(8/17/05) Last Saturday I drove up to Northern California to meet with a spiritual friend of mine,
a woman of the Lakota nation, whom I met months ago while riding in the area
with my friend Chris, on his motorcycle. For reasons I will not elaborate upon,
I will not reveal her real name. For this purpose, I will call her "Spirit Woman".
Our meeting did last a few hours, during which SW gave me a gift: my Lakota name.
She told me not to reveal it, or to use it, unless in particularly intimate or sacred circumstances.
Because it was raining, and because she was not feeling too well, due to back pains,
we did not go to the Shasta Springs for the occasion, as she had planned.
However, she told me: "When you are out in nature, alone, tell your name to the Spirit.
It will be like you have received it at the Springs.."
Receiving a Lakota name from my friend represents the closing of one of the many circles
of coincidences in my life. I always loved Native American culture and spirituality,
and meeting with SW was an epiphany, in my life, a revelation of how we are simply all connnected;
we are all One, and One is All.

Sacred Mountain: Mount Shasta, by Rosa