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This is Your Companion Guide to

All is Made BeautifulNative American Traditions with Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf

Please feel free to share this Companion Guide with people you think will appreciateauthentic Native American traditions. And please let them know that more informationon Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf is available on www.TheWisdomKeepers.com.

To join the Wisdom Keepers community you can sing up for our free newsletter athttp://www.thewisdomkeepers.com/newsletter.html

If you have not watched All is Made Beautiful yet, you can check out the 5minuteintroduction to this documentary on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNbXgoHcmPo


Dear Friend,

It is a pleasure that our paths have crossed.

Thank you for your interest in the Native American wisdom presented by revered Apache elderOh Shinnah Fast Wolf. My team and I had a grand time working on All is Made Beautiful.We experienced first hand that once we integrated ancient traditions into our modern andcomplex lives, our lives shifted for the better and improved in ways we never thought possible.This made us even more enthusiastic about the project and our goal to bring Ancient Wisdomto Modern People.

I truly hope that the specific tools and ritualsdepicted in the film will make a difference in yourlife and the lives of people around you. For manypeople, including myself, it can come as a surprisehow connected we feel to Native teachings after wefirst hear an indigenous North American wisdomkeeper, like Oh Shinnah, share her knowledge. Itcertainly made a lasting impression on me.

When I first met Oh Shinnah in 2000 I was a total newcomer to Native American traditions(I grew up in Europe and only knew about Native culture from movies or the museum). I amslightly embarrassed to admit, I had no experience in Spirituality either outside of the RomanCatholic church. I was a spiritual novice and yet I was immediately hooked on Oh Shinnah’s“down to earth” teachings, because they made sense to me rationally, as well as emotionally.

Deep down inside me, on a gut level, I felt that the ancient, authentic Native way of connectingto nature and a higher power (other than defined by organized religion) and to Mother Earthand her inhabitants, is as powerful as it is peaceful. On a rational level it made sense to me torespect our environment and the animal kingdom and to only take what we humans truly need.Honestly, just the different perspective on how to master some of life’s basic challenges was ahuge enhancement to my cerebral, Western mind, and it made me, the Wall Street journalist,turn into a Wisdom Hunter. So eventually, in May 2005, Oh Shinnah and I sat down for ourfirst interview to preserve some of the invaluable wisdom of her ancestors.


Since the launch of the DVD I have gotten a lot of feedback from viewers who treasure OhShinnah’s teachings and put them to good use. So please feel free to share this CompanionGuide with whomever you would like to.

I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to Oh Shinnahfor giving us access into her indigenous world and thehealing and Earth honoring modalities of herancestors. Furthermore, I am thankful to Oh Shinnah,Deep Arrow Woman and Bright Owl for allowing usto take footage during “The Journey of the Waters”,the ancient 10day sojourn these three Wisdom Keepers

lead once a year through the mystical mountains and healing waters of New Mexico andColorado.

On this journey, the participants utilize the healing power of nature to transform their lives. I,myself, participated in the Journey of the Waters in 2000 and 2004 before I went a third timeto film the Self-Healing Chapter in All is Made Beautiful. This Journey is nothing short ofamazing and a testimony to indigenous knowledge and power. For more information on TheJourney of the Waters please go to: www.MoonfireMeetingHouse.com/journey/

When we edited the documentary we realized that we would like to give our viewers more specificdetails on three of the more complex rituals: Smudging, Morning Prayers and FoodHarmonizing. Deep Arrow Woman wrote the specifics to each of the three following ritualsthat have been practiced by many Native American tribes throughout centuries. Thank youfor sharing the details with us, Deep Arrow Woman!My heart is very happy,

Bettina GordonHost and Producer of All is Made Beautiful


THE MORNING RITUAL TOBACCO PRAYERTO CONNECT WITH ALL OF LIFE

© Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf and Lorraine Simone, aka Deep Arrow Woman

NOTE: You might find it helpful to watch the chapter MORNING PRAYER again beforeyou start this practice for the first time.

At sunrise, not before, or as soon as you’re able, take ahand full off tobacco and go out on the land to start yourday in a good way. City dwellers, find a special tree onthe street where you live or work, or choose a favoritepotted plant in your apartment – some place thatconnects you to the world of Nature around you.

When you’ve found your sacred spot, place the tobaccoin your right hand, (we generally use the right hand to

make offering) and begin this morning ritual by making these body gestures to connectwith the energies of the Directions.

Begin by facing the sun in the direction of the East. Hold up your right arm to theheavens and say:

“To the East, to the new day,to the Light Within and Without.

To Golden Eagle. To Illumination.To the East.

I call for your power and your spirit to come into my life,come into my new day”.

The Directions will always respond when you call them. You may feel a subtle energycoming into your hand or down your arm. Silently wait for a response. Then pull in thegifts and characteristics of the East into your energy field. Drop a few strands of tobaccoon the Earth in the direction of the East. This anchors your prayer and connects you toMother Earth.


Now, turn and face the direction of the South. Hold up your right arm to the heavensmaking a gesture of offering, as you did to the East, and say:

“To the South, to Trust and Innocence.To the Little Mouse.

To the Good Road Home.To the South.

I call for your power and your spirit to come into my body,come into my heart”.

Wait for the Direction to respond to you. Now pull in the gifts and characteristics of theSouth, and then drop some tobacco on the Earth.

Turn and face the direction of the West. Again hold up your hand with your remainingtobacco and speak these words out loud.

“To the West, to the Dark Waters of looking within,home of beautiful Shell Woman.

To black bear, brown bear. To the Medicine Path.To the West.

I call for your power and your spirit to come into my thoughts,come into my soul”.

Wait for response. Now pull in the gifts and characteristics of the West. Drop sometobacco on the Earth.

Now, turn and face the direction of the North. Hold up your right hand with yourremaining tobacco and say:

“To the NorthHome of the Old Ones and those gone by.

To the Wisdom Place.Place of White Buffalo, Snow Leopard, Snowy Owl.

To the North.I call for your power and your spirit to come into the world”.

Wait for response. Now pull in the gifts and characteristics of the North. Drop a little bitof tobacco.


Turn to face the East once more. Bend down and put your hands on Mother Earth.“To Mother Earth,

For the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds,For those who fly and crawl and swim.

For the Tree People and the Rock PeopleFor all children of the other”.

This time, do not leave an offering of tobacco on the Earth.

Stand up, remain facing East and look into the face of the sun. Raise your right arm up tothe sky and say “To Father Sky.”

Now, with arm raised, make a sun wise, clockwise circling gesture above your head likeusing a lariat or watching an eagle spiral overhead. Make this gesture 3 times beforebringing your hand and the remaining tobacco to your heart center.

Bring your right hand filled with the remaining tobacco to your heart and speak yourwords to Great Spirit.

In this tradition prayers are offered in 3 parts - To Thank, To Bless and To Ask for whatyou need only for that one day - Assistance and Support for the day ahead.

Begin the prayers by saying:“Great Spirit, hear me. This one calls to you.

Thank you for this day.”Then speak what is in your heart. Always start by saying, “Thank you for this day”.Then add whatever else you want to say in the spirit and acknowledgment of gratitudeand thankfulness for all the people, events, and other things that you are thankful for inyour life.

“Great Spirit, thank You for...”

Next, ask Spirit to bless loved ones and the world. Name everything, everyplace andeveryone that you wish to send prayers, good thoughts, intentions and blessings.


“Great Spirit, send Your blessings to...”

Lastly, end your prayer ritual by asking for what you need to take you through the day.Ask for what will help you to be a better and stronger woman, man, warrior for the Earth,leader, wife, husband, father, mother, sister, brother, friend, neighbor, volunteer, etc.

“Great Spirit, keep me open to receive from You...”

This intention starts your day off with an affirmative and creative act and keeps youfocused on what is truly important to you.

When finished, take a deep inhale filling your breath with all the intentions of yourMorning Ritual Prayer. Now, exhale that breath into the tobacco to imbue it with thevibration of your Morning Prayers and to manifest those intentions into the world.Then gently place all of the remaining tobacco on the Earth, at the base of a favorite tree,near a lovely flower, into a flowing stream or toss it to the winds to be carried into thefour directions. Complete your morning prayer by saying aloud,

“It’s a good day to die”.( When you live with the awareness of the cycles of your life and your death,

you live your life quite differently.)

NOTE: If, when first doing this Morning Ritual Prayer, you don’t feel a response fromthe Four Directions, the Earth and Sky, just go on with the next movement of this ritual.Do not discount anything you may think you feel as “imagination”. It’s a subtleresponse, and sometimes you have to learn to feel it. Know that it is there.


SMUDGING RITUAL© Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf and Lorraine Simone, aka Deep Arrow Woman

NOTE: You might find it helpful to watch the chapter SMUDGING again before you startthis practice for the first time.

Smudging is a ritual. It is a sacred tradition that has itsroots in the indigenous cultures of the world. This ritualhas been passed on for millennia in many ways andvariations. The common thread that exists around thisritual is that the smoke from sacred herbs can be used forpurification and spiritual preparation.

Common Uses of Smudge:• clear and ground ourselves and our intentions

before and after a healing, an initiation, a ritual• give thanks and aid us in our spiritual practices,

prayers and meditation• cleanse the body, an object, or a given area of

negative influences• create sacred space by aligning and harmonizing

the energies in a given space

The three most used plants for smudging are sage of all types, cedar and sweetgrass.

SageThere are two major genii and several varieties of each genus of Sage. The most populartypes of sage used for smudging are White Sage, Broad Leaf California Sage and DesertSage. Cooking Sage, Sagebrush, and Mugwort, although forms of sage, are notrecommended for smudging purposes.Sage is a purifier. It has the ability to drive out evil spirits, offensive thoughts andfeelings, and to keep unfriendly entities and disharmonious energies away from areaswhere ceremonies take place.

CedarTrue cedar is of the Thuja and Libocedrus genii. Some Junipers (Juniperus genus) arealso called "cedar", but they are not used for smudging. Western Red Cedar andCalifornia Incense Cedar are used.Cedar attracts good energy. Gather and dry the leaves that are evergreen and needle-likeor purchase it in herb stores in chipped form. When using the chips, it’s best to use apiece of charcoaled mesquite with the brand name "Red Arrow" for this purpose, ratherthan the commercial charcoal cake.


SweetgrassSweetgrass is braided like hair braids. It could be burnt by lighting the end of it, or byshaving little bits of it into a smudging mix in an abalone shell. Sweetgrass welcomes ingood influences after the bad have been driven out. Piñon pine needles and Copal havesimilar effects.spaceThere are many ways to smudge. In some traditions there are Four Elements, in othersthere are more. For our Smudging Ritual we call upon the elements of Water, Earth,Fire, Air and Ether.

Burn herbs in a shell to honor White Painted Woman and Changing Woman (TheGoddess of the Tine, the People called Apache), Abalone shell is especially sacred toHer. The abalone shell, the container for this ritual, represents the element of Water.This element offers us the power to fill and flow, to own our emotions and to go deepwithin ourselves to remember who we truly are.

The herbs of sage, cedar and sweetgrass represent the element of Earth. They are giftsthat the Earth gives to us and they represent Her creativity, strength and abundance.

When we light the match to call upon the power of Fire we invoke its transmutativequality. As the smoke rises from our shell, the element of Air carries and releases ourcleared intentions for this ritual and our prayers. Through our deliberate action, weourselves bring the fifth element of Ether or Life Energy to complete the alchemicalprocess of our smudging ritual.

Direct the smoke with your hands or with a feather wand or fan over the person or thingyou wish to smudge. If you can, direct the healing smoke towards those places on theperson's body that are in pain.

To create a sacred space, pass the shell around the perimeter of the space, movingsunrise, clockwise from east to south, to west, to north, then touching the Earth andraising the shell to the Sky.


For grounding and clearing we now offer the smoke to the Directions: East, South, West,North, Mother Earth below, Father Sky above and back to Center. With great sweepinggestures of small hand motions, offer the smoke to the Directions in silence or by callingin their energy, “I call to the East; I call to the South”, and so on. Complete this portionof the ritual by returning the smudge shell to center.

If you are smudging to open yourself, start by holding the shell in front of you and gentlyfan the smoke starting from your feet up toward your heart. Pass the shell along thecenter of your body, encircling your head in a clockwise, sunrise fashion. Be aware ofhow you feel through the process. Are there places that you feel a desire to linger, toclear, or to honor? It is important to follow your own inner guidance here.

If you are smudging to ground yourself, begin the smudging ritual by passing the smokeover your head first and then bring the shell down the center of the body until it arrives atyour feet. As in the cleansing ritual, notice how you feel through the ritual. Are thereplaces that you feel a desire to linger, to clear, or to honor? It is important to follow yourown inner guidance here.

Smudging should be done with care, with reverence, and in an attitude of LOVE. Showyour respect and honor to the plants given for this ritual and in general for all the PlantPeople, and they will return the favor by keeping you well and free from disempoweringenergy.

As with all things, this is only one of the ways that this ritual is performed. Trust yourintuition and your inner feelings when smudging and enjoy its blessings.


FOOD HARMONIZING RITUAL© Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf and Lorraine Simone, aka Deep Arrow Woman

NOTE: You might find it helpful to watch the chapter FOOD BLESSING again beforeyou start this practice for the first time.

• Rub your hands together to sensitize the palms.

• Place your hands several inches above your plate of food or over your beverage.Bring your hands together so the thumb and pointer fingers of both hands slightlytouch. As your fingers come together in this way they begin to form the shape ofa triangle. This hand posture is called a mudra. It is a very ancient and verysacred sign.

• Gaze into the empty space at the center of your mudra. Place your awarenessand focused intention inside this sacred space. Soon you will add color and soundto fill this seemingly empty space.

• Image the color green emanating from your sensitized, secondary charkas in thepalms of your hands. The vibration of this enriching color of healing, of natureand of harmony begins to imbue your food with its revitalizing energy.

• When you are ready, begin moving your hands, mudra in tact, in a clockwise, sunwise direction. Continue encircling your food with this mudra three completetimes. Three is the number of transformation.

• Now it is time to fill the empty space between your mudra fingers with the soundof a prayer, a mantra. As you move your hands in a circle, simultaneously say thewords, ” to help and to heal”. Repeat this ritual prayer three times for each ofthe three sacred circles you make over your food, repeating your mantra a total ofnine times. Nine is the number of completion.

This ritual is also used to sacralize and harmonize any medication, herb or beverage thatyou ingest.


BIOGRAPHIES

Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf is of Apache and Mohawk descent. Her father educated her in hisancestors’ ways and had her complete all the physical, mental and spiritual training undertaken bythe men of his Chiricahua Band of the Shishindi Nation (commonly known as Apache). Inaddition, Oh Shinnah went through the Western educational system with ease and was a FordFoundation scholar at the University of Chicago at the age of 14. She holds a BA in MusicTheory and an MA in Voice from Denver University, a BA in Clinical Psychology and an MAand honorary PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Chicago. Oh Shinnah has

been a delegate to the U.N. Conferences on HumanEnvironment, Spirituality, and the Decolonization ofIndigenous People as well as the World Conference ofSpiritual Leaders.

Lorraine Simone’s search for personal and planetarybalance through communion with the Earth and the waysof the Sacred Feminine has led her to Native elders andteachers from many traditions. When she opened herretail store, Planet Earth, in Manhattan in 1985, she met

Oh Shinnáh Fast Wolf, a renowned Apache-Mohawk teacher, with whom she has maintained anapprenticeship for over two decades. As is the tradition of her people, Oh Shinnáh dreamed aSpirit Name for Ms. Simone, and performed a naming ceremony to honor her as Deep ArrowWoman. Today Deep Arrow Woman initiates her own apprentices who form the back bone ofMoonfire Meeting House, her spiritual community, and center for Wholistic Wellness, EarthEducation and Spiritual Development since 1990.

Deep Arrow is committed to keeping alive and making available to her community the sacredways and ceremonies that Native and other earth-honoring teachers have given to her. Togetherwith Oh Shinnáh, she leads groups of non-native participants on an annual quest fortransformation called The Journey of the Waters, an ancient cellular healing and initiationceremony of the People called Apache.

European Journalist Bettina M. Gordon grew up in Vienna, Austria, and came to New York Cityto pursue her career as a Foreign Correspondent and Columnist. Bettina interviewed many wellrespected Americans like media icon Walter Cronkite, actor Morgan Freeman andbusinessman/NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bettina also writes the popular column "WallStreet Wildlife" and regularly contributes to magazines, as well as online publications in the USand Europe.

Her life changed significantly when Bettina met Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf in 2000 and embarkedwith the Apache Elder on "The Journey of the Waters", a Native American spiritual journey,which was Bettina's initiation into the world of ancient traditions and their benefits. The resultsthat Bettina achieved by using the advice, tools and rituals given to her by multiple WisdomKeepers in the subsequent years had a deep impact on her personally, as well as professionally.

Bettina produced “All is Made Beautiful – Native American Traditions with Oh Shinnah FastWolf” because she is convinced, that once you integrate ancient traditions into your modern andcomplex life, your life will shift for the better and can improve in ways you never thoughtpossible.

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