WindDaughter.com
Earth-Based Spirituality for Challenging Times
Hello & Welcome to WindDaughter.com & West Winds
I'm known as Wind Daughter and Panther Wind Woman.
I have over four decades of experience as a student of indigenous elders and their teachings. I’m the adopted daughter of Bear Heart, a Muskogee Creek elder. Since 1983, I’ve been carrying and sharing the spiritual teachings of Ojibwe elder Sun Bear along with my own visions from Great Spirit.
I’m a ceremonialist, teacher, mother, grandmother, wife, and daughter of Mother Earth. I’ve been the Medicine Chief of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society since 1996. In 2006, I renamed the organization the Panther Lodge Bear Tribe Medicine Society to reflect its changing focus and shape.
For much of the last four decades, I’ve travelled throughout North America offering my own teachings and those that my elders and Spirit have given me permission to share with people interested in Earth-based spirituality. My workshops and gatherings are experiential and transformative. Throughout that time, I’ve worked through the Medicine of the Sacred Pipe, the Sweat Lodge, the Black Lodge, Vision Quests, the Pipe Carriers’ Dance, the Earth Dance, Medicine Wheel Gatherings, Women’s Gatherings, Medicine Tool workshops, and much more.
As of late 2025, my own health challenges and those of my husband necessitated that I step back and reduce my involvement in the day-to-day work of managing this organization. I will no longer be traveling many months per year to bring the Medicine to the People. However, I am still teaching small classes here in Mobile, Alabama, U.S.A. I also offer twice-monthly virtual pipe ceremonies for prayer via webinar. And I am available for a limited number of private sessions (in-person or via phone or webinar) to answer questions, seek input from Spirit, and smoke healing pipes for those in need.
Influences & Philosophy
I grew up running wild in the woods of rural Alabama. From early in life, I had a strong connection with Nature and the animals and trees around me.
In my teens, I studied the tarot, worked with crystals, and devoured books on a wide range of topics, including Native American spirituality, astrology, ETs, past lives, unexplained mysteries, and psychic phenomena. As an adult, I was involved in an Edgar Cayce study group while I continued to explore numerous topics about Earth-based spirituality and metaphysics.
I first met Sun Bear — Ojibwe Medicine Man and founder of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society — in 1982 when he visited a group in Northern Alabama to talk about Native spirituality. I traveled with a girlfriend and my two children to meet him. It was a very casual event that drew about a dozen people and was held at someone’s house. Sun Bear sketched out a simplified medicine wheel on the ground, then proceeded to tell us a bit about his vision. He also explained what specific positions on his medicine wheel represented and how parts of the wheel roughly correlated with astrology. After sharing a meal, we all departed. Little did I know how profoundly that meeting would affect my life.
Not long afterward, my husband and I and our two children moved to rural Pennsylvania. Over the next few months, I had dreams and internal nudges that Sun Bear might be ill and in need of healing and rest. I even reached out to his apprentices on Vision Mountain (Mt. Ranier, Washington, U.S.A.) to see if I could talk with him directly. Eventually, he and I did speak and I told him about my dream. Sun Bear said that no, he didn’t need healing. However, he added that what he really needed was more healers. He asked me to come out to Washington to participate in his next apprenticeship program, which was just a few weeks away. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over the next few years, I attended many trainings at Vision Mountain and eventually became a trainer and teacher at apprenticeship programs and at Medicine Wheel Gatherings held in the eastern half of the country. Not only did I become a pipe carrier and sweat lodge pourer, but my husband, Medicine Tree did as well.
After Sun Bear passed away in 1992, I worked with Wabun Wind, his long-time assistant, co-author, and the new Medicine Chief of the Bear Tribe to provide support for trainings and Medicine Wheel Gatherings. In 1996, Wabun asked me if I would be willing to step into that position and replace her. After much meditation and prayer, I agreed to do so.
Throughout my life, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside and studying with traditional elders and gifted teachers and ceremonialists in many traditions. Spirit has also given me many visions of my own that led to the development of new ceremonies and new tools to help support Mother Earth and All My Relations during these challenging times.
If my experiences and teachings speak to your heart and you would like to discuss opportunities to study with me one-on-one or in small group classes, please reach out.
“It's all a part of the dance.”
That was something Sun Bear often said and is a philosophy that I adopted early in my training.
When you embrace life fully, you accept that everything around you has meaning and energy and that every circumstance can go two ways. You need to pray about the way you want it to go and then put forth the energy to steer it in that direction. The results sometimes aren't exactly what you wanted, but that affords you the opportunity to take a good look at yourself and what you want to do to change it. How did you respond? What do you need to change? How much energy are you willing to put into it?
Life is a circle and we are each a small part of it. However, we can each make a big difference.
What My Students & Colleagues Have Said
Testimonials
I'm grateful for all the people whose lives I've been privileged to touch and all those with whom I've been able to share my teachings over the decades. It's even more of an honor when some are willing to speak up and say that knowing me has made a difference in their lives.
With Gratitude
I am so grateful for the spiritual teachings of Wind Daughter. Ceremony has connected me with my higher self and nourished my spirit. I now feel stronger, brighter, and freer.
— Brown Badger
Wind Daughter's beautiful gift of song, drum, and dance always transports me to a higher place of spiritual awakening. In that place, I find peace, balance and wonderment.
— White Cloud Woman of the Four Winds
When I met Grandmother, I felt I came home to where I belonged. For every year that passes, that feeling has become stronger still. Soul Hugs to you Wind Daughter.
— A Student
There is no way to really express my gratitude to Wind Daughter. She helped me find myself again after my husband died. I am so grateful for her teachings — especially how everything is so wondrously connected to Spirit and to Mother Earth. And because of her, I met Bear Heart, who gave me my name. Thank you.
— Follows Heart
Love Wind Daughter! I participate in her events as often as possible. So happy our paths crossed. I do wish she lived closer to my home state... only because then I could selfishly see her more often. One of my true shaman guides!
— Sky Otter
Wind Daughter is a treasure! I have known her for well over a decade and experienced her work at Isis Cove and the Women's Councils. We are fortunate to have one such as her carrying the Medicine for the People. May it be blessed.
—Thea
For more reasons than I can list, Wind Daughter is the part of my life that holds me up no matter what. Her strength, compassion, and way to include me — although we have met but rarely and I know little of the traditions — make every day a reason to give thanks to her and the Universe for letting me be included.
— Gunnel
You are the only chief, teacher, shaman who walks her talk, stands straight, walks tall, has integrity, follows the Red Road from what I know. I hold you in high regard. I honor you, your work, your being. No ego trip with you. You are a huge breath of fresh air.
— Cecilia
This is LONG overdue! For 30 years you have been such an influential part of my life. Never in all those years did I show you enough gratitude or support for the continued commitment and experiential work you do. By joining the Panther Lodge Medicine Society today, I am letting you know how important this medicine work has been for all those years, and will continue to be, for years to come. I honor you, as a Teacher, Mentor, Sister, and Friend.
— Much Love, She Who Transforms Through Forgiveness to Move Forward
Helped Me Grow
Wind Daughter has been my teacher and adopted mom for going on 32 years now. We met when I was 19 years old in Pennsylvania where I worked as a nurse. I lived several hours away from her but was introduced to her by a fellow nurse in her circle. After experiencing my first pipe ceremony and then my first sweat lodge — which I left crying because I finally felt home and connected — I moved closer to Wind Daughter so I could be a part of her ceremonies and teachings as often as possible. She is so very loved and special to me, and I have learned and grown so much as a person thanks to her. I have learned to love the Earth and all my relations in an amazing way. She also taught me to sing many songs, which became my [medicine] calling for many years in service to Wind Daughter’s Pipe Carriers’ Dances as well as many of Hawkwind’s Spirit Dances. I was even blessed to sing at a Sun Dance.
— Love, Vonda
Wind Daughter's caring kindness helped me to get in touch with my inner self, my knowing, my trusting, and my joy!
— Owl Who Sees
How do you put into words how much Wind Daughter has changed my life completely, with her love, spiritual teachings, kindness, support and guidance? Words come difficult that are in my heart. My spiritual path has become my healing, my breath, my life, my devotion, and my love. I was a very, non-trusting woman when we first met, walls so high, as a survivor of human trafficking. Even then, she showed me love and respect. There is so much more that words are hard to express that are in my heart. Look who I am today...a Sacred Pipe Carrier! Thank you Wind Daughter from my heart and spirit for all that you have enriched my life; for being my Mother, my Grandmother, Sister, Confidant, and my sweet, dear, closest friend!
— Whispering Bear Woman
Powerful Healing
I've gone through many trainings with Wind Daughter over the years, including the Stone People's lodge training, and some of her pipe trainings. She also taught me how to lead a circle and conduct a full moon ceremony. When I was sick, Wind Daughter was there for me and helped me with some healing work I had to do. I love and appreciate her for who she is and all she does.
— Thunder Hawk Woman
My very first time sitting in prayer with Wind Daughter, I prayed my sister would be healed from ovarian cancer. While doing so, a very loud voice in my head said, "It's Done". It has been nearly 9 years now that my sister has survived the cancer. I'm truly grateful for Wind Daughter's teachings and the native spirits that are along with her!
— Herb Woman
I owe so much of my healing journey to you, Wind Daughter, and to the possibilities opened to me through that trip to build a medicine wheel 13 years ago. There was spider medicine that morning, with deep fog that revealed the thousands of webs and brought home to me the fact of our deep connectedness and intricacy. That night at the pipe ceremony, I also saw ancestors dancing across the circle and behind us as they have always been. And you and I have been on this 13 (a magical number) year journey of healing and light that has prepared us for these times of challenge and wisdom. I can't thank you enough and wish you countless blessings in your new home where you will continue to bless others with your wisdom and your love.
— In deepest gratitude, Lynne
Helped Me Find Meaning
I attended a weeklong class led by Wind Daughter back in the early '80s at Lilly Dale, New York. Her quiet strength is what I witnessed. A pipe carrier confronted her in the middle of her class. He told her not to hold a sweat lodge on the property. She sought direction for four days and decided to honor his demand. Her class covered the talking stick, making a prayer stick, talking to stones for permission to be a part of a Medicine Wheel which was powerful, and ending with a Pipe Ceremony. Her grace, patience, and compassion still touches my heart. Chief Sun Bear chose well in his successor. She has made him proud with continuing his wishes. If you have an opportunity to attend her events, do so.
— She Walks the Red Road Gracefully
I have held onto an address for you and a phone number knowing some time I would contact you again. I was in your teaching circles four years in a row. It took a year where you sent stories and information on the Native American way. It would culminate in a drumming circle when all women from around the U.S.A. would gather and drum, dance, and sing and in the morning we would build our shields. How things have changed since then, but it is good to know I can still reach you. Nothing has given my spirit such meaning as the Native tradition.
— Marquerite
Years ago, while still on Vision Mountain, 45 miles outside of Spokane, WA , I attended the Self Reliance class designed by Sun Bear and a year later the Vision Quest at the same place. Wind Daughter watched the fire while we participants were praying and fasting for our vision. Both classes have changed my entire life towards simplicity, love, peace in my heart. This I could share with all people I met throughout my entire life. Wind Daughter, a long-term friend and like a sister to me, deserves all my love, respect, and appreciation for continuing the teachings of Sun Bear. The Native teachings in this world are the only ways my heart is resonating with. Thank you to all my sisters and brothers.
— Hildegard
Wind Daughter and her wonderful teachings uplift my spirit, help me to be positive, and increase my self-worth and self-esteem. The people that I have met through these events are genuine, caring, and open-minded. Thanks for your good medicine, Wind Daughter!
— White Swan Woman
Supporter of Women
Over the years my husband and I were privileged to join Wind Daughter for a day long teaching and a sweat lodge near Lily Dale, New York. Later we constructed our own Medicine Wheel according to "Dancing with the Wheel." After that my husband Dan was honored when Wind Daughter initiated him as a Pipe Carrier during ceremony. I have always remembered the songs she sang that day that touched my heart so deeply. I loved her teachings and her way of speaking up for herself and all women. Spirit bless Wind Daughter for the teachings and loving wisdom she has shared over the years. We hope to see her again one day and participate in another of her amazing rituals.
— A Student
Thank you so much for sharing your world with us, Wind Daughter. You are a strong woman, and I have always admired your wisdom and commitment to spreading the light. The women’s gatherings I went to in Hazelton years ago still touch my heart today. I will never forget the spiritual connections that I experienced. Thank you for being there for me, then and now.
— Much love, Marca
I have been working with Wind Daughter for over 15 years and have participated in many gatherings and ceremonies. The Croning Retreat and Ceremony particularly stands out in my mind. Wind Daughter worked with our large group individually within the circle. The teaching, wisdom, and love was felt through all of my being. I was forever transformed as I traveled through the gateway of Elder / Grandmother / Crone.
— Diane
Loving & Supportive Teacher
I have worked with Wind Daughter for many years, and it was her support and teachings that brought me to the sacred pipe. The many spiritual ceremonies over the years have been incredibly good medicine and knowledge filled. The spiritual community is loving and supportive and all-inclusive. Wind Daughter walks with integrity and the sacred wisdom of the elders and ancestors. She is a healer and a beautiful soul. I am forever grateful for the blessing of her in my life.
— Aleahkwe
The first time I met Wind Daughter was at a gathering in Michigan many years ago. I was quite standoffish due to my own issues around women. I wondered, who this woman was who attracts so many followers and what is she about? When I finally got to meet her, I felt an instant calm and an energy of acceptance. We have become close friends over the years. I love, respect, and honor her. Wind Daughter's Medicine Wheel along with her teachings have enhanced my life greatly. Recently, Wind has bestowed upon me the title of Grandfather of her Michigan community. It was then that I realized that I meant a lot to her as well. I would definitely encourage anyone who is seeking Truth, Love, Respect and Wisdom to attend one of her gatherings with an open heart and mind. You too will be blessed.
— Grandfather Gordon
Wind Daughter's gentle, experiential teaching style helps beginners and the proficient alike ease into powerful spiritual states and discover new things about themselves and the world around them. I've been attending events where she taught since 1994 and have done in-depth studies with her in both pipe and lodge. I unreservedly recommend her.
— A Student
My experience of attending a gathering where Wind Daughter shared Indigenous teachings of the Medicine Wheel and a Sweat Lodge have stayed with me over the years. I was a 'Snow Goose' [on the medicine wheel] whose stone represented love. Whenever I see geese heading north, I think of the Medicine Wheel's teaching of love. Wind Daughter is a woman of deep wisdom with compassion and caring for our Mother Earth and all beings. Deep gratitude to Wind Daughter for offering her gatherings where we are all enriched by Indigenous teachings.
— Peacefully, Jane Roselea
I went to a Medicine Wheel Gathering at Lily Dale, New York in the 1990s with Wind Daughter. The medicine wheel was marvelous, and I felt the kindness and love from a wonderful teacher. One evening we were to have a sweat lodge and some indigenous folks decided we should not. I learned a powerful lesson that evening about patience and love, and about how to convert situations into opportunities. Instead of sweat lodge, we sat in the bones of the lodge and chose pipe ceremony to pray to Creator. A very beautiful and fulfilling evening with Wind Daughter, a woman of great integrity and intelligence.
— She Walks with Beauty on Mother Earth, Earth Woman
Contact Me
Text/Voice: +1.251.583.5984
E-mail: WDWindDaughter@gmail.com
Address: P.O. Box 851927, Mobile, AL 36685, U.S.A.