A Tribute to Almine by Grandmother Nagi Ugugunega Whiteowl

(Elder of the Cherokee, Lakota and Osage)

It is my sincere pleasure to speak to you of Almine.  When I met Almine, her high energy level and obvious knowledge of ancient healing ways were what first caught my attention.  I spoke to her in a private place away from the eyes of others.

Almine saw immediately what most others had not – my suffering.  She shed tears of compassion and then she prayed with me and over me.  She gifted me with medicine.  She knew without asking that I couldn’t afford it.  She saw without my telling her my sexual abuse from when I was a very young child.  She said it had left me with a viral infection in my spine and that the medicine she’d given me would help clear it away.

I had an appointment with a bone specialist soon after.  As he looked over the bloodwork and x-rays, he said:  “Your spine somehow is much better, but you do have a viral infection in the spine.”  Almine had seen with her heart what doctors had missed for years.  This beautiful woman I have come to think of as my daughter/friend, approaches life with respect, honor and compassion – the traits of a true healer.