HAWK WOMAN DANCING WITH THE MOON by Tela Starhawk Lake. 1996 / 256 pages

Tela Starhawk lake, who calls herself an endangered species, is the last remaining hereditary descendent of a long line of Native healers, seers, ceremonial leaders and ritual performers, all documented in classic anthropological writings. Born in an outhouse in 1959, she was raised in a large dysfunctional family, despite the fact that the elders in her tribe knew from their visions, dreams and prophecies, that Tela was to become a powerful Medicine Woman. She and her husband, Medicine Grizzly Bear, were trained, mostly in secret to protect themselves and their mentors, by relatives and medicine men and women from all tribes. Their training was arduous - traditional vision quest trails had been disrupted by highways and loggers, new ways of performing spiritual ceremonies had to be incorporated with the old, sacred sites had been destroyed. This book tells of her experience with ghosts, spiritual battles, vision quests and doctoring people from various races and cultures. She explains much of Native belief and practices and focuses primarily on women's medicine. She includes prayers, healing ceremonies women can perform, herbs to use for healing and dream analysis. She gives practical advice on what to do about everything from environmental pollution to childbirth. Tela is a Medicine Woman who uses the forces of nature - both physical and spiritual - to effect cures. She teaches and lectures widely in both Indian and non-Native circles and lives on a tribal reservation.