Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful story. My life also has been deeply affected by Native American Spirituality, even though I come from the Wasichu culture.

It started as a child in Germany (where I'm from) when I found some books about Native Americans in my stepfather's library. I immediately fell in love, as a child sees the truth more clearly than adults.

I then spent a lot of time in the Bavarian meadows and forests by myself. I was an abused child and very shy. But the warm sunrays in the forests that were like cathedrals, caressing me, the sound of birds echoing through the pines, the smells of earth and cedars, the babbling brooks talking to me and the soft green meadows to lay on, were my actual mother.

That bond saw me through very trying times in following years: reform school, streetlife, and so on. But I always knew I could find refuge with my true mother, nature.

I married a GI stationed in Germany when I was seventeen, and moved to the US. The marriage was a disaster. and I next apprenticed as an actress/dancer with a theatre company. "The Ensemble" operated out of the American Indian Center in Uptown Chicago.

Later on I met met my husband Jim when I moved to Bolinas, CA, and eventually we ended up in his hometown of Santa Barbara where we still live. We have two sons, now 25 and 27 years old

I naturally gravitated towards Native American Spirituality, and have gotten involved in Native American Rights issues for many years. Jim and I work full-time in educating others about and helping out wild relatives in trouble:

http://www.rain.org/~audubon/sbaseducation-history.html

I have a small book at my bedside called Native American Wisdom by Ken Nerburn that I refer to every morning for inspiration, and in particulary Ohiyesa's writings "The Soul of an Indian". I cannot get enough of it. It is so beautifully written, so much content such clarity of speech. I've actually been meaning to do a diary or two on Ohyiesa, and might do it once I figure out all the html to format more comprehensively.

I know we can't go back in time, but every bit of the spirituality that transfers into my life is a gift brought to me by, IMHO, the greatest culture there ever was, Native American Culture, where truth, religion, respect, intelligence and intuition merge into one.

"I was born in Nature's wide domain! The trees were all that sheltered my infant limbs, the blue heavens all that covered me. I am one of Nature's children. I have always admired her. She shall be my glory: her features, her robes, and the wreath about her brow, the seasons, her stately oaks, and the evergreen - her hair, ringlets over the earth - all contribute to my enduring love of her. Kahgegagahbowh - Ojibwe