Why Wind In Her Hair?

The name of my business may seem unusual so I'll attempt an explanation of why I chose Wind In Her Hair.

When I was about five years old my mother looked outside and noted the clouds churning up into storm activity. She had wanted to get the garbage out to the big can in the garage so she, my older brother and sister, and myself went to the door with the garbage bag. The rain started pelting down and the wind started to gust. Mom said that it probably wasn't a good idea to go out right then as weather reports were predicting something about 'isolated' tornados. I didn't know what that meant and at that age, didn't care.  I had other ideas. I just knew I could make it out to the garage and back before it really started to storm.

I grabbed the bag before mom knew what was happening and ran as fast as my little legs could carry me to the garage and threw the bag into the can, then started back toward the house. I didn't get far.  The wind literally almost picked me up off my feet, stopping my run. I grabbed onto the fence that ran between the house and the garage and hung on for dear life! Right next to me the wind was spinning. Mom was yelling something about a tornado and "hang on!" She kept on yelling something but I couldn't hear her over the roar of the wind. My attention was drawn to the spinning shape next to me, so close that I felt I could reach out and touch it. I wasn't afraid of it, more curious. It seemed to dance around me in a friendly gesture, saying "hello". My hair was blowing all around my face and it felt wonderful. I felt wonderful. The energy surrounding me gave me a feeling of excitement - a sort of 'high' feeling. I watched as the 'baby' tornado played itself out right next to me and was sorry to see it go.

Jump forward in time about thirty years. I'm at home with my young daughter. It's summer and nice outside. We're in the kitchen of our home talking when voices in my head start telling me something is wrong. At this point in my life I have been working with a Cherokee woman of the old ways known as Grandmother Parisha for about one year. The voices in my head attest to the fact that she and the grandmothers are always with me. The voices are intense and don't want me to waste time because they keep telling me to "get out there" and "killer wind". I'm wondering just what I'm supposed to do "out there" which I supposed they meant out of doors, outside. The voices grow in intensity as I just sit there thinking I must be crazy, listening to voices in my head telling me to get "out there" and "killer wind". So I'm not moving very fast, thinking it will all go away.

It doesn't. It just gets louder and more intense. "Get out there! Killer wind!" It doesn't stop, just keeps getting louder, like they're nagging me so finally I shout, "Oh, alright!" and head for the door. My young daughter is looking at me strangely and, following me into the living room, looks outside and decides to stay by the window where she can watch me.

I arrive 'out there' and the wind is blowing in from the North.  It comes in a great gale force.  I'm facing west and watch as the trees bend from the force of the wind while some papers are blowing around with the dirt from the road. I think I have to 'do something' so I start the medicine dance I had been taught to do. As soon as I start to move my feet the wind feels different to me.

Then the most curious thing happens.

A little to the southwest, the wind gathers into what felt like a great wall and half of it splits off from the other half with one wall of wind staying in the south, as though it was intelligent and knew to just wait there, while the other half moved west, then north, then east all around me, completely circling me and my house. I felt the movement of the wind around me as though in the eye of a hurricane as I continued the medicine dance.  My daughter has long gone back into the house after watching her mother make a complete fool of herself by dancing on the patio so she didn't see or feel what was happening with the wind. I was the only one who could attest to what was happening. No one would ever believe it!

The half of the wind which split off from the other half had now completely circled around me and met the other half of the wind that had stayed in place in the south. When both winds came together, they moved off toward the south and all became still once again.

Grandmother Parisha had said that "Sometimes All We Have To Do Is Show Up."  She also said that the wind was 'intelligent' and one could listen to the wind for messages that it would bring.  She said, "If you know how to listen to the wind it will teach you."

I stayed glued to the radio and TV all day to find out if there was any mention of a strange wind that just blew in from out of nowhere. Finally, around 5 p.m. I heard a weather report of an unusual wind that hit southern Pennsylvania and took the lives of several people.

I had felt the wind that day and knew it to be intelligent.

I swear I have not made this up.

The wind is my totem. It directs and guides me. It is powerful and it is gentle. It blows through my hair and its gentle breeze is comforting. It is playful or it is fierce and frightening, much like life itself, and much like life itself...spirit moves. Maybe the wind is spirit talking.