This book is interesting enough, but as it went along I became more and more suspicious. I am a white dude, and certainly not the arbiter of who can use the title of Indigenous, but this book left me feeling skeptical. 

Jamie Samms does not specifically claim being Seneca in the book but describes it as “being what she is most familiar with” but online she is listed as a shaman (red flag) of Cherokee, Mohawk, Seneca, and Choctaw heritage; as well as being half French. That’s a lot of tribes for one half of one’s lineage. 

Furthermore, the knowledge “passed on” to her in the book came from two grandmothers (one of whom is said to be 127 years old) who were Kiowa and had fled to the mountains of Mexico rather than be relocated to a reservation in Oklahoma. At one point the relocation is referred to by her as the “trail of tears” but the trail of tears was the relocation of the five “civilized” tribes (two of which she claimed heritage of on new age websites so she should know that) and the Kiowa relocation was established by the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867. She says the two grandmothers only spoke Kiowa and Spanish, so the stories were told to her in Spanish. However, she doesn’t mention at any point as being fluent in Spanish, and the stories told in the book are absent any translation notes or even any Spanish words which I suppose is feasible but definitely seems odd. 

The knowledge these hypothetical grandmothers shared is interesting and all, but it definitely seems like it is painting with a pretty broad brush that smells of being more of a buffet table of traditions borrowed from different nations’ traditions. The various animals whose medicine the women taught were also animals that there is absolutely no way Kiowa folks would have encountered such as flamingos and camels. 

That is in theory rectified by the narrators suggestion that these stories originate from when Turtle Island was one big landmass, seemingly confusing it with Pangea and drastically stretching out the human timeline to exist before the beginning and end of the dinosaurs. Also, many of the stories include interactions with the ocean…which seems odd for a plains tribe. 

But moreover, why if you are an Indigenous person would you feel the need to share a bunch of “sacred” wisdom of a tribe that is not your own? There are also no mentions of her own native family member’s teachings that made it into the book. 

I googled “Jamie Samms pretendian” but didn’t come away with anything conclusive. Again, it isn’t my place to be policing folk’s identities. That said, if she is Choctaw, Seneca, Cherokee, and Mohawk, it seems like some family member probs would have stepped in and been like “oh honey, maybe writing a book about tribal teachings that aren’t your own and certainly appeals to and is easily digested by new age folks isn’t the best look.” 

So, if you are looking for pan-indigenous spiritual teaching that won’t challenge you at all, perhaps this book is just what you need?