A collection of profound inner truths and indigenous wisdom

The Anasazi Foundation was founded in 1988 by renowned wilderness pioneers Larry Olsen and Ezekiel Sanchez (Good Buffalo Eagle) to give young people, adults and families an opportunity for growth through a primitive living experience and a philosophy that invites healing in the hands of Nature. The Seven Paths is one of several books teaching the principles of the Native American tradition that life is a  walking,  determined by the state of one’s heart toward all that is around us.

According to legend, wise teachers taught that the Creator placed man on the Earth in order for him to learn to walk forward in harmony with mankind and all creation. It rests on the knowledge that we were all born with the Gift of Choice and an inner sense of knowing right from wrong leading us to peace, happiness joy, comfort, knowledge and wisdom. By way of contrast, walking backwards has the opposite effect, leading us towards wrong-doing and the consequences of misery, despair and darkness.

The key message in this book published by the Anasazi Foundation is that there is so much to be learned from Nature and the world around us. The Anasazi, also known as Ancestral Puebloans, were a prehistoric Native American civilization that thrived in the Four Corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in America from 700 BC to AD 1500. They were skilled farmers and builders, renowned for creating sophisticated, permanent stone dwellings, including cliff-face apartment-like complexes.

These ancient teachers understood well that no man is as wise as Mother Earth. Unfortunately, as we well know, modern man has moved far from Mother Earth. This means maladies have multiplied and no modern precriptions heal the human heart so fully or so well as the prescription of the Ancient Ones. For there is a power in Nature that man has ignored and the result has been heartache and pain.

Elements of Nature

The Anasazi Foundation tell us that, if you let them, the elements of Nature will teach you to open your heart to light, wind, water, stone, plants and animals.

Light

Each morning offers lessons in light, for the morning light teaches us the most basic of truths: Light chases away darkness. When it comes to matters of the heart, darkness within clouds the world without. And so, just as the morning light sweeps away the night, the darkness within me began to be chased away by a dawn in my soul.

Wind

The air that sustains us, like the light that warms us, is a gift of the Creator. There is a legend about the wind that it has a spirit of its own which is why it can move around Mother Earth at will. As it moves around the Earth, the wind carries within it the words uttered by the lips and hearts of every man, woman and child.

Water

Water's mission is not to preserve hurt but to wash it away and not only to clear the Earth of strife but to combine with air and light to grow beauty in its place. The water that cleanses the heart comoes fom the same place as the Sun that lightens it. Water too, is a gift from above to nourish, refresh and cleanse the heart and soul.

Stone

Every stone on the Earth has been here for a very long time. They possess a willingness to support us and a wisdom that teaches us to hear their silence, to warm to the light and cultivate our own sense of humility, patience and peace. Stone reminds us to be aware of the impressions and depressions we leave on the people around us.

Plants

For all those who have a desire to change their walking, Nature displays in abundance the way to do it. The answer grows all around you. The path to forward walking is as clear as the flowers before you. Unfortunately, man sees lack much more readily than abundance. It is when plants are absent that we learn to see them.

Animals

Animals sense our walking and the intentions of our hearts. They know whether our hearts are walking forward or backward as our movements are part of our speaking. Our failure to connect with animals is a mirror of our failure to connect with people (and with ourselves). They give us a chance to see a new wilderness and a new home.

Paying attention

Every plant that is good for food is mimicked by another that will make you ill. Nature teaches us about life because there are many dangerous elements that will try to make themselves appealing in our eyes. Many of these elements are not presented as being dangerous and it may not even occur to us that they are. In fact, they may act in ways that appear to be fun and exciting in their delivery of gratification, and we may mistake them as doing us a service.

However, we must be aware that some Oak is good, other is poison and there are many whose offerings - however enticing - bring strife rather than joy. Counterfeits of Nature can be enticing and intoxicating, for example, poison masquerading as food.

We must pay attention to what we take in and learn to discern the good and evil in life. It is up to us to be aware of these things, just as we need to be aware of the bitter fruits and poisonous plants in Nature that can cause us harm. By the same token, all the creations of Mother Earth provide a service whether it is food, shelter, shade, habitat, support against erosion, and raw material for the construction of tools and preparation of fire.

It is no coincidence that the creations that provide the most help to us, happen to be the most beautiful and bring us the most joy.

We are one

The Seven Paths teaches us that the Creator placed man on the Earth in order for him to learn to walk forward in harmony with man and all creation. According to legend, the Creator made Mother Earth and dressed her with light, wind, water, stone, plants and animals. The Anasazi People or Ancestral Puebloans were placed amongst the Creator's creations to live in harmony and support one another. In this way they have become we meaning as one.

As we know, this harmony did not last and the hearts of the people began to walk backward again creation. Despite the fact that darkness reigned and the harmony was broken, the Creator's love was made to shine through them in ways that could cut through any darkness.

It is the same for us when we enter the darkness or stray into the wilderness, we can look to Nature to bring us back to ourselves and lead us home. The wind teaches us to we are connected; stone teaches us that we continually wield influence on others, inviting them towards peace or towards war; plants remind us of peaceful offerings made between people; animals remind us to be aware of our intentions; water purifies and cleanses us and invites us to be part of the flow of life; light chases away the darkness to reveal the beauty that surrounds us all.

To walk among the hills, the trees, the valleys and the streams is to know in our hearts that independence is a myth, as in the language of the Anasazi people: the 'I' stands connected to other in 'we' - to be alive is to be with others, to be at peace with other is to be 'we'.

Sue Cartwright

Spiral Leaf

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The Seven Paths by Anasazi Foundation - Abe Books (no affiliation)

Anazasi Foundation Library - Recommended Reading