Naming of the site

PLEASE NOTE THAT 10% OF ALL PROCEEDS  ARE DONATED to Love Has No Color to help the children of Fort Peck Native American Reservation in northeast Montana!!  
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Some of you might be wondering about the name of my website. 

I did a white buffalo in pastels on April 30th, 2012.  It is the first pastel I have attempted in years and it simply 'screamed' to come out.  It was as if I had no control of the outcome.  Shortly thereafter, I learned of the senseless slaughter of a yearling white buffalo calf (a sacred symbol of peace and abundance of the Native American culture)  and his mother on that very same date.  I was so touched - and a bit overcome by my virulent need to draw the animal at that very time - that I began researching all I could find about the White Buffalo. 

There is a well known legend about the white buffalo calf woman, but a story that I was told is perhaps not as well known.  It commences with a Lakota youngster who wanted to hunt with the braves rather than remain in the village with the other children.  He was so proud to be given the opportunity and, henceforth, accompanied them on the hunt.  As he grew, however, the animals began to speak to him.  Despite the fact that Native Americans  hunted only for the necessities of life - and not for sport, the teen no longer found satisfaction in the act.  Ridiculed by his peers, he eventually set off into the wilderness, alone, to live among the animals.   Some animals sacrificed themselves to provide food, clothing and shelter for him with the caveat that he would send their spirits to the Great Spirit with honor and respect.  Thus, he lived for many, many moons until, one day, walking through a forest glade, he saw a bright light in the valley ahead.  Accompanied by a black jaguar and with a hawk on his shoulder, he ventured nearer.  The light emanated from a white buffalo who beckoned him closer.  The brave was told that he would become a great shaman and spread peace throughout the land.  He was given the name White Feather - 'white' for peace and purity and 'feather' for the messenger he was to become.

White Feather Expressions was born from a combination of my experience and this story.  My love of animals, nature, and, above all, peace in our time, forged this website.  My great grandmother used the expression "you can attract more flies with honey than vinegar."  It was her way of telling us to spread love and light to the world.  What better way to honor her and, at the same time,  the Native American belief that the essence of the White Buffalo would bring peace and abundance to all nations - black, white, red and yellow.  They were a proud and free people who took nothing more from the Earth than what they needed for survival and whose culture was embedded in nature.  Could the rest of us not learn a lesson from America's first people?

I believe that if each of us would only try, we could make a difference.  I encourage everyone to tap their Creator-given talents to better themselves and those around them.  Am I a Native American?  No, but, who knows?  Perhaps in another lifetime.