The following was published more than twenty years ago, in Woman of Power, a magazine of feminism, spirituality, and politics under the title The Children of True Happiness by Janet Spotted Eagle, who was trained in the Old Ways of the People on the White Mountain Apache Reservation.  I am concerned that lesbians and gays of faith so often feel they must choose between their sexual identity and a life of faith.  Janet Spotted Eagle offers a different perspective:

"I am an Indian, a woman, a lesbian, a mother, a grandmother, a medicine woman.  I am a spiritual teacher for all women, all people.  I want to help you remember; it is all there inside you; listen and remember.

Thought Woman is the mother of us all.  She has been and still is a part of Indian culture, recognized today by those of us who remember the way of 'the people.'  She is the one who gives us breath; she sang life into each of us.  She has many names and many faces, and is recognized by all tribes, all people, in every nation of the world.  When we strayed from her teachings, she sent us a messenger - White Buffalo Calf Woman, Rainbow Woman, Day Woman, Spider Grandmother - these and many more.  She sent them to remind us who we are and where our spirits came from, and the direction we need to be taking.  She is sending us teachers now to remind us that as women we are the hope and life-force of this world.  That we as women have within us the answers and the knowledge to unite all people with the rest of creation, to live in peace and harmony as she intended.  We are the spiritual and physical leaders.  This is our birthright.

But we need to listen and remember where our power comes from, that 'soft power' of woman, which is the power of love, wisdom, introspection, and innocence given to us by Thought Woman, as opposed to the power of fear and domination by which we are led now.  We need to forget fear, for fear makes us weak.  From our weakness comes domination and wars.  In our weakness we try to conquer and control other people as well as nature.  Then we lose respect for all life, even our own.  We need to be led by 'love,' spiritual love, the love Thought Woman used when she sang life into us.  When we allow that love to come from us we allow ourselves to become complete, balanced human beings.  When we let our physical body unite and become one with our spiritual self, we are no longer a society of warriors led by our fears.

We who are lesbian women need to accept the gift given at birth, the strength to be leaders.  We need to allow ourselves to show that love in us, placed there by Thought Woman.  We need to become the teachers in society.  To do this we have to rid ourselves of the labels and games of this society.   And in doing this we can change ourselves and allow others to change.  They cannot change without our help.  We must realize we are woven together by Spider Grandmother's web of interconnection.  We need to unite our love and expand that web of love to include all people, all of nature, indeed the world.  We are the hope of this world.  And we need to accept the responsibility of our own lives.  We need to change the way we see ourselves.  We are capable of all things.  We must not limit ourselves.  We are a very special part of creation.  We as women were created in the likeness of Thought Woman.  And we as lesbian women were created to lead others to that knowledge within each of us.  Lesbian women were from the beginning the spiritual leaders, the healers, the medicine women, the sacred chosen ones of Thought Woman. 

I am here to teach what was taught to me as a child and through young adulthood.  I am no different from you, I have simply been taught to remember.  And I want to teach all women to remember the knowledge that we are born with, and in that instant of remembering, to accept the responsibility of giving that knolwledge to make a better world.  I am here to put in place that 'soft power' of woman.  So that while the Earth Mother is cleansing herself, we can prepare ourselves for our role as leaders in our new society.  By accepting who we are we create new communities that include all of Thought Woman's creation.  Remembering that we are the same as the four-leggeds, the winged ones, the plants, the rocks, the fish; indeed, all things she created are sacred and they are equal.  I am here to remind each one of you that to become true leaders we must be complete beings.  We must use introspection when making decisions, and we must respect all points of view.  We each have a part of the whole but we need to unite and share our knowledge, putting together each piece to make our new communities.  We cannot force our ideas on others. If we try we have not changed, but are still led by fear.

As the earth's cleansing of itself increases, we will be united out of our need to survive.  Then we must be ready, replacing fear with love, a love that will fill the world.  This love comes from being spiritually and physically balanced.  We become women of soft power by allowing our spiritual/feminine side, which comes from Thought Woman, to unite with our ego/physical/masculine side, which comes from humankind.  And we then become one within the sacred hoop of life.

I am sending my voice to Thought Woman, that this sacred hoop of life we are renewing will continue to grow and encircle this entire universe.

Unite, my sisters, and remember - send your voice with mine and we shall be heard - for she listens.  For we are her children, the children of true happiness."

Janet Spotted Eagle began her training in the Old Ways of the People at age eight.  Part of her purpose has been to heighten the spiritual awareness of women by teaching the Old Ways of the Spirit, the ways of the Indian before the arrival of the dominant culture.