Title: 13 Original Clan Mothers

Author: Jamie Sams

Pages: 316

Genre: Spiritual, female empowerment, some Native American influence

This book begins with a note to readers, an introduction, the author’s healing quest vision, and the beginning of the legacy of women.  On page 30, it starts with the first clan mother, Talks With Relation. The book breaks the year into 13 moon cycles, each with a different clan mother with wisdom to tell.  The first section of each chapter explains the wisdom, followed by a story about the clan mother with an example of how to use that wisdom.

It’s difficult to explain, so here is a quote from the story portion of the sixth chapter: ” When Storyteller awoke, she discovered that Grandfather Sun’s light had not yet graced the morning sky and so she lay in silence, reflecting on the Medicine she had received during the night.  Story after story filled her head with new ways to share the wisdom that had been presented to her.  The Clan Mother felt a sense of newness as she smelled the dew-covered plants on the morning breeze.  Storyteller listened to the water song of the river running near her lodge and was content.  The Oral Traditions would continue to live, as long as those who spoke their eternal truths passed them from generation to generation, giving the human children of Earth a way to understand their lives.”

After the chapters of the 13 Clan Mothers, there are some remaining chapters: Gathering the Gifts of Women, the History of the Turtle Council House, and Entering the Council House of the Thirteen Original Clan Mothers.

Verdict: 9/10 – Every year I tell myself I’m going to read a chapter for each moon in the year and every year I forget.  The only reason I took one point off was that it gets a little wordy and there is no real advice on how to use the wisdom of each of the clan mothers, even though the author says it’s intentional.