The 13 Original Clan Mothers 

by Jamie Sams
published 1994 by Harper San Francisco
Paperback 336 pages
ISBN: 0062507567
See This Book at Amazon

Sobre o Autor
Jamie Sams is a member of the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge. She is the
coauthor of Medicine Cards™:The Discovery of Power Through
the Ways of Animals, author of The Sacred Paths Workbook, and
(with Twylah Nitsch) Other Council Fires Were Here Before Ours.

Jamie Sams is half French and half American Indian, with ancestors from the Cherokee,
Seneca, Choctaw, and Mohawk tribes. She is also a key member of the Wolf Clan Teaching
Lodge, retreat leader, and writer on American Indian spirituality, e.g. „Dancing the Dream”,
„The 13 Original Clan Mothers”, and (with Twylah Nitsch) „Other Council Fires Were Here
Before Ours”.

This unique book is unlike anything else that I have read. This collection of
Native American wisdom is delivered in a oral-tradition style which I found
quite appropriate. Although directed at a feminine audience, the advice
proffered by each of these Clan Mother's is also the very best I've ever read
for anyone, male or female, in how best to approach Life and view Self. Nor
does it have even a drop of "self-help" feel in the writing. 

Each Mother has her own bailiwick which is first discussed in Her chapter
and then accompanied by a tale about how she came to be the Mother
of ...the planetary family, friendship, etc. The first thirty or so pages are
devoted to revealing the author's personal journey of discovery as well as
offering a glimpse into her culture. All very informative and engaging
reading, but not necessarily vital to the rest of the work. It is in reading of
the Clan Mothers themselves, their lessons, teachers, perspectives,
aspirations and failings that the true merits of this work are most clearly
absorbed. A quick overview is offered of each Mother is offered at the
beginning of this work, and while it is intellectually easy to understand...
the truth and lessons revealed in each Mother's experiences are not truly
understood by the reader until we experience them ourselves through their
stories. While I am paraphrasing, this look into each clan mother that I offer
up as a first look, it is nearly an exact quote from the "shorthand" version of
each Clan Mother's description from the book... 

Talks With Relations is the first teacher in the cycle. She is the Mother of
Nature and the Planetary Family. She teaches us how to understand the
unspoken Languages of Nature, our kinship with all life forms, how to enter
the Sacred Spaces of others with respect, how to honor cycles, rhythms,
and changes of season and weather, and how to meld with the life force and
rhythms in all dimensions to learn the Truth of each thing in our World. 

Wisdom Keeper is the Protect-ress of Sacred Traditions, the Mother of

Friendship, Planetary Unity and Mutual Understanding. She teaches us the
art of self development and expansion, how to access Planetary Memory,
personal recall, ancient wisdom and knowledge, to understand that every
life form holds wisdom, how to be a friend and to restore friendship by
honoring the viewpoints of all life forms. 

Weighs The Truth is the Mother of Truth, Self-determination, and

Responsibility. She is the Protect-ress of the Underdog, the Fair Judge of
Divine Law and the Destroyer of Deception. She teaches us how to find the
ability to respond and be self-determined, to feed the positive over the
negative, how to use equality with justice by being accountable for our
actions and words, how to use personal integrity, ethics and values to find
healing solutions. 

Looks Far Woman is the Mother of Visions, Dreams and Psychic

Impressions, the Guardian of Dreamtime and the Keeper of Inner Potential.
She teaches us how to understand our visions, dreams, feelings and
impressions, how to enter Dreamtime, how to properly use our natural
psychic abilities and gifts of prophecy for humanity, how to use spiritual
boundaries, psychic self-defense, and how to respect those boundaries in
others, and how to use our inner potential to become "healed healers". 

Listening Woman is the Mother of Tiyoweh, the Stillness and Inner Knowing,
the Keeper of Discernment and Guardian of Introspection. She teaches us
how to enter the Stillness and hear our heart's small still voice, how to find
and understand Inner Knowing that we carry within ourselves, how to listen
to the viewpoints and opinions of others as well as the voices of our
Ancestors, and how to understand body language and unspoken thoughts
by hearing with our hearts. 

Storyteller is the Guardian of Medicine Stories, Keeper of Heyokah Medicine

and Humor, the Teacher who Teaches without Pointing a Finger. She
teaches us how to teach others through the telling of stories that contain
lessons, how to balance the sacredness with irreverence by using humor
creatively, how to speak from our experience without judging others or
being self-righteous, how to be a Student in life as well as a Teacher and
how to preserve wisdom gained for future generations. 

Loves All Things is the Mother of Unconditional Love and All Acts of
Pleasure, The Keeper of Sexual Wisdom and Self-respect, the Guardian of
the Needs of the Family. She teaches us how to use respect, trust and
intimacy in all relationships, how to love all aspects of our lives, lessons,
sexuality and physical beings, how to be a loving woman, nurturing mother,
sensual lover and trusted friend, and most importantly how to forgive
ourselves and others by developing acceptance and shunning critical-ness. 

She Who Heals is the Mother of Intuition/All Rites of Passage/Cycles of

Birth, Death and Rebirth, the Keeper of the Healing Arts, the Singer of the
Death Song and Keeper of Life and Death Mysteries.She teaches us how to
serve others with a happy heart using our healing abilities, how to
understand and honor the life cycles of birth, death and rebirth, how to
believe in the miracles of life through our connections to our Spiritual
Essences, how to understand the Plant Kingdom and the healing uses of all
parts of plants. 

Setting Sun Woman is the Mother of the Proper Use of Will/Will to

Live/Survive/Will Power, the Keeper of Tomorrow's Dreams and Goals, the
Guardian of the Needs of the Next Seven Generations, Guardian of
Preservation, and the Keeper of Mother Earth's Resources. She teaches us
how to preserve and use our resources without wasting anything, how to
prepare for tomorrow by planning today, how to make and meet personal
goals, how to show concern, dependability and compassion through the
ways we live, how to properly use our wills by using our intents to provide
for future generations. 

Weaves The Web is the Mother of Creativity, Manifester of Dreams,

Guardian of Life Force and the Keeper of Survival Instincts. She teaches us
how to use our desire to create and bring our dreams into tangible forms.
How to tap life force, how to use energy to build, change or manifest our
needs, how to manifest our visions and give them life through our actions
and artistic talents, how to create new from old and how to destroy the
limitations of creativity. 

Walks Tall Woman is the Mother of Beauty and Grace, the Keeper of
Innovation and Persistence, the Guardian of Leadership and all forms of
Inner Strength. She teaches us how to be our personal best and still be
vulnerably human, how to keep our bodies and minds flexible and in good
health, how to seek and find new paths through growing, learning and
leading through example, how to develop inner strength and how both
attract and release. 

Gives Praise is the Mother of All Acts of Thanksgiving and Encouragement,

Keeper of Abundance, Guardian of Ceremony and Ritual, and the Wisdom
Keeper of the Art of Giving and Receiving. She teaches us how to return
thanks for the abundance we need before it arrives, how to make space to
receive in our lives, how to celebrate ever victory in life with joy (our own
and those of others), how to use right attitudes to create change in Self and
how to create abundance through praise, giving, and receiving. 

Becomes Her Vision is the Mother of the Alchemical Changes and Rites of
Passage into Wholeness, Keeper of Emergence of Spirit into Physical Form,
Guardian of Transformation, Transmutation, and Personal History. She
teaches us how to become our visions and own our wholeness, how to
release the old Self and step into the realized dream, how to honor the
process that brought us through our transformation, how to mark a Rite of
Passage into Wholeness and Celebrate the vision we have become. 

From these quick descriptions, it is fairly clear that each Clan Mother
embodies a lesson or attitude we absorb to become our best Vision of Self.
Once, these Traditions allowed for a sisterly support group that our society
is tragically lacking today. There is such a wealth of wisdom here that it
really does require both the stark look at each Mother's attributes, as well
as the accompanying tale to truly understand the lessons we are being
given by these archetypes. For example, we can all understand striving for
the qualities attributed to Walks Tall Woman by the description already
given. However, only through reading her story do we truly come to
understand her wisdom. Walks Tall Woman was the exemplary, the shining
example for every woman...yet we learn her greatest failing was in not
allowing for the failings of her own humanity. 

Her example of Constant Perfection was making other women feel hopeless
and depressed. They felt that they could not live up to such virtue without
any time for Self, or more importantly Renewal of Self. It is Walks Tall
Woman who began the Tradition of retreat during ones menstrual cycle for
this vital time of introspection and renewal that is essential for one to
continually strive for personal perfection without going completely bonkers.
In her eagerness to spread her lessons through example, she forgot to allow
her self time for renewal and was therefore setting a dangerous example.
Walks Tall Woman had to learn how to release this bad habit and find a way
to turn it into a strength for everyone. She succeeds admirably and the
reader is left marveling at why these very important aspects of Self and
Culture are not promoted within society today. 

Each Clan Mother's tale reveals an amazing amount of wisdom and another
facet of Truth. Sometimes we must learn to be Grateful for the Truth, which
is not always a wholly pleasant thing. At other moments in our lives we
need to learn how to laugh at ourselves and Truth; to find the humor at the
heart of the most serious issues we face. There is a time for everything and
perhaps the best time to be learning about our selves and world is Now.
Each chapter contains a more in-depth look at the Clan Mother for that
section, a poem about her, and then a tale given in the best oral-tradition
manner. 

I borrowed this book from the library, but am so impressed with the food
for thought found here that I know I simply Must purchase a copy for
myself. While easy to read and absorb, there is simply too much here for
me to commit to memory for later use. I am awed and truly grateful that
these sacred Traditions have survived so much death, hardship and ridicule,
and doubly grateful that through Native author Jamie Sams they have been
shared so generously with those of us born outside these Traditions. 

These are not preachy, condescending morality tales, nor are they squishy
self-help jargons being spoon-fed to the masses. These are essential
markers upon the Road of Life that each of us, male or female, can benefit
from learning. I was often touched by a phrasing or concept so deeply that I
would stop reading and gaze off into the past, searching my memory for
someone who may have said exactly those words to me at some point in
my life so familiar did they seem. One really must read for one's self this
work to truly absorb all that it has to offer and no mere review of the
written work could truly encompass the wealth of life lessons given here. 

I could not give enough praise to this work, its author, or the Teachers who
passed these Wisdoms on to her willing heart. I expect I shall be learning
from this marvelous work for years to come. With great Love, I share this
glimpse of what I have learned with you and hope with all my being that the
creative fire found here shall burn brightly through the hearts of (Mitake
Oyasin) All My Relations.
Jamie Sams is a Holy Person of the Cherokee and Seneca tribes.

Jamie Jamie Sams is a Native American Holy Person of Cherokee and

Seneca decent, who explains that medicine has to do with anything
that makes us feel whole. Indians view medicine as a person's gifts,
including their inner strengths, talents, and abilities. "When we look at
the idea of medicine," Jamie Jamie Sams says, "we have to embrace
the total person: the body, the heart, the mind, and the spirit. When
any of these part are out of balance, then there is a need for healing."

The processes used in healing depend on the type of illness. First a

person must be diagnosed to see whether their sickness is physical,
spiritual, emotional, or mental. Then it is treated accordingly. When
the body is sick, herbs, flowers, and other plant matter can be used to
promote recovery. Mechanical help is also used, such as setting bones
when broken. Spiritual illnesses are handled by medicine people who
may work with a person's dreams, or with what they experience on
other dimensions that need to be healed. Some tribes also take into
account the influence of past lives. Emotional healing for family upsets,
a broken heart, or other problems, and psychological healing for
mental illnesses are handled differently still. "Sometimes we need to
heal our impatience," Jamie Sams says. "And sometimes we need to
heal our frustrations. Many times we need to heal the internal criticism
that our brain is constantly carrying on, which makes us feel less than.
But always, we need to take a look at that which does not work in our
lives, and makes our behavior out of balance towards ourselves and
others." Here, Jamie Sams explains important principles of healing for
specific circumstances:

Mourning

"In indigenous cultures, when someone that we care about is dying,

there is a very intense need to mourn. When you don't release the
mourning, it will make you sick. Certain Anglo cultures have a different
concept. If you release the mourning, you are looked at as if you lost
control over your emotions. The spirit of the person who has passed
away that you cared about is not then free to move on into the spirit
world because the mourning was not complete. The people did not
purge their bodies of this sense of grief." Jamie Sams adds that
mourning to Native people is like a bow. The people moving on are the
arrows. Mourning a loss allows the spirit to fly into its new non-
physical life.

Healing Pollution for Ourselves, Our World, and Our Future

Jamie Sams notes how we poison our systems on multiple levels:

"Bitterness, hatred, and resentment are toxins from our heart, while
jealousy and greed poison our thoughts. Then we harm our bodies
with unhealthy foods and artificial substances, and hurt our spirits with
a lack of gratitude.

In this sickened state, human beings tend to lose balance, and begin
to see the world around them as something to abuse as well. "The
things that we have done to ourselves internally," notes Jamie Sams,
"we have also done to the earth, which is our sustenance."

Native Americans realize that living according to right principles not

only helps ourselves and our planet, but insures a future for
generations ahead. Jamie Sams notes that, "When we gather herbs to
assist someone, we thank each and every plant that the earth mother
sends, and we pass the first seven plants to always remember to leave
enough for the next seven generations. In doing that, we are honoring
the ninth clan mother who looks toward tomorrow for what our
children and their children will need on the earth."

Healing Humiliation

Regarding humiliation, Jamie Sams writes, "Humiliation is the one

event in human life that becomes unforgettable. The loss of human
dignity at the hands of another can be forgiven, but it is rarely, if ever,
forgotten. Healing humiliation and the loss of dignity is something that
comes from inside a person. No healer, psychologist, doctor, medicine
person or teacher can do it for somebody else. Consciously shaming
another has dealt many a blow throughout time. Kicking people when
they are vulnerable is a tactic of insensitive bullies. The world has been
fraught with this behavior since its inception. It never seems to happen
when we are feeling strong. It almost always happens when we are
dealing with our own self-doubt and self criticism.
"We can heal the need to experience this reflection if we protect
ourselves. The key is to notice that if we stop beating ourselves up
internally the bullies of the world will quit picking on us externally. In
Native American thought, we understand that the external world, and
the things we experience in day to day life are mirror reflections that
show us what we are doing to ourselves internally. If we honor who
we are without an arrogance or sense of pride, but do it in a balanced
way, and we walk life in a manner that allows us to honor and respect
every other living thing, then we don't bring the experience into our
lives that would necessitate us being shown how it feels to be bullied
or humiliated by another human being."

Healing Personal Integrity

"One of the things that human beings need to heal is the idea of
hypocrisy. We say walk your talk. Don't talk your walk. Human beings
have learned over the years that spoken words are cheap and
promises are often broken. And that, in many cases, is a commitment
that is not being honored. So, many times we ask people who have
walked the crooked path to heal their personal integrity. That's a facet
of healing that most people do not look at.

In our grandparents and our great grandparents day, a person's word

was their bond. But in this modern world, most times, if we give our
word, we aren't sure that the person we give our word to, and they
give their word back is going to honor their personal integrity, because
the sense of self has been eroded to the place where we cannot
embrace the idea that integrity is everything, that if a person honors
themselves, that promise is made to themselves. When you make a
promise to another person, you are making it to yourself. That's
another aspect of the great smoking mirror. And when you do not
honor your promises to another, you have reflected back to yourself
through that great smoking mirror, what you actually think of yourself,
which must be very little, because the integrity in your bond and your
word was not honored by you, so how can others honor that same
thing."

https://www.native-americans-online.com/native-american-jamie-sams.html
 Living Spiritual Teachers Project Jamie
Sams
 Native American Holy Person of
Cherokee and Seneca descent
 Writer on American Indian spirituality
 Retreat leader for the Wolf Clan
Teaching Lodge
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
TwitterFacebookLinkPrint

Jamie Sams is half French and half American Indian, with ancestors
from the Cherokee, Seneca, Choctaw, and Mohawk tribes. She is also
a key member of the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge, retreat leader, and
writer on American Indian spirituality.

Sams has personally funded many programs to help the Native

American community by donating a large percentage of the royalties
received from her many books. Beginning in 1988, she developed
programs for native youth which included "Saying no to drugs and
alcohol," and she furnished books for Native American schools as well
as Indians serving time in prison. She has funded elders' travels to
teach at youth conferences as well as scholarships for single Native
American parents working to receive college degrees.

She has traveled to many reservations and taught at Youth and Adult
Wellness seminars. She has donated her time teaching at the Native
American Heritage School in Seattle, the Tulip Tribes of Washington,
the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Orphanage and Boys Club, and has
 funded many groups including the Mohawk, Aquasasni School trips to
the Cradleboard Conference. She has worked with Native Ojibwa
Elders in Canada founding the Turtle Mother Women's Center for
abused Native Women.

Sams has been the keynote speaker for the Family and Child
Education program for Native American Family Literacy and for the
Third World Counselors Association of California. In Africa, she
worked with Nelson Mandela's task force to help preserve the
indigenous stories of African Tribes. In Australia, she helped young
aboriginal writers in the Northwest Territories Aboriginal Women's
Association record elders' stories and teachings. She founded Native
American Tribal Traditions which has hosted countless Native
American teachers and spiritual leaders on their ceremonial grounds,
The Valley of Miracles Ranch, in Northern New Mexico. She is also the
founder of the Children of Earth Foundation which focuses on the
needs of children to help ease the suffering of all humanity.

Read For:

 Knowledge of American Indian traditions and wisdom

 Sensitivity to the voices of American Indian elders, especially
women
 Wide-ranging points of entry into American Indian spirituality,
including cards, books, and audios.

https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/explorations/teachers/view/116/jamie-sams

http://www.wolfclanteachinglodge.org/