By Gwen Broz
Listening to Kahontakwas, Diane Longboat, and Taoyewakanwi (Her Ways Are Sacred), Charlene O’Rourke, at the Voices of Wisdom at the Blue Deer Center June 11-12 was like a waking dream for me.

As Diane began speaking, she was both speaking and listening to the eagle feathers and the ancestors. As she stroked the eagle feathers and spoke slowly I felt myself relax deeply into a very special place, the place of heart where knowing and trust in All That Is resides. As one participant mentioned, Longboat is the right name for Diane; she is like a boat to convey one safely over the waters.
Diane spoke the Thanksgiving Address said by her people, the Haudenosaunee or Six Nations, thanking and giving acknowledgement to all the great beings and creatures and plants of this world. This gave an alignment of the minds and hearts of the people present with each other and with Nature. Diane put her heart into the prayer, and it went deep and was very moving and unifying.

Both Diane and Charlene had beautiful Grandmother energy. Charlene’s granddaughter was present at the gathering, moving like a butterfly amongst the meadows and the river. Charlene gifted us with the story of her life, the pain, her lessons, and the wisdom gleaned from working through the pain. We felt raw and deep heart energy alive with the movement of emotion flowing freely and yet wisely. She has many skills to help others work through their lives and begin to live in balance with Creation.
Diane and Charlene gave a good sense of modeling how to live our lives with the gifts we have, how to find those gifts, and how to share them in our own way. Both women are demonstrations of how we discover our own relationship with the Divine and then live our lives through that relationship. Both give a sense of how a Wisdom Keeper identifies the Center, how they get to the Center, and how that changes their life, and the lives around them. Certainly we felt more aligned with the Wisdom of the ages by being in their presence.