Welcome

"There are ancient secrets and lessons hidden in nature. If you seek for guidance, you will discover truth." —Bobby Lake-Thom

In the last few months in the course of my move back to Arkansas, I’ve felt a sense of calling to explore my Cherokee heritage. I am to some extent Native American; sadly by blood more than culture. I have been very ignorant of the culture and tradition of these remarkable people for most of my life. So I have embarked on a self-guided quest to learn from Native American leaders and authors. This series is a continuation of that exploration. 

The Native American culture is ironically so very powerful in ways in which the modern American public are weak and starving. They spiritual traditions prioritize the richness of the inner world and the honoring of the natural world. These spiritual traditions are deeply wise and rooted in a tactile, sensory and experiential connection to the natural world. There is a profound emphasis on cultivating a symbiotic relationship with Mother Earth- listening to her pain, her illness, her joy and her warnings. In our race toward technological and economic progress, we’ve ceased to care for the longevity of this planet and thereby the health of our own species and all other life forms on this planet. 

One of my first authors to begin to study was author and shaman Bobby Lake-Thom, or Medecine Grizzly Bear. In his work “Spirits of the Earth,” he walks us so approachably through esoteric Native American spiritual knowledge of animals, stories and dreams- among so many other things. In this profound work, he delves into the meanings of various animals that appear to us as teachers and guides if we care to listen, honor and observe them. 

I continue on my quest for this dying wisdom and invite you to enjoy this series and see if there’s a creature that you identify or connect with. 

For those who think that the plight of the Native American people is over, it is not. Native Americans that want to live on reservations and preserve their heritage are aggressively and systemically discriminated against. From Womens rights to police protection to even the right to prevent their own children from being taken from reservations and placed in foster care, these people still deal with tremendous hardship that is hardly publicized or imagined by most people in the United States. Depending upon the issues prevailing at the time of purchase, 50% of proceeds from the sale of the works in this series and print products will be donated to a charity benefiting Native Americans and their reservations. I encourage everyone to research the tribes and reservations in your area; petitions and other ways to help arise all the time. Awareness of the issue is a first step to systemic healing.