Fiona Newman

Within days of emigrating to Canada my friend brought me to visit Curve Lake. I was amused that Whetung's Art and Crafts gallery, opened its doors on the day I was born. I remember walking in the door and being instantly mesmerized by the artwork and photographs of the generations who have live on the Reserve. I had no idea why but I was especially drawn to the White Buffalo art.  I purchased some things and returned every two weeks and more often if possible. Each time we drove down Curve Lake Road I could see people in among the trees. At first they seemed like shadows and eventually they became clearer. Then i began to hear them and they spoke to me about who they were at one time, who they were here to assist. I felt an instant connection with the culture and teachings. I knew there would be some resistance to beginning an apprenticeship or training but I knew it would happen.

As things happen I was blessed to  meet a man who became my teacher as well as a true friend. 

Winston Taylor shared teachings with me and showed me important prayers and rituals. He showed me the importance of following our original instructions, the Seven Teachings. 

I did not share with him immediately that I knew a lot of what he was teaching me, it seemed that as he spoke I remembered it. There were times I would help him with ceremonies and we didn't have to speak, he would nod and I knew what he meant. Our connection is incredible. He has supported me through good times and even more through some of the most difficult times in my life. I have been made very aware that he knew who I was all along and if I thought I was keeping anything from him about my previous teachings, I was only fooling myself!

I was gifted a drum by my teacher and best friend. Winston glowed as he gave me the teachings. There was a White Buffalo painted on it. 

I felt detached from it for a while although I knew it was a huge Honour, there was something I was resisting. Slowly I embraced it and realized I was in fact embracing myself, my heart and my soul.

Within a year I realized how much I loved my drum, it brought forward healing songs and lessened the broken heart I had been carrying around. It assisted me in helping and teaching others. 

I had allowed myself to blend everything I had learned in this lifetime and in others to begin teaching and assisting others in Spiritual growth. 

The commonalities between all the indigenous cultures around the world had always fascinated me. I took courses in Universal shamanism and  each time I walked away understanding the oneness of this very powerful way to heal ourselves, each other and Mother Earth and all the gifts she has brought to us.

Through all of these teachings, I embraced all the aspects of myself and felt extremely at home in my own skin for the first time in my life. 

I realized that I could blend all the teachings and of course learn more to add to them. I realized I could be just who I was and help others do the same.

It is an honour to be given the name White Buffalo Woman and I look forward to when we all become one again. My daughter Taylor was born in 1994, the same year as the White Buffalo was born in Janesville, Wisconsin. She too has the energy of White Buffalo Woman. 

Grey Owl

One of my spirit guides I have seen since I was a child was a man with a long ponytail. He never said anything to me and I never tried to communicate with him until one night I was sitting in a sweat lodge and he came to me. He told me his name was Grey Owl. He told me that I was not to pretend to be Native to be accepted in to teachings or ceremonies, that he had done it and it was his downfall. He had lost respect because of his pretenses. Although he did great work he was discredited and spoken about as a fraud. He told me he was with me to assist me in being who I was , an Irish shaman walking the path in Canada, I was to gather as many teachings and attend as many ceremonies as possible and teach what I had learned to others. I was to speak of the commonality between all cultures in the shamanic ways.

I bought a book about Grey Owl and decided that I needed to know as much as I could about my friend and guide. Before I sat down to read the book, I did a little research on him on the internet and was intrigued.

A few weeks later I had insomnia and decided to watch TV. I was shocked at what I saw on the TV guide. the movie Grey Owl was starting 5 minutes later. Grey Owl was being played by Pierce Brosnan, an Irishman!

So I learned the Grey Owl story through and  Irishman. I still smile when I think of that night.

Grey Owl is usually with me when I am teaching, he often shows himself to others attending the workshops. He is not shy about letting me know he is with me and others. there is one magical experience I would like to share. 

During the time my friend and I were creating  a beautiful walkway out of flagstone in his backyard, we were enjoying a starry night and a bright full moon. In the moonlight I saw that one of the stones has a familiar face in it. Grey Owls profile, I thought I was crazy at first but the more I looked at it, the more I saw. Needless to say,  We did not include that stone in the walkway. 

It has a special place of honour in my  home.

Grey Owl     Archie Belaney

Born in England on September 18, 1888, Archie Belaney became interested as a child in stories about North American Aboriginals. At 17, he came to Canada and lived with a group of Ojibwas in northern Ontario and learned their way of life; he claimed that he was the child of a Scotsman and an Apache woman, and began to use the name Grey Owl. He enlisted and served in World War I, then returned to Canada. 

In the early 1930s, he came to the recently established Prince Albert National Park to run a program on beaver conservation. The beavers, which had been the basis for the fur trapping industry in central Canada for centuries, had been greatly reduced in numbers. He wrote three popular books on the importance of maintaining the species: Pilgrims of the Wild, The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People, and Tales of an Empty Cabin. The public interest in his books and talks paved the way for programs stressing the importance of Conservation of species and their habitats.

Grey Owl died at Prince Albert on April 13, 1938.