How to Make a Decision Like a Tribe

How the Council Ceremony Works

The teachings of Earth Wisdom aren't hip. They won't be the basis for the next business best-seller or rival reengineering for consultants' billable hours. They are worth understanding precisely because they endure: this tool for making group decisions dates back to the Americas' earliest inhabitants -- with links to the Mayans and Incas.

The actual ceremony that RainbowHawk and WindEagle practice stems from an oral tradition. According to this tradition, representatives of the Iroquis, Delaware, Cherokee, Choctow, Osage, the plains people and other tribes came together in 1879 in Oklahoma in a large council; by then, these tribes had realized that their indigenous culture would soon be overrun by the dominant white culture. To preserve their tribal wisdom, they passed on 37 belts to selected medicine women -- the last of these belts that they had -- that conveyed their sacred teachings through glyphs. The belts were passed from keeper to keeper, trained medicine women and men, from generation to generation. Among those to whom this tradition passed was Hyemeyohsts Storm, a Cheyenne, who in 1973 published Seven Arrows, which recounts many of these teachings. It was through Storm that RainbowHawk and WindEagle became keepers of this tradition.

Underlying the council ceremony is an elaborate mandala-like design, tying together the cardinal and noncardinal directions of the compass, universal forces, and a process of group consultation and consensus-building. In its most fully articulated version, the design not only constructs a medicine wheel for council discussions but also builds an overall social vision. For the purposes of their teaching to businesspeople, RainbowHawk and WindEagle simplify the design into three essential elements: the Four Shields of Balance, the Four Attentions, and the Eight Chiefs, each of whom has a specific perspective to represent in the council ceremony.

The Four Shields, which correspond to the four cardinal points of the compass, are the image of human wholeness and balance. In the east is the Shield of the Magical Child, which represents the spirit of creativity, playfulness, imagination, illumination, and enlightenment. The east's responsibility is to maintain the tribe's freedom to move and to play with the design of life; all discussion originates in the east. In the south is the Shield of the Little Child, the place of trust and innocence, where awe and wonder, emotional flexibility, curiosity, and adventurousness-the attributes of a young child are paramount. In the west is the Shield of the Nurturer, responsible for recognizing what is needed to heal, nurture, teach, balance, and care for the tribe's people. In the north is the Shield of the Warrior/Warrioress, with the attributes of courage, resourcefulness, and strategy. It is the place of knowledge and wisdom, clarity and action.

The Four Attentions, set at the noncardinal points of the compass, provide the counterbalance to the Four Shields. Here again, each point is associated with a set of attributes. In the southeast is Be Present, a reminder to pay attention to the tastes, smells, sounds, and touches of the moment. In the southwest is Guards Out. Here the question is, "Are we awake, guarding our focus, staying true to our target or goal?" In the northwest is Look for the Teaching. This direction asks, "Are we attentive to the meaning of each event or happening? What should we be learning from this situation?" And in the northeast is Let the Little Child Play, a reminder to stay open to vital information, to be playful with the forces at work in any situation, to use challenge as a way to learn.

In the council ceremony, two chiefs -- one male and one female -- sit at each of the eight cardinal and noncardinal points of the compass. In what is perhaps the most important feature of the ceremony, each pair of chiefs must adopt the perspective or attributes that correspond to their position on the compass. Just as the Four Shields and the Four Attentions each describe a sensibility, so the chiefs represent particular ways of looking at experience or evaluating a situation.

In the east are the Heyoehkah Chiefs, who are responsible for speaking to the tribe's freedom and creativity. In the southeast are the Peace Chiefs, who focus on the current situation facing the tribe, with "present conditions and appreciation" as the most important verbal cues. In the south are the War Chiefs, who address emotion, in particular "power" and "danger" as represented in the issue before the tribe. The Medicine Singer Chiefs in the southwest speak to purpose and direction. They must answer the question, "Is this proposal on target for the tribe?"