing.

You take a look at this, its posture,

and how big it is, and you would

automatically be scared of it,

but in reality it's just...

just a loving creature,

it just... it just wants to be loved

like anybody and anything else,

it just wants to be loved.

It wants to be...

The de-listing of wolves.

You just have to... you

just have to really just...

You just really just...

have to really...

if you really wanna help...

That's love right there.

Get my psychiatrist.

This is where I come, specifically,

besides the walking, is quite nice,

where things do feel better.

When I think about

crisis-es in the world,

crisis-es happening around me,

especially with the wolves,

I feel better here.

And it helps me.

It's a time of re-evaluation.

That's what the wolves taught me.

In an odd way, right?

In a very odd way,

this whole wolf hunt

has made me confront things

that I don't have answers for.

My investment and telling the story,

and seeing it was maybe wasted.

There's a lesson there,

I have to get beyond that.

I have to think about that a little bit,

I'm pretty angry.

Anger is not a solution,

and something you shouldn't

carry around with you.

I've been gone a lot because of that,

choose to, certainly

during the hunting season.

The pups are born,

there was a den nearby,

there were pups born, they're out there.

Uh, I'll think,

well, like the first hunt,

the last wolf

I photographed was blondie.

That was a wolf that was

shot, and she was a pup.

She was nine months old.

I'm afraid to bond to these animals.

I've bonded to every, I knew,

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