South Door

Abstract

This is the second of four doorways encountered as Fyre Jean Graveline invites readers to journey together aRound Sacred Medicine Wheel. In the Southern Doorway, We rejuvenate our Spirits by connecting to Fire, in All Amazing Forms: Bonfires, Candles, Lava Flow, Sun, Moon, and Stars. Ancestral Healing Ceremonies like Offering Gratitude at SunRise and SunSet, Moon Ceremonies, Smudging, Drumming, Sweating, and Dancing are Restorative. Doing relaxation exercises, guided meditations, and All heARTs, give us Energy, and Welcome us to be more in Touch with our In.tuitive Senses. The South Door opens Response.Abilities for ReVitalizing Indigenous Spiritualities: (a) We Begin each Day with Gratitude for Ancestors, Breath of Life, and Beauty of New Day; (b) We Honour, Generously Gift, and are Allies for, and with, Indigenous Peoples of Territories where We are Visiting, Working, Playing, and Praying; (c) We acKnowledge existing and emerging Historical, Cultural, and SocioPolitical Similarities and Differences across Tribes and Territories; (d) We Ask Creator, Guides, Ancestors, GrandMothers, and GrandFathers for Assistance and remain Open to InSpiration; (e) We Engage in Ceremony by Creating Time, Space, and Place—Sacred Settings; (f) We Respect Elders as Honoured Knowledge Keepers and Healers; (g) We Welcome All Forms of Guidance: Elders, Lived Experiences, heARTs, Dreams, Visions, Earth Mother, and Cosmos as Spiritual Guides; (h) We Grow more Response.Able for Spiritual and Cultural ReSurgence; and (i) We Engage in Sharing Circles as TransFormational Egalitarian processes for reStorying harmonious reMatriated communications and relationships.

Author

Fyre Jean Graveline (she/her; they/them), PhD, RSW, RCAT, is a two-spirit resilient survivor and a Métis Grandmother, educator, author, healer, artist, and activist or heARTiviist. She/they work, play, and pray to create sustainable expressive arts healing practices through an Indigenous, feminist, ecoarts-based lens, emphasizing walking lightly and lovingly on Mother Earth. She taught and practiced in education and social work for over forty years. She is the author of Circle Works: Transforming Eurocentric Consciousness (Fernwood, 1998) and Healing Wounded Hearts (Fernwood, 2005). Still emerging is her newest book LIFE as Medicine: All Healing Heals All.

Citation

Graveline, F. J. (2025). South door response.Abilities: ReVitalizing Indigenous spiritualities. In S. Collins and M. Jay (Eds.), Decolonizing health, healing, and care: Embodying culturally responsive and socially just counselling (Chapter 3.7). Counselling Concepts. https://doi.org/10.71446/nc73458027