Sandi L. Boucher explains reciprocity through tobacco offerings in Anishinaabe tradition. You give tobacco when asking an elder for wisdom, requesting a ceremony, or asking someone to listen with their heart. It's about balance with Mother Earth, not extraction.
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Hello, you super duper double delicious person, you. It's Sandy Boucher here with first of many member only videos. So I wanted to talk to you today about a word that is everything in many indigenous nations, mine included Anishinaabe, but not so much in mainstream and, and feel free to point out if it is a huge thing in your culture, I would love to learn. That's what the comment sections are for. And this is a member only video. So I mean, you're one of my special peeps, of course I want to talk to you about that. So before I share what the word is and guess what, it's not humility. Even though that would have been a really good guess and kudos for that, I wanted to share something with you first and then it will explain the word kind of zorga. So I'm not sure if you're familiar with the tobacco tie. So it's just some tobacco bound in a piece of material, tied up. And not all indigenous nations use tobacco offerings or make tobacco ties. Anishinaabe people do. And in my nation and my, well, in my teachings, the way I was taught, there are three specific times that you would offer tobacco to someone. So I would offer tobacco to an elder, for example, if I needed some of their wisdom, I needed some advice. So I would go, I would offer them tobacco and ask them if I could ask them a question and if they accept that tobacco, I've never known an elder to turn down tobacco, but they would accept and listen and then share their advice with you. So the idea is to maintain the balance. They receive one of our sacred medicines, tobacco. We receive the wisdom, we both benefit, the balance is maintained. Okay. The second time you offer tobacco is closely related to the first one. But this time rather than wisdom, we're asking for a ceremony. So I would offer tobacco to a drum keeper to sing a healing song for my family, or I would offer tobacco to an elder to do a naming ceremony for my brand new baby, whatever the case may be. Again, they receive a sacred medicine, you receive the benefit of that ceremony. The third one is the one I use most often and it's the reason I have offered tobacco ties to my children on a regular basis or on several occasions. It is when you're asking someone to listen with their heart and not their head that you are sharing something emotional and personal and sharing your truth. And you're asking them to please hear past the words that maybe you're not going to use the exact words properly or phrase it perfectly, but ask them to Listen with their heart and not their head. So again, you're giving them tobacco for their time and you're receiving their understanding or their patience or their time. And we're going to ignore. Ignore the notification on my computer. It's the balance. And that's what. I don't want to sneeze. Excuse me, but then I am gonna sneeze. And this is proving that member only videos are absolutely authentic. Just between me and you. I really just want them to be a private chat between us. Not any fancy mastering or anything. Just usually the word is reciprocity. Reciprocity. That reciprocal relationship. It is something that is so ingrained to us. We offer tobacco when the hunters bring down a moose, thanking the moose for giving its life so that our family can survive. We offer tobacco to Mother Earth before we pick our medicines. Everything is reciprocal, maintaining the sacred balance. It's what puts us so at odds with mainstream. Because mainstream is extraction mentality. Take, take. What can Mother Earth give me now? I hope you don't treat your mother that way. Right. It's. It's. I'll take care of my mother and she takes care of me. We take care of Mother Earth and Mother Earth takes care of care of us. That's how it works. Now. I had written another word down. Oh, I know. There's another topic I wanted to talk about. I'll do that in a short. That's going to be short and sweet. The member short. I promised you. But can you see how that could bring a clash? Can you also see how I'd be willing to bet, and I hope it's not present tense, I really do, but I'd be willing to bet at some point in your history you've had a relationship with someone that all they did was take. They were a drain on you. They never seem to offer anything. And that is so often what the relationship with mainstream feels like. And that just can't happen. That's not healthy. And if we're going to work together long term and truly want to work together, the one side shouldn't want to drain the other. Am I right? Reciprocity. That's what we need. I can't wait to hear what you thought of this video. Until next time. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
