Wisdom Keepers of Northern Europe

Wisdom Keepers of Northern Europe:  
A Forgotten Indigenous Heritage

My passion, mission, and calling, in fact my whole life, is devoted to bringing people back to awareness of and connection with the deep, spiritual, indigenous heritage of Old Europe.  It's a significant and important piece that has been missing from the global spiritual community for a long time.
I need your on-going financial support in order to continue this work.
There are very few of us doing it.
It isn't popular. 
It's rarely mentioned in the New Age Communities.
There's very little, if any, information available about it in the alternative shops filled with crystals, Nag Champa, prayer flags, statues of Buddha, images of gurus, invitations to enlightenment, Ashrams and Om. 
It's hard to find anything that's even remotely connected to it anywhere, even on the web. 
Most of us with European ancestry know more about Buddhist ideology, Hindu practices such as yoga and meditation, Eastern terminology such as meridians and chakras, Greek mythology, Mesopotamian astrology and religions from nomadic desert people than we do about our own heritage and ancestry.
My fund raising campaign is for the specific purpose of supporting me and the research, teaching and writing I do, with the purpose and intention of bringing back the wisdom of indigenous Europe.
Do you know what happened to the indigenous people of Europe?  Most people, even those of us with European ancestry, know very little about pre-Christian Europe.  And rarely do any of us think about Europeans as being indigenous.
It's time to remember, recognize and honor that we were all once indigenous, that we all lived in harmony with the land and that we were al, at some point in time, native.  The rituals, ceremonies, spiritual practices and sacred sites in Europe were destroyed by the forced monotheism of Christianity. 
It's easy to get caught up  in the guilt and shame but this perpetuates exclusion, separation and blame.  We must remember that what we have done to others was also done to us and is often true, the abused go on to become abusers.
We are a people who have lost our way and it is time to return to the wisdom of the land and our relationship with it.
I've been called by my European ancestors, the gods and goddesses of the North, the rune beings and the Jotnir to tell the stories, to write, to raise awareness and to speak about the forgotten heritage of indigenous Europe and the reason it's so important in this time of global crisis.
It’s a sacred obligation and it’s bigger than I am.
In order to fulfill this obligation I need your financial support.  That’s why I’ve created this funding campaign and why I choose to keep it going.

I’m an elder and teacher in the spiritual community of European Americans and we are passionate about our own, pre-Christian ancestral heritage. We are confident that the wisdom held in our own indigenous spiritual heritage can guide and strengthen the lives we live today in this modern world that's in crisis.
I greatly appreciate and treasure all that’s been donated so far.  
Here's an accounting of what what I've done since starting the campaign and how I've used and continue to use, in a sacred and honorable way, the money that is donated to me and my work.
In June I flew from Portland, Oregon to Stockholm and then traveled by night train up to the town of Gallivare which is near the Arctic Circle.
I took a bus from Gallivare and then a boat to reach the camp which is the summer home for Laila Spik, the Sami elder I traveled to see.
I didn't head off on a vacation nor did I travel simply as a curious tourist.  I went so I can learn from the land, so I can learn face to face from an Indigenous European Wisdom Keeper, so I can return home with this ancient wisdom and weave it into a spirituality that is truly relevant to the world we live in today.
I traveled to gather some of the wisdom of the north, to recognize, honor and remember our own European ancestors who were people of the land.
I make this journey because my own Northern European ancestors have called me to fulfill this sacred obligation.
It was my intention to be there for 21 days living with Laila Spik  a Sami elder who is one of the few remaining keepers of the ancestral wisdom of the Reindeer People.  
Sadly, my time with Laila on her land was cut short due to a health crisis.  I had to be taken to a hospital in Gallivare which cut short my time with her.
While in the hospital I evaluated the state of my health and determined that it was possible and necessary for me to continue on with my journey to the Netherlands, just sooner than I had planned for.
I incurred additional expense in order to do this due to the necessity of changing my travel plans.
Fortunately I was able to find accommodation at the Hotel Guldenberg, the same place the Indigenous Grandmothers event was being held and I was able to stay there until the conference.  
All was not lost because Laila Spik was one of the special guests at the conference and during my time with her I was able to gather an incredible amount of information, perhaps more than I would have had available in the setting of her summer camp in Saltoluokta, Sweden.
Well rested and healthy I was able to attend the conference with the indigenous grandmothers.  I observed, listened and questioned.
An added gift from this time spent in the Netherlands was the opportunity I had to connect with and interview 8 women from Bulgaria.  Through a generous and skilled interpretor I was able to ask questions and explore with them their experiences with spirituality as it exists in a former Communist country and its relationship to the power and presence of the Greek Orthodox Church.
I returned to Portland mid-July and gave a three hour presentation to a large group of individuals who are interested in my work and my vision.
A link to the live video recording of this event is available to anyone who makes a donation to this ongoing campaign or it it available for purchase.

I am keeping this campaign open because my work is ongoing.  I need continued financial support in order to finish and publish the books I'm writing about the forgotten indigenous heritage of Europe.
There are very few of us who are being called to do this work.  It isn't always popular and it often isn't valued.
 It's vital that we all remember that the indigenous people of Europe were victimized by Christianity just as much as any other native, tribal people around the globe.
It's vital that we all remember the victimization, decimation, destruction and almost complete annihilation of the rich spiritual heritage of European culture by Christianity.
It's vital that we all remember that the very identity of Europe is not Christian in origin and that it is a myth that Europe had Christian roots.

Perhaps it is not our place to heal the Earth or heal the waters, or heal anything in Nature for that matter.  The Earth takes care of herself and will survive and thrive even after we are all gone.  Perhaps it is our place instead to find ways to heal the wounds that we continue to inflict upon each other.  This healing must begin in our homes, begin with us, the wisdom keepers, whether we’re indigenous or not.
I am doing this work so I can help others find 
 ways to make indigenous wisdom accessible to all of us, thus creating a spirituality for the modern world.

Please donate to my campaign:  to the journey, to the book, to the telling of the story.  All support is valued and appreciated.