Description
The Hollow Tree: Fighting Addiction with Traditional Native Healing is Herb Nabigon's personal healing journey from addiction through the caring guidance of Cree Elders and the spiritual teachings of the Four Directions. Nabigon recounts his early life growing up at Pic Mobert First Nation. He attended residential school and left school prior to graduation. His life became one where short-term employment was normal due to his abuse of alcohol. Finally later in life he was drawn to traditional healers and spiritual traditions. These teachings from Elders over several years brought him to a new understanding of his life, recovering from addiction and healing. The account is straightforward and readable for the general reader. The teachings discussed include Circle Teachings, the Sweatlodge, the Hub (Cree teachings), the Medicine Wheel, the Pipe, and the Medicines (tobacco, sweetgrass, sage and cedar). Nabigon begins the text with a brief introduction that explains the use of the hollow tree metaphor that appears in the title and throughout the book. Readers will be drawn to this honest account of one person's road to sobriety through the power of traditional teachings. Herb Nabigon is associate professor in Native Human Services at Laurentian University. Georges Sioui provides a moving Foreword to the 118-page book.