As Within, So Without
As Above, So Below...
by Julie Peebles

The Microcosm within the Macrocosm, the duality polarity, the yin yang, is ever present in all of creation. 

The foundation upon which all four directional, land-based cultural teachings are based, along with Hering’s Law of Cure. This approach to health and healing is guided through the balancing of the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual blueprint of the individual. This is to be observed through living in harmony with the seasons and lifecycles of nature and what Mother Earth provides for us, from food to medicinal plants and herbs. For everything we need is at our doorstep and well indicated. If one eats in season, food will be the medicine.

The effects of living in balance with seasonal practices is unmistakable, for everything in the body/mind can be healed, provided the appropriate supports and environment to do so. It is necessary for those who are dealing with chronic illness to have the time off from modern day life to be able to heal. For there is no pill, neither from nature or man-made, that erases the sum of our daily choices. The current barrier to healing in the West is in “allowing” adequate down time for recovery. Much patience and compassion is needed in our society when it comes to timing, for the collective is accustomed to pushing through, and is in need of reassurance to be re-empowered and directing their own course forward.

Are you confused as to where to begin, as to the first step back to self? It is in the learning to honour one’s truest needs daily, without catering to outside expectations, to the best of one’s abilities and circumstances. It is imperative to say that ONLY you can heal your life, with supports and guidance along your way. So what does this mean? It’s in the balance of the day to day, the hardest challenge in current times is in the ability to just “be,” as we are all coming out of the mechanical age where everything was graded and measured upon outside productivity.

When health and healing is approached through the perspective of Cartesian dualism, this approach to healing needs to realize and acknowledge that the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone and that we must observe cases in their totality.

I write this as fall equinox is upon us; our orange-hued landscape teaches us as to our self-care and nourishment requirements. As Mother Nature shifts gears, we are also encouraged to wind down, put on a sweater and tend to autumn’s gatherings—winter squashes, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, turnips, cabbage, beets, onions, garlic. All these foods, if stored properly, will last the entire winter until next year’s spring emergence. The young, elderly, and those in recovery will benefit immensely from prescriptive pots of food simmered into congees, soups, stews and daals, healing foods from all directions of the planet, yet where all directions overlap as to the benefits of these pre-digested one-pot wonders. The beauty of where we live, the Land of the Living Skies, is in the access to Creation. A commitment to watching the sunrise each day will naturally recalibrate the parasympathetic nervous system by harnessing the rhythm of the sun’s rays, like nature’s own conductor, that sets the stage and pace each day.

We are also truly blessed and gifted as to the natural wonders of the world at our doorstep. For there are only three bodies of water in the world that contain the mineral content and salinity of the Dead Sea. One of them can be found right here in Saskatchewan at Little Manitou Lake, Treaty 6. The translation of Manitou being “great spirit—life force.”

Growing up in the Mediterranean, I bore witness to generational sufferers of arthritic and inflammatory disorders, amassing life savings for the ultimate pilgrimage of their lifetime to the Dead Sea for elemental healing. Seeking relief from a lifetime of side effects from living in century-old dwellings, unequipped with central heating nor insulation, with only brick walls as shelter from intense humidity. Accompanied with a high dietary intake of inflammatory nightshade vegetables, this combination created the perfect environment for the manifestation of these conditions.

I personally experienced my first mud therapy session at the age of 15 for an undiagnosed autoimmune flare, thus the road to Manitou Beach commenced long ago for me. Here at the healing shores of Little Manitou Lake, the water is long known throughout indigenous communities and teachings as the curative waters that healed smallpox. The whole area that surrounds is truly magical with gateways to healing like Wellington Park, which is host to traditional native plants and families of deer, a birders paradise that aligns with those migrating on a salt water trajectory, along with a meditation labyrinth to wander and ponder all of life’s wonders. So many healing avenues within reach, right at our feet, right down to the grandfather, Qigong, forest bathing trees. It is time to plant those seeds, for there is a renewed way forward to... Health, Healing & Personal Responsibility.

To your health in all directions!

Julie Peebles was raised in Algeria and Spain from a young age, visiting her homeland of Saskatchewan yearly. She is trained in Classical Homeopathy and land-based 4-Directional Medicine. Now living in gratitude at Manitou Beach, SK, she felt called to create a healing space for others to retreat to. Pebbles & Feather offers personalized, private, silent, getaways for writers, musicians, health practitioners, movement art therapists. Individual consultations are available by distance. Workshop facilitation on Health and Healing, Traditional Nourishment available in English and Spanish. For more information follow on Facebook, or contact 1-306-570-1175. By appointment.