Dear all, I learned from a friend, Paula Underwood, whose Native American name was "Turtle Woman," that wisdom lives in the center of the circle. Turtle grows in the center while the ways of the four directions cycle about (warrior, visionary, healer, teacher). She said to walk the circle clockwise, hearing from the four voices in the unending sequence of a learning spiral. If we become stuck at any one point, she said, we should back up a quarter turn before moving on. So, what does teacher need to say before we can go forward from warrior... to vision to healing to....? In this spiraling, the way of the turtle (wisdom) grows it's voice as well.
If any of you have never seen Paula's works, her teaching book "Who Speaks For Wolf" would be a good read right now. In short, it's about a people who decided to move their village to a more fertile area but forgot to hear the voice of wolf in their council circle. When they moved, they moved smack dab into wolf's territory. After being harassed by wolves for a few months, they decided that either they had to kill all the wolves or move back. They decided to move back since the other choice was unconscionable. So -- who speaks for wolf? John Dicus -- John Dicus | CornerStone Consulting Associates - Leadership - Systems Thinking - Teamwork - Open Space - Electric Maze - 2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City, OH 44280 800-773-8017 | 330-725-2728 (2729 fax) mailto:jdi...@ourfuture.com | http://www.ourfuture.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html