Friday, March 15, 2013

Chief Two Trees - Healer and Man of Wisdom Remembered and Honored

My Teacher and Guide - Chief Two Trees

On my profile I have mentioned studying and working with Chief Two Trees and others have asked me for more information about this man.

Kenneth Ray Cannon aka Chief Two Trees was born September 19, 1927 in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and passed on April 23, 1995 in Old Fort, North Carolina.

Prior to focusing on his Cherokee and Sioux heritage, Chief Two Trees served in the United States Air Force. The chief was initiated later as a medicine manCherokee, of the Bear Clan.

I met Chief Two Trees in the early 1990's in Old Fort, North Carolina where he had established Native American Studies Institute. Prior to living and working at the Institute, Chief Two Trees would diagnose his visitors from his porch simply by watching them and observing. He was able to tell people what was wrong with them without prior knowledge. The insight he gained allowed him to then prescribe certain  herbal supplements, including mineral supplements, along with diet, exercise and other holistic treatments for that person.

It was an honor for me to work and live at the Institute for approximately two years. I learned much and met some very interesting people who traveled from all corners of the world for Chief Two Tree's advice, knowledge and guidance.

One thing that influenced me to not ask for pay for what I do now in the field of healing and spiritual advice is the practice that Chief Two Trees incorporated within his work with people. The chief had a one gallon glass jar, with a lid sitting next to his chair marked "donations." Those visiting would donate what they could or would not donate if they lacked the funds. The attention gave to the individual was no more or no less based on the ability or inability to give a donation. This donation jar was what I call a spiritual, magical jar. The reason I say this is that there were several times funds were needed for the van breaking down, or on one occasion the power going out and food was lost in the freezers. A trip to the jar would provide, almost to the dollar, the needed amount of money. Not that it instantly appeared out of thin air, but those who had donated, had donated enough to cover the immediate unforeseen event.

Most of the time, as mentioned above, the chief would prescribe herbal and mineral supplements on a pad and hand to the visitor so they would know what to purchase. A little unknown fact, that really stood out to me, was that Chief Two Trees had a stocked room full of herbs that he would buy from donations, and these were provided, at no cost to those who could not afford to buy what was prescribed.

Chief Two Trees, myself and others were available 24/7 to "work" on persons who had ailments. We used various treatments including Reiki. Chief Two Trees and several others who worked at the Institute would give "adjustments" aligning the skeletal structure of the body in whole, or just the needed areas. There were times when a person may show up at 3am with a migraine that was overwhelming them and the only relief would be to go the ER and get injected with drugs for the pain, or come out to see us, and have holistic treatment applied.

Chief Two Trees was well respected for his knowledge and wisdom that he shared with others openly, keeping an open mind always, and being guided by his love and compassion for all living beings.

One piece of his wisdom that has always stuck to me was his response when someone lacked patience and wanted an immediate holistic cure that would rid them of the disease or illness. His response was that it took years for the dis-ease to reach the point that it was at, and it would take, sometimes, an equal amount of time to regress the dis-ease so that it would disappear. Many folks that were trying the holistic approach were used to those immediate masking remedies such as a pill or shot for the pain. Of course these did not heal anything, but did immediately do away with the discomfort and pain.

The chief taught balance in regards to ridding the body of disease as well. Whereas Chief Two Trees could and would offer treatments to alleviate pain and discomfort for the short term, he would explain that this was not a healing. His additional guidance was that through the long-term use of herbs and minerals, along with a good diet and exercise of some fashion, would create the balance needed to rid the body of the disharmony or disease.

Another piece of advice that Chief Two Trees shared with me that has guided me over the years in the field of holistic healing and spiritual guidance is that you help those who seek and ask....you don't go out looking for them, soliciting them, let them come to you when they are ready. He further would imply that the help we gave, at the institute, was help that helped a person help themselves, not doing it for them.

The foremost teachings of Chief Two Trees encompassed homeopathy, home remedies, natural remedies, and of course herbal remedies.

There are chapters I could write about Chief Two Trees, what he taught and shared with me, and what all he offered to others. More writings will be for some other time.

I will always remember Chief Two Trees for his love, compassion, generosity, caring and giving freely to others. His words and teachings will remain with me always and continue to guide me physically and spiritually.


Chief Two Trees with a ceremonial pipe

Chief Two Trees quotes that he shared with me and many others:

"My primary reason for being here is to help somebody" - Chief Two Trees

"You help people that ask...you don't go out soliciting for them. If people ask then that means that they are ready to receive help. Help, to us means helping someone help themselves, not doing it for them." - Chief Two Trees

"Even though we are all aware that the only true cure for dis-ease is within ourselves, there are methods we can use to make the body more comfortable, in order that we may spend more time on going within ourselves." - Chief Two Trees

"Let us remember that in order to rid ourselves of this disharmony or disease, we must balance it within its' counterpart. The methods that I use will give comfort on a temporary basis, unless we do something to deliberately stop them. We do have the power, you know. And some methods will work regardless. I recommend specific things in order that we may start on our path of comfort for the physical. The main method I will address is the essence of flowers and herbs. When we speak of essences, we are speaking of the life force of the plant or flower... the vibratory level of the plant. This is not the plant itself. With the use of these essences, we can cause the imbalance within ourselves to immediately begin to re-balance." - Chief Two Trees

"This then will help to eliminate the temptation to reist or to "yes, but" the other methods of relief we are using for our outer bodies comfort. These essences will help us in our travels within. They help us look at things that we see, without harsh judgmental attitudes we may have." - Chief Two Trees

"We have all heard the old saying "we are our own worst enemy". These essences will automatically start the relief from the dis-ease, as well as the complete cure. Those who are truly on the path, will go within to balance and live life in harmony, thereby eliminating emotional stress and dis-ease. Each essence vibrates to something within ourselves. When taken consistently, the vibration will be strongly ingrained within us. The essences are balance factors. They will create only harmony. I prefer to take all the essences together. Otherwise when you only take one essence at a time, then other issues that are unaddressed begin to crop up. Like going through a series of doors, where you see the next one only when you have completely opened up the first." - Chief Two Trees

"Isolating minerals and vitamins and properties of herbs is analogous to 'stripping' the knowledge from Nature and leaving Wisdom behind." - Chief Two Trees

"I tell people who come to me, "I'll share what I have with you, if you care to use it fine. It won't make me happy or unhappy. If you don't care to use it... it won't make me happy or unhappy either. And if you use it and become healed, what you do with yourself after that will determine whether I'm happy or unhappy for sharing with you." - Chief Two Trees

"Over the years people ask me what I attribute my healing powers to. I learned from my parents and grandparents that the human body heals itself along with the power of God. However, man has a duty in the healing also." - Chief Two Trees

"In industrialization, people pay a grocery store for their food, they pay a minister to take care of their spiritual needs and they pay a physician to take care of their physical needs. And people just sit back and expect their moneys worth, they don't do a thing. So, they overload their physician and they overload their minister, neither of which can accomplish what people could do for themselves. But people pay out money and expect the Key to Heaven and they pay out money and expect perfect health and pay out money to grocery stores and expect perfect nutrition. People pay out money and get about a ten percent return on their investment. Ninety percent of what you receive comes from you, only ten percent comes from whatever is helping you. The problem is, we are too busy working and paying somebody else to do for us what we should be doing for ourselves." - Chief Two Trees

"When you quit growing you begin to die. When you quit learning, you begin to deteriorate. Everyday my life is dedicated to learning something new. Either I am learning that what I learned last month is not complete or learning something entirely new." - Chief Two Trees

"Being Native American Indian is a state of mind which creates a way of life. With this way of life comes teaching and knowledge passed down from generation to generation. Now is the time to share this knowledge and I am willing to help those that are sincere in their desire to help themselves. However, I only provide the tools that begin the process, the real work comes from their effort." - Chief Two Trees

"I love life. People used to come to me with the flu or a headache that they had suffered with for weeks. I would wonder, 'why don't they let go? Why do they hold onto it?' I see now that people have lost touch with themselves. They are looking for someone to point them in the right direction and give them answers. Being aware is the first step, then comes the desire to know more. Sooner or later they will learn that they had the answers all along." - Chief Two Trees


21 comments:

  1. Dear,
    Great to learn how he shaped your life. I'm blessed he's been part of the fabric of my life as well.
    I'm a vision specialist (unique in its kind) and helped him out with his troubled vision in'92.
    He gave me the native american name: "Free Spirit".
    Chief two trees was and still is a source of great inspirations.
    I hope the forest he lived in is still been taken care of?
    All the best,
    Wim Boeykens,
    indigocol@gmail.com

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    1. Hello Free Spirit!

      It is always wonderful to hear from others who had experiences with Chief Two Trees! Thanks so much for sharing.

      As for the forest there where the institute was located, I am not sure. The property backed up to national forest on at least two sides, so I feel those areas would still be doing well. I have not returned to the area in quite some time.

      Thanks for stopping by, reading and commenting. :)

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  2. My husband was healed as a child along with his sister by this amazing man. I wish I could have met him. Thank you for posting this remembrance.

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    1. You are most welcome and thank you for sharing.

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  3. Hi Dale! I met Chief Two Trees in the 90's and he was an absolutely lovely man. My mom was told she needed a full masectomy for lumps in her breasts. He gave her instructions that involved iodine on a qtip, a supplement called EveryWoman and an herbal tea he called Thunder Tea that she boiled on the stove, inhaled the vapors and then drank. He lumps shrunk and disappeared completely and the doctors were baffled. Do you happen to have the ingredients for the Thunder Tea by chance?

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    1. Hello. Great to hear from you and thank you for sharing what you did in the comment about your mother. As for the tea, you may do a Facebook search for Darlene Canon in New Mexico. That is his daughter and who continued with his work at her location.

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  6. I will never forget my meeting with Chief 1994. Amazing man. Thank you for your writing of Chief.

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    1. Always good to meet others who have known the Chief. He impacted a lot of people's lives over the years.

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  7. Is there anyone else like chief who is available to help people now if so who and where are they located he treated my grandparents and was very loved.

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    1. His daughter follows in his footsteps. Here is her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darlene.cannon.73

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  8. I met Chief Two Trees i guess probably in the early 90's. I went with my mom and her friends. Being a young nurse graduate i was at first very skeptical but watching this man and listening to those there to see him took away my skepticism. He was truly gifted.

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  9. I went to see this amazing man several times with family and friends that needed his help. We always went away with amazing cures/help. I so wish we had someone in this area that we could go to for advice like he gave. Thank you for posting this story of chief.

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    1. You're most welcome and it was an honor to publish the story and my experience with Chief Two Trees. Thank you for sharing your experience as well.

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  10. Aho, this is truly an suspicious day as I am traveling to Old Fort to seek out the Chief's old stomping grounds where we first met in the '70's. I have always been greatful for our friendship

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    1. I hope that your journey to Old Fort goes well, and that once you get there, you will be able to connect with Chief Two Tree's energies. Blessings.

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  13. I went to see Chief Two Trees several times in the 1980's. He helped me with several herbal remedies that I could purchase in the health food store in Old Fort. I took a friend with me who was having some abdominal discomfort, and he told her she was holding onto grief and not letting it go. I have never forgotten that. She died in 1987 from ovarian cancer. I wish she had followed his advice. It would have helped her.

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