2 minute read
FOREWORD BY MICHAEL R. SMITH
FOREWORD
As a youth, Granddaughter Crow tells us that she was taught not to question.
Thank God she didn’t listen.
If she had, we never would have received, in the pages of this book, answers to two of life’s ultimate questions: Who are we? And what lies beyond? “Approach life with curiosity and ask questions, for it is the only way to gain answers,” she implores us.
This entire book is one grand question. Profound. Simple. Elegant.
Granddaughter Crow uses her innate curiosity and intelligence to construct a radical new cognitive framework for understanding the mysteries of the complex Universe in which we live.
Belief, Being, and Beyond is wonderfully unique in that it encompasses the views and perspectives of seemingly disparate belief systems to create a foundational new paradigm for understanding cultural perspectives. What does Christianity have in common with the tarot? What does Paganism have in common with
Navajo creation stories? What does Jesus have in common with the Hindu deity Manu? Read on. Granddaughter Crow will enlighten you to the fact that there is far more that unites our varied human systems of belief than we may have ever considered.
Combining indigenous wisdom with a pointed focus on the power of the cycles of the natural world, you’ll learn what season of life you’re currently existing in (spring, summer, autumn, or winter), as well as what energies and direction on the medicine wheel you are moving into (becoming). In exploring such questions, you’ll be a wiser, more well-rounded person who knows how to naturally be with the rhythms of life rather than fruitlessly swimming upstream.
Taking great care not to judge or equate one belief system as superior, Granddaughter Crow theorizes and extrapolates an entirely new way for us to understand the great questions of human life. She breaks down the human life span into four distinct stages: awakening, enlightenment, being, and becoming. You’ll learn not only where you are now, but how to best navigate your life so that what you become (the energy of the night) is a more pleasant experience.
Follow along as Granddaughter Crow uses her spider medicine to weave a connective web with so many concepts and acts as a bridge between many different cultures, belief systems, and spiritual perspectives. She shares many beautiful personal stories that you’ll almost certainly identify with.
The result of Granddaughter Crow’s forays into the great wilderness of human belief?
Unity. Balance. Harmony. And most of all, integration.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Granddaughter Crow for her efforts at distilling such voluminous wisdom from varied cultural perspectives, and for affirming that what unites us is far greater than what separates us.
