Smudge: Mystic Scratchings of Sister Crow (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781453748657)

I was raised in the country and thank my mother for allowing me the opportunity to grow up near forests and the quietness of rural settings. We had a garden almost every year and she would have us kids help weed it and pick the vegetables that grew there in abundance. At the age of 16 she drove us to a farm in Oklahoma run by a Cheyenne warrior, Lance, and his family. He was a poet, and a huge inspiration to me. He, being Native American, knew of his ancestry and led us in an ancient ceremony called a "Sweat Lodge". This experience changed my life. The small lodge we built, he said, represented the womb of the mother Earth, and I have went on to lead sweats myself. This was the beginning of my path in spiritual awakening. It was this time in my life that I also started playing guitar. Much of the poetry I have written has been from a songwriter's perspective and so many of the pieces will reflect that format. With a Native American flavor and a romanticist backdrop. Similar to the mind interacting with the heart, in that the mind thinks and the heart feels. Both have ability and unique power, but each has a domain of its own. We don't think our way to "God" and in turn we don't usually feel with words. I have explored many aspects of consciousness and my poetry grows along with my awareness. I continue to write "child-like" coloring in with the paint-by-number English vocabulary. With grace and compassion for my fellow human beings, my journey of conscious awareness has lead me through many pathways where Angels dare not tread. Honesty and service to others has taken precedence over personal gain. Future releases of my work may open up further opportunities for readers to advance in spiritual understandings and practices. This book reflects some of where I've been on my personal path of awakening.