INDIGENOUS SEEDS is a spiritual novel about modern-day life in the Native American communities of North America (including the U.S., Mexico and Canada). While it is targeted toward an Indigenous audience, with a style that assumes the reader is aware of our shared traditions, there is enough background information sprinkled throughout so as to impart a solid understanding -- even to those unfamiliar with our Old Ways. (This allows the book to be a dignified representation of Native aspirations and spirituality, while concurrently appealing to non-Indians who are interested enough in Native traditions to be willing to puzzle out what is going on.) The main characters of the book are deeply concerned about the destructive allure of drug and alcohol addiction amongst Native People, and what they see as the downward slide into the white world's culture self-absorbency. As a solution, they organize a major international spiritual event aimed at putting Native Peoples' feet back on the Moccasin Path. The organizational work and ceremony itself are guided by the mystical and mysterious spiritual leader, Carlos -- who appears to be following a tightly orchestrated, very secret plan. Helping him are an assortment of Native individuals who display a wide range of tribal affiliations and personalities. The story is told through the words (and from the perspective) of Dan Crow, one of the original inner circle. Dan is a writer by profession and, as a result, ends up as the official scribe for the group. He provides the chronology of their collective effort to host the week-long ceremony, and explains how they constantly skirt the obstructionist tactics of federal government bureaucracies. It is Dan's observations (some of which we see are rather myopic) that describe the struggles of various characters -- with their own personal demons and their inter-tribal/inter-cultural differences. From the first to the final ceremonies, the book takes the reader on a journey through the mystical world we call the "Circle of Life." All the characters, especially Dan, are challenged on a spiritual and emotional plane. The scenes build, through powwows and Sweat Lodges, Sun Dances and Prayer Ceremonies, to the final moments of their major ceremony -- when the Great Spirit reveals a powerful and surprising message that none but Carlos could have imagined.
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