New Releases by Medicine Story

In the 1960s, Manitonquat (Medicine Story), a Wampanoag Elder, traveled among the First Nations in search of answers to why there was so much violence, separation and loneliness in the world. He brought his understandings and experience of living in community back to our New World and dedicated his life to bringing people closer to each other and themselves and Mother Earth. The old ways honored respect, connection, and ceremony. Across the world, communities once lived in circles, in balance with nature. These books keep that knowledge alive. Today, other values have taken root in our societies - often with painful consequences for life on Earth. Modern complexity and a relentless pursuit of growth at all cost have distanced us from our essence. Yet, as Manitonquat reminds us, a more human world is possible. The Circle Way offers practical tools and inspiration for creating circles, fostering projects, and building strong, compassionate communities - whether in relationships, families, or schools. Changing the World shares his vision of the simplicity and closeness of a healthy community, showing how we can thrive with Mother Earth, our source of life. With humor and clarity, Manitonquat takes us on a journey from the heartfelt dream of one man to a shared vision of a world transformed for the good of all.

"MÄNSKLIGHETEN HAR GLÖMT SINA INSTRUKTIONER" Det var det svar de äldste bland ursprungsbefolkningarna i Nordamerika gav Manitonquat när han reste över kontinenten i slutet av 1960-talet för att söka svar på frågan "Vad är det för fel på människor? Varför finns det krig, våld, förtryck, girighet, orättvisor, fattigdom, likgiltighet och miljöförstörelse?" När han satt tillsammans med, och lyssnade på "de äldste" från De Första Nationerna från alla delar av Nordamerika, började han få en tydligare insikt och förståelse för det de brukade benämna "De Ursprungliga Instruktionerna". Hela skapelsen har formats efter dem, de som också benämns Naturlagar, Dharma eller Tao.

This book contains poems that issue mainly from the poet's experience and perspective as a First Nation Wampanoag member. Raised and educated by his non-native mother, he was also strongly influenced by his Wampanoag grandfather's stories and knowledge of the history of his people. In his thirties he began to travel to learn from elders of nations that lay distant from civilization in Canada and the north and southwest and found from them the wisdom he had found nowhere else. The elders asked him to go where he might be invited and make this wisdom available to all who asked for it, and for five decades, he has continued to travel wherever invited and speak to all who wish to listen.

Like Thoreau's journals come the poems of this book. Birch Cottage comprises a number of poems written over many years in a small hand-made house deep in the woods of southern New Hampshire, in the Souhegan valley and the region of Mt. Monadnock. Among the quiet woods, with the birds, the wild turkeys, the animals that live in and under the house, and on the mountain is a world apart. An ancient way of life is celebrated in poems divided into three parts, ending with an ice storm disaster to the delicate birch grove, and the way woodland life reacts to that. The antithesis of that way, the way of our estrangement from nature, is recalled in the poem "Notes to Thoreau." "Well, Henry, like you I can maintain sanity, Confront essentials, and reflect on madness In my hand-made cottage in the woods..." The title and idea for the long poem "36 Views of Mt. Monadnock" were inspired by the famous series of 19th century prints by the Japanese master Hokusai: "36 Views of Mt. Fuji."

Manitonquat, detto anche Medicine Story, è un nativo americano leader spirituale della tribù dei Wampanoag del Massachussett, e nel libro Gli antichi insegnamenti dei nativi americani, parte dai preziosi insegnamenti degli anziani della sua tribù e ne illustra i principi fondamentali. Si ispira alle indicazioni degli anziani nativi d’America per proporre un percorso di riflessione e cambiamento che coinvolge la vita di tutti gli esseri umani e la salvaguardia del Pianeta. Dalle parole e dagli esempi degli anziani maestri emergono quelle Istruzioni Originarie che, benché siano tra i principi innati, gli esseri umani hanno dimenticato. Manitonquat sostiene, con passione e devozione, la necessità di recuperare e praticare questi insegnamenti per ricostruire un mondo più giusto per tutte le specie che lo abitano. Un libro delicato e penetrante, gioioso e poetico, intriso di un profondo rispetto per l’Universo e per tutte le creature. «Cosa sta succedendo agli abitanti di questo Pianeta? Al popolo degli animali e delle piante che condividono il mondo con noi? Nessuno sa cosa accadrà alla Terra, ma il suo futuro è nelle nostre mani. Sono gli esseri umani ad averla messa in pericolo e solo loro possono salvarla. Solo io, solo voi».

We have the power to affect the future of humankind with every interaction we have with a child. We have the most power as parents, and then as allies to parents, as grandparents, teachers, counselors, and as friends to all children. Elders of the First Nations taught that we should consider our actions as affecting the unborn generations that we will never know. This book is rooted in the soil of the traditional ways of caring for children of First Nations communities in North America which have been little documented in print. It also derives from the family workshops and camps, which use the approach and techniques of Re-Evaluation Counseling in a blend called The Circle Way, that Manitonquat and his wife Ellika have been creating for many years. Children today are entering a society that is hostile to them, that ignores their thinking and feelings as valuable human beings, values them only for the profit of industries. It turns them into competitors who are measured on Procrustean beds of a common standard, drugs them when they do not conform, and offers little help to parents struggling for ways to provide a home, food, healthcare, and find the time to spend getting close, playing with, and guiding their children as they grow. Through this book Manitonquat encourages all of us to make children our priority, put them at the center of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, return childhood to children, the joys of play and connection and of nature, the wonder and delight of learning, and the marvels in every moment of awareness. This not just for them, but also when we do this for them they enrich our own lives, our learning, and our joy beyond measure.

"Non è mai troppo tardi per avere un'infanzia felice", Manitonquat. Crescere insieme nella gioia: un progetto meraviglioso che per noi genitori del XXI secolo è difficile anche solo immaginare… Ma si può realizzare? Presi nel vortice frenetico delle preoccupazioni, dei ritmi di lavoro e delle esigenze familiari, non siamo neppure consapevoli dell’immensa solitudine che ci circonda, dell’incredibile e innaturale condizione dell’essere adulti del tutto soli o quasi a mandare avanti una serie di compiti che richiederebbero invece la presenza di un’intera tribù di persone. Fatichiamo a immaginare che la Natura abbia previsto una gioiosa strada attraverso la relazione d’amore fra adulti e bambini… In questo suo libro, Manitonquat, storyteller nativo del Nord America, con la sua esperienza quarantennale a contatto con i bambini e le loro famiglie, illustra un bellissimo percorso alla scoperta dei tanti strumenti a nostra disposizione per trasformare la vita quotidiana con i bambini e i ragazzi in un’avventura divertente, consapevole, gioiosa. Offre ai genitori degli aiuti preziosi per prendersi innanzi tutto cura di se stessi, per guarire le proprie antiche ferite e guardare alla relazione con i più giovani da una prospettiva nuova, pervasa da un profondo sentimento di rispetto e di amore incondizionato. Manitonquat, il cui nome tradotto in inglese è Medicine Story (la storia che cura), è narratore, poeta e guida spirituale della nazione nativa americana Wampanoag.Svolge attività di insegnante e formatore, in tutto il mondo, sui temi della pace e della non violenza, della giustizia, dell’ambiente e della presa di coscienza per una società più giusta. Negli Stati Uniti è responsabile di un programma di sostegno per nativi nelle carceri. Ha pubblicato numerosi libri e articoli. In italiano sono apparsi Ritorno alla Creazione (Urra, 2006), Cambiare il mondo (Spirito Libero, 2009), Gli antichi insegnamenti dei nativi americani (Terra Nuova, 2011) e La via del cerchio (La meridiana, 2011).

Paradise on earth - your own idea of the very best life for you and your family. Is it possible or only a dream? This book shows it is not only possible but actually happening now all over the world in communities where thousands are now actively engaged in creating the life of their dreams. Manitonquat, a Wampanoag elder, storyteller, philosopher, poet and communitarian, shares his perspective as a tribal person that we are all tribal people. Human beings became human when they came together for mutual support and protection. For a hundred thousand years we evolved the best social system - the circle of equals, where all were respected, honored and supported. Most people today have little hope to affect a culture where a few own and control the resources of the world and its governments and are now destroying the environment through a global economy that makes the rich richer, the poor poorer, and all of us mere consumers and spectators. Quietly a few people have begun to leave that system and create free societies of people supporting each other and living sustainably close to the Earth, taking responsibility for making the best life for their children. As you read this book you may long for that too, and you will learn how you can do it. We can do it. Together there is nothing we cannot do. It is time. It is time for us to settle and find our place on this Earth. It is time to make a safe, free and loving home for our children. It is time for a new world of compassion, peace and beauty. It is time for a new vision of humankind. It is time for the Age of Flowers.

A collection of traditional stories that describe the creation of the world and the early history of the Wampanoag Indians in southeastern Massachusetts.