As a warrioress of life & death I am, & will always be, in constant spiritual resistance against ignorance, humbly striving to bring back the great laws of Earth.
Ohki Forest
Biography
Of Canadian Mohawk descent, Ohki is a vision-holder & spiritual teacher who has lived in Chiapas, Mexico since 1986 where she collaborates with indigenous Mayas through her organization, Red Wind Councils (www.redwindcouncils.org). Trained & initiated by Maya, Canadian & Mongolian shamans, she has taught Shamanic Earth Ways, Women’s Medicine ways & Spiritual Warrior/ess practices & Vision Quest training to students from Mexico, Canada, the U.S., Europe & Japan for over 30 years.
She is the author of DREAMING THE COUNCIL WAYS: True Native Teachings from the Red Lodge, which links sacred Earth ways with the indigenous movement of social justice. She is also a contributor to ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future which includes essays from John Mohawk, Paula Gunn Allen, Winona LaDuke, John Trudell & Oren Lyons & to the Bioneers Legacy Collection, Indigenous Essentials. She is also an artist & the creator of 9 inspiring teaching CDs of Native meditations & Drum journeys. She is a recipient of the prestigious Eagle Feather Award from the Society for Shamanic Practice. She has taught for decades the necessity of women’s leadership for planetary balance, & her humility, practical wisdom & deep knowledge of Earth Ways have brought inspiration to thousands. Ohki sits on the Council of Spiritual Elders at the Gitche M’Qua Centre for Healing & Dying, a charitable organization in Toronto, Canada. The Council includes Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, Cherokee Teacher & director of Sunray Meditation Society, & Roshi Joan Halifax, Buddhist Teacher & Founder of the Upaya Center in NM. She is also a featured speaker at the global online gathering “Shamanism for Inspired Action – From Vision to Creation” from May 20 – 24, 2024.
When Ohki was a small baby, a thunder-fireball fell on a centenary oak & her house. This was the first of a series of unparalleled signs that took her to meet shaman-teachers who shared with her that she had been chosen by the great Powers to learn ancient Medicine ways.
Initiated into the Wolf Clan of the Iroquois Long House in the ’80s, Ohki’s illuminating vision is the return of Council Ways through which all people can reclaim & renew the natural dignity, balance & justice that is the true dreaming of the Earth. Since 1986, Ohki has built & sustained two Medicine centers in Mexico & one in New Mexico dedicated to the renewal of indigenous spirituality & ancient Native teachings for people of all backgrounds & countries. She visits her NM Medicine Center yearly to offer a series of teachings, ceremonies, sessions & circles. All her proceeds go to her charitable NGO, Red Wind Councils to help the Maya people.
Red Wind Councils
Ohki’s charitable organization
Ohki founded Red Wind Councils in 1987 in Chiapas, Mexico, which became a U.S. charitable non-profit organization in 2005 formed to support social justice & craft projects of the Maya in resistance against poverty & extermination. Her sustainable projects with Maya people include women’s development, healthcare funding, education, & farming projects, among others. She also encourages the recovery of the exquisite Maya ancestral crafts (CLICK HERE), which have brought the possibility of survival for hundreds of Maya women & artisans & their families as well as the legacy mothers can offer their daughters. Today they are more than ever inspired to rediscover & re-create their ancient Maya designs in naturally died cotton weavings & embroidered textiles, medicine masks, carved bone medicine pieces & sacred items for altars. Their dreams are given life in their exquisite, one-of-a-kind, handmade works of art for sale at U.S. craft events & during Ohki’s teaching visits.
www.redwindcouncils.org
Conferences in North America
Ohki has been a keynote speaker at the Esalen Institute & Bioneers in CA, Denver University, Colorado College, Tesuque Pueblo Indigenous Seed conference, the Vedanta Centre in Cohasset, MA, Beaming Bioneers in Santa Fe, NM, Unitarian Churches, Southwestern College of Santa Fe, & the NM 2012 conference: Wisdom from the Origins with the 13 Grandmothers. She has taught for decades the necessity of women’s leadership for planetary balance, & her humility, practical wisdom & deep knowledge of Earth Ways have brought inspiration to thousands.
Red Wind Councils Sponsored Visits in Santa Fe, NM
Red Wind Councils (www.redwindcouncils.org), a U.S. charitable organization, sponsors Ohki in New Mexico for transformative seminars on Council ways & spiritual warrior/ess trainings, which include guided meditations & power animal journeys, drum circles, & ceremonies such as sweat lodges, sacred dances & Limpia clearings. She shares with people from all backgrounds how to walk the spiritual path as a true human, & how to use the Council ways as an illuminating map for understanding life & death.
Vision
Click here to read Ohki’s invitation to us all for entering the Red Lodge
The vision that a sincere seeker receives for his or her life springs from the very heart of the Earth & is linked to the great dream of all brothers & sisters. The expression of your personal vision can only exist as a pure manifestation of Spirit within yourself & the larger circle of community. For this, you need trust, courage, openness & determination.
Ohki’s vision is to assist in healing the First Wound of the Americas by helping manifest the return of the ancient Spiritual Warrior ways. This wound is the result of more than 500 years of aggressive attempts to exterminate Red people in the Americas & destroy their sacred Earth wisdom. Ohki offers a vital path for this important healing through her teachings on how to manifest the return of ancient Council ways, offering the promise of peace through unity of consciousness. The Medicine ways of the Spiritual Warriors are universal teachings connecting us to the language of our emotions & true feelings. She says, “We all share the same cry, fears & suffering, whether we are from China or Canada. Thus, humanity’s destiny is to become true humans living the great vision that our sacred Earth dreams for us.”
To become a True Human is to strive with all our hearts to gain our spiritual totality.
Ohki’s teachings on the Council Wheel ways & Spiritual Warriorship trainings bring a process of learning that powerfully shifts cultural perspectives, fosters spiritual transformation & helps students of all cultures assume greater responsibility, respect & gratitude for the forces of the universe. In order to better assist with this essential purpose, Ohki has created Medicine Centers that support the renewal of indigenous spirituality & Native teachings, & heal the First Wound of the Americas. Now with the prophesized return of Earth ways, these Centers provide much needed islands of healing, gathering & spiritual communion.
