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The Bear is My Father: Indigenous Wisdom of a Muscogee Creek Caretaker of Sacred Ways Spiral-Bound | January 11, 2022

Bear Heart, Reginah WaterSpirit

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The Bear Is My Father: Indigenous Wisdom of a Muscogee Creek Caretaker of Sacred Ways is considered a love story between Bear Heart and a community that stretches across the globe. This book celebrates the life, teachings and legacy of Marcellus Bear Heart Williams, a Multi-Tribe Spiritual Leader and author of the critically-acclaimed The Wind is My Mother.


Bear Heart (1918 - 2008), was a Muscogee Creek Native American Church Road Man with a talent for seeing people as individuals, and for making them feel seen and special in their own ways. The Bear Is My Father: Indigenous Wisdom of a Muscogee Creek Caretaker of Sacred Ways contains the final words Bear Heart wrote before his “going on” as well as contributions from friends and family whose lives were forever changed by Bear Heart’s presence and work. In this new book, Bear Heart uses stories of his youth and traditional medicine practices to convey lessons and knowledge about living in harmony and with respect for all.


Offering a mix of history and spiritual wisdom, The Bear is My Father is co-authored by Reginah WaterSpirit, Bear Heart's Medicine Helper and wife of 23 years. 


When Reginah would ask Bear Heart exactly how he made his medicine, he always answered, “I don’t make the medicine, it was here before me. I’ve been entrusted to be a caretaker of certain sacred ways.”


Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 176 pages
ISBN-10: 0907791891
Item Weight: 0.78 lbs
Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.83 x 8.5 inches
A notable and significant contribution to community, college, and university library Native American Biographies, Religion, and Demographic Studies collections and a supplemental curriculum syllabus, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Bear is My Father: Indigenous Wisdom of a Muscogee Creek Caretaker of Sacred Ways" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99) -- Midwest Book Review

Marcellus "Bear Heart" Williams (1918 - 2008) was one of the last traditionally trained medicine persons of the Muscogee Creek Nation. His teachings wove together the knowledge of many traditions as Bear Heart was an ordained American Baptist Minister, Road Chief, and renowned spiritual counselor. Speaking in 13 Native American tribal languages, Bear Heart was considered a Multi-Tribal Spiritual Leader and was called upon internationally for his healing work.


Bear Heart received formal education from the all-Indian Bacone College in Muscogee, Oklahoma. He later majored in Biblical Greek and earned a divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts.


Bear Heart's wisdom, traditional medicine knowledge and spiritual compassion made him a sought-after figure. He prayed with President Truman, he spoke at the opening of the Smithsonian Native American Museum, and he was a spiritual counselor for firemen and their families after the Oklahoma City tragedy in 1995. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Bear Heart served on former President George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiative Panel for the U.S. Department of Health's "When Terror Strikes" conference in New York, and he put down prayers with police and firemen at Ground Zero in New York City.


Bear Heart's first book, The Wind Is My Mother, has been translated into 14 languages. His second book, The Bear is My Father, is co-authored by Reginah WaterSpirit, his Medicine Helper and wife of 23 years.