Brooke Medicine Eagle
Brooke Medicine Eagle is a spiritual guide and teacher, conducting workshops to help others on the path of spirituality and growth. In Buffalo Woman Comes Singing, she traces the steps she took to connect with her spiritual core. She describes her life on the farm, her family, her upbringing, and her encounters with individuals in the physical and spiritual realm, all of whom contributed to her progress on the spiritual path. Scattered throughout are personal anecdotes about the people and events that impacted her journey. Each of her chapters concludes with exercises to assist readers on their own spiritual quests.
The most interesting part of the book for me is the way in which the ceremonies, rituals, objects, animals, and vision quests are rendered symbolically, making each pregnant with meaning and significance, and contributing to our understanding of the worldview of the indigenous peoples of America. Although the book contained some interesting insights, hers is not the best resource available for articulating the basic tenets of Native American spirituality. For that I recommend the writings of Paula Gunn Allen.
It should also be noted that Brooke Medicine Eagle has been accused by some Native American groups of misrepresenting Native American spirituality and ceremonies. Such criticism calls into question her authenticity as a medicine woman.