SOUTHEAST

Color- Orange

Teaching- Concepts of Self, Ancestors

The Southeast teaches us that every footstep along our road is part of who we are. This direction shows us that all the footsteps of our Grandfathers, Grandmothers, Mothers and Fathers also are a part of who we are. When we come to respect and honor our selves through being self-responsible, we also honor those footsteps, no matter how painful they may have appeared to be when we first walked them.

It is taught that we may heal the wounds of our Ancestors in this very day. This is a very powerful teaching. Our concepts of self are defined as much by our wounds as by our"victories". Indeed, it is our unresolved wounds that inform our behaviors to a greater degree than our successes in many instances. Pain has no memory, it is always in the present. We have memories of pain, but pain itself is always right now. When we heal a wound from the past, the pain from the past may finally be released to that past and no longer has to haunt the present.

When an abuse victim grows up and stops the cycle of abuse by nurturing their children instead of abusing them, this healing is for all the generations of abuse that have come before. When a community embraces those they previously scorned, the healing is a victory built upon all the footsteps that it took to build that moment in time when forgiveness could be realized. Each of these footsteps over all generations has value, and has contributed to the victory of healing and change.

The Southeast challenges us to examine who we believe we are and accept our past. It teaches us that we may redefine that past through healing the present and find Beauty where before there may have been only pain.

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