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I was born in Chicago in 1953, and grew up in the northern suburbs of that big city. I've always loved animals,
and from a very young age was observing surgeries at a local veterinarian's office, thinking that one day I'd study
veterinary medicine. At age nine I adopted vegetarianism, but had to "put it on hold" until I left my parents'
home at 17 (the family doctor with my parents' encouragement, had insisted that I would "die" without meat,...
at nine I didn't realize that most of the world's population lives without it in their diets).
The family
called me "Dr. Doolittle" because of my insistence on being surrounded by animals... at one time there were 60 mice
in the basement of our home. (Only recently, many years after the fact, I told my mother that several had escaped and probably
propagated there in her laundry room, long after the bulk of them were gone to new vistas. She was thrilled to know it; now
that she lives elsewhere!)
In the early 1970's I discovered meditation and Eastern philosopy. "Autobiography
of A Yogi" by Yogananda was instrumental in helping me to form a spiritual path that worked for me. The image of God
as an old man in the sky with a long white beard was so foreign, that as a child I sometimes thought I might be an atheist
(until about 1972 when that book came along, thank God). There were tearful discussions late at night in the cabins of a girls'
summer camp in Michigan (age eight and nine again) where the girls discussed being "gone forever" and a horrible
sadness came over me, which was finally alleviated when I discovered my belief in reincarnation (much later in the 1970's).
Metaphysics soon became a keen interest, as well as Eastern philosophy and martial arts, namely Aikido, and then
Tai Chi and Chigung.
The veterinary career changed form in 1977, when I discovered "holistic medicine"
-- homeopathy and Bach Flower remedies. I took a 10-day workshop with George MacLeod (England's world famous homeopathic
vet) in 1982 on veterinary homeoopathy, and met many of the US vets who are now the leaders in holistics, at the "beginnings"
of it all. (Of course, we all know that homeopathy was here many many years before that but had been "suppressed"
by the AMA, but that's another story.)
Upon my return to Chicago after the MacLeod workshop, I was so excited
about animals and homeopathy that I literally entreated Dr. MacLeod to give me a job, so I could go to England and further
those studies, but he didn't need an assistant. Attempts to gain employment with some of the US vets also proved fruitless,
because my destiny really lay here in the United States, and in a place I little suspected I had any desire to visit: Alaska,
the Great Land. (Its a well kept secret that the winters are really not all THAT cold, they're just longer... Chicago's
winters were much worse in fact.)
Everything I've learned about holistic medicine, I've always attempted
to apply to animals, including homeopathy, Bach Flower remedies, emergency medicine (EMT 1 training), and even the Alexander
Technique, which I attended a teacher training course in, until it fell apart mid-way because the instructor left the country.
Between 1978 and 1987 I operated a small natural foods sandwich company in Chicago. This was a great experience
in self employment. Not that that was new to me... I had been typing, editing, and proofing students term papes and even PhD
thesises for years. With Spiral Cuisine I had up to three employees working for me, and many happy memories.
I
learned to communicate with animals telepathically through a workshop and some private training with a metaphysics teacher,
and started using it in sessions with animals for healing. I also used homeopathy and nutrition in these sessions.
Having read the Carlos Castaneda books in the '70's (and really enjoying them, whether they were fact or fiction),
and always feeling a "need" to keep searching for a "medicine man," I searched and searched through various
groups, gurus, and so on, before in a miraculous and synchronistic way, I met Michael Snow Leopard Bookbinder, who lived in
Alaska at the time. This was 1993. I began a correspondence course with him, but knew almost immediately after meeting him
by telephone, that I would be moving to Alaska. This was accomplished in 1994, when I moved from the north side of Chicago
to Girdwood, Alaska, a picturesque ski resort town, about 40 miles south of Anchorage. The culture shock was stunning and
wonderful. What a healing opportunity!
I lived in the building with Michael for two years as "nursemaid"
and Staff Member, learning invaluable lessons. Michael passed away in 1999, finally succumbing to the brain hemorrhage he
sustained some 15 years before at the age of 39, after being kicked in the head while teaching kick boxing.
Snow
Leopard was the Medicine Chief of the Miquon Apache, which originated in Pennsylvania. He was and is one of the most influential
and beloved people I have ever encountered. Though he is missed, he continues to assist me in ways he could not while in the
body.
Having been fascinated since childhood with things "American Indian," insterestingly, after starting
to work with Snow Leopard, I had more dreams with Indian ancestors showing me things. Funnily, too, they called me the "Lakota
German" -- I was adopted and never verified that my birth mother was a German Jew. This will likely never be verified.
So it's possible this body's DNA has, among God knows what else, German, Jewish and Lakota (Indian) DNA (plus Czech,
Scottish, and Hopi if other information and feelings are correct). <hee hee>
My work now centers around
animal communication and spiritual healing for companion animals.
I live with 3 exotic birds (two macaws and an
African grey), including the incredible and much beloved Little Foot (aka Footerbird), on her second incarnation with me (thank
you God!), and my wonderful husband, Jimmy.
I am writing books about my experiences with holistic and spiritual
healing, an autobiographical story of my spiritual and health adventures of the last two decades, and will be beginning work
on a childrens' book series about the much loved Little Foot, aka Beak of the North (and War Chief of the Big White Poop
Clan). Through 15 years of chronic and acute illness, I've learned a lot about self healing, and wish to share this with
others, so that they might help themselves.
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