Lynn V. Andrews - Spirit Woman

Lynn Andrews continues to write of her apprenticeship to the Native American shaman Agnes Whistling Elk in this companion to her earlier Medicine Woman. The most remarkable element of this book is its ability to communicate a sense of both the physical and spiritual lessons that Andrews has learned during her stays with the Cree Indians.

Her previous book detailed her initiation into the teachings of the Sisterhood of the Shields, a secret society traditionally the sole province of Native American women, and in this account she continues her education, revealing in the process why she felt compelled to return to Whistling Elk for further study.

Both books are notable not only for the glimpse they provide of an unfamiliar culture, but also for Andrewss quietly powerful style and the humility with which she opens herself to new and often seemingly alien experiences.

Booklist (American Library Association)

We are lucky that the likes of Agnes Whistling Elk still exist, and that one such as Lynn Andrews has had the opportunity to experience the ways of a medicine woman and has lived to write about it. Andrewss books are a glimpse into a world of the miraculous and the eternal, and intimate a true understanding of the extraordinary laws of nature.

Yoga Journal

A beautiful study of an unfamiliar culture... excellent reading.

The McCormick Messenger, McCormick, SC

Medicine Woman

Spirit Woman

Jaguar Woman

The Woman of Wyrrd

Dark Sister

Love and Power

Tree of Dreams

The Power Deck

Teachings Around the Sacred Wheel

Writing Spirit

JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 35 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published as Flight of the Seventh Moon in 1984 by Harper & Row, Publishers.

First Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin edition 2002; paperback reissue 2007

Copyright 1984 by Lynn V. Andrews

Illustrations 1984 by N. Scott Momaday

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Published simultaneously in Canada

Acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following:
From Hilda Doolittle, Collected Poems of H.D., copyright 1957 by Norman Holmes Pearson; reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation, agents.

From News of the Universe, chosen and introduced by Robert Bly, copyright 1980 by Robert Bly; reprinted by permission of Sierra Club Books.

From Philip Lamantia, Becoming Visible, copyright 1981 by Philip Lamantia; reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.

Howard A. Norman, The Wishing Bone Cycle, copyright 1982 by Howard A. Norman, reprinted by permission of Ross-Erickson, Inc., Publishers.

From Ursula K. LeGuin, Hard Words and Other Poems, copyright 1977 by Ursula K. LeGuin; reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

The Moon By Arrangement, from Thread the Silence Like a Needle by Jack Crimmins, copyright 1983 by Jack Crimmins; reprinted by
permission of Maya Press, Los Angeles.

Most Tarcher/Penguin books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. Special books or book excerpts also can be created to fit specific needs. For details, write Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

The Library of Congress catalogued the 2002 paperback edition as follows:

Andrews, Lynn V.

[Flight of the seventh moon]

Spirit woman : the teachings of the shields/Lynn Andrews.

1st Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin pbk. ed.

p. cm.

Originally published: Flight of the seventh moon.

San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984.

ISBN 978-1-101-66412-4

I. Title.

BP610A54143 2002 2002018865

299.7dc21

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

This book is dedicated to my mother Rosalyn and my daughter Vanessa whose love and understanding have made my journey possible.

With special appreciation to Twila Nitsch Yehwehnode of the Seneca Nation and Paula Gunn Allen for being the medicine women that they are.

With great thanks to John V. Loudon, my editor, whose thoughtfulness and dedication have helped me tremendously.

THE MOON IN YOUR HANDS

If you take the moon in your hands and turn it round

(heavy, slightly tarnished platter) youre there;

if you pull dry sea-weed from the sand and turn it round

and wonder at the undersides bright amber, your eyes

look out as they did here,

(you dont remember)

when my soul turned round,

perceiving the other-side of everything,

mullein-leaf, dogwood leaf, moth-wing and dandelion-seed under the ground.

H.D. [ HILDA DOOLITTLE ],

from The Selected Poems of H. D.

This is a true story. Some of the names and places in this book have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

I am a woman.

The last several years of my life have been spent on a spiritual quest. My path led me first to many male teachers. Each of them, in their own way, gave me startling insights into my own nature. Still, something was lacking. I knew I wanted to learn from a womanfor me, that was the only way. I was lucky. After a series of extraordinary events, Agnes Whistling Elk, a Native American Medicine Woman living in Manitoba, Canada, became my teacher.

When I first met Agnes, I asked her if she thought it was strange for someone from Beverly Hills to be sitting in her quiet cabin in Manitoba asking for help.

There are always helpers and signs to point the way for anyone who is willing to follow them, she said. Unknowingly, for the first time in your life, you have followed your true path. No, it is not surprising that you are here. Many omens have spoken of your coming, and I would be surprised if it were any other way. You know that enlightenment is arrived at in a different way for a woman than for a man.