here are many ancient prophecsies among the Native American peoples concerning the times in which we are living.  The indigenous tribes were not surprised when the black, white, and yellow peoples arrived on their shores, because their prophets had spoken of the coming of other races.  they knew that the new tribes would overwhelm the ancient cultures of the land they called Turtle Island, until the spirit of the Indian would almost disappear.

    In our time, the spirit of Indians will be born anew into all of the races that have gathered in this land.  A portion of each of the different races of the rainbow colors will see that we are all one family.  They will be called the "Warriors of the Rainbow."

    This new community of mixed races and cultures will recognize that other humans are all their relations.  The Rainbow People are not called warrioresses and warriors because they are waging war on other tribes,  rather they are making war on the parts of themselves and their culture that are out of balance.   In discovering the balance of the self, they will find harmony with all life.   The Warriors of the Rainbow will bring with them a new time of living in harmony with our environment and with all peoples.

    It was in the mid-sixties and I was living alone at the Garden of Spring when I first learned about the Indian prophecsies.  These traditional stories spoke strongly to me because I felt so out of place with the world of my youth.   As my friends and I experimented with different tribal ways of living, we were creating a style of life that seemed to fit in with the prophetic tales.

    At the time I was actively involved in the peace movement of the sixties therefore I had trouble calling myself a warrior.  Over the years I have become more comfortable with seeing myself and the people in my circle as warrioresses and warriors.  I began to see that a warrior is not necessarily someone who goes out to slaughter and kill, there is also the spiritual warrior.

    The heros and sheros of our mythological legends typically go out on an adventure, slay a monster and then return a more powerful person.   Very often the adversaries in the sagas referred to the monsters that are a part of our self.  The conditioning of our society, our traumas and our personal desires often conflict with what is best for our higher good.  The historical warrior who was an excellent killer in the end is often not seen as significant as the warrior who fought his/her battles within the self, received a greater understanding about the universe and then returned to give away to the people by teaching.

The Buddha, the Christ, Isis, Krishna, Kwan-Yin, White Buffalo Woman and all of our other spiritual teachers have taken the heroic journey into the center of their being to bring back the wisdom that they then gifted to us. As warriors and warrioresses of the rainbow they left us many paths that will lead us to the place where we can become our full potential. If these prophecsies elicit a feeling in you, then you are possibly a member of this tribe of the rainbow races and I celebrate you as a part of our ever-growing family.

    I have wanted to honor the Warriors of the Rainbow in an art piece for over two decades while the image and the understanding grew stronger in me. The archetypal image of the warrioress is very neglected in our culture so I knew that I needed to create the sculpture to help heal this imbalance. In historical times the powerful warrioress goddess was an important part of the way we viewed life. Artemis, Diana, the Amazon warrioresses, Osa, Pele and many other goddesses radiated dynamic forceful action. In my sculpture I wanted to embody the energy of these ancient goddesses. When the drawing was finally started I saw that the two bows would form the arc of the rainbow. As the wind blown hair was drawn, a buffalo skull appeared in the negative space between the two figures. One of the buffalo's medicine powers is the keeper of the wheel of life so I felt that this energy wanted to come to the piece.

   Over the years, I have watched the lives of several of my contemporaries who were at art school with me. Some of my friends who were the most artistically gifted students have chosen not to produce their artistic vision. Although some of them could draw better than I, there was something missing to fan their spark of creative energy into a blazing fire. I feel that what is missing has a lot to do with the warrioress/warrior part of us.

    I have often wondered what happened to me to move my life into such a different direction. While in college, I started to notice that when my friends wanted me to smoke a big one with them and lie on the beach, I had to stay in my studio and work. Sometimes I would work through the night and I was often exhausted and stressed. Creating art became my primary focus in life even when my artistic passion was detrimental to my health or to my relationships.

    It may have been that I was jolted into another way of viewing life when a close friend of mine was killed by a car as we were motorcycling through Europe. Around that time, I started to see my art not as a way to attract attention to myself, rather I saw my artwork might be a beneficial gift to the world. The spiritual warrioress/warrior somehow comes to a place where they need to give-away to something that is greater than themselves. This shift in vision was for me the turning point in my becoming a Warrior of the Rainbow.

Diana (The Huntress)

    The Queen of Heaven, Sacred Huntress, is called Artemis by the Grecians, and by the Romans, Diana.  She is the Triple Goddess: Lunar Virgin, Mother of All Creatures and the Huntress (destroyer).  Diana is also called "Diana of the Grove" and she is celebrated within the sacred groves.  The priests of Diana are known as King of the Wood or the King Stag.

    Contemporary culture seems to be uncomfortable with the goddesses that are also warrioresses.  In fact the word warrioress is not even in my computer's spell check or my dictionary.  The image in our mythology, passed down to us by most historians is of the goddess as the fertility and mother aspect of womankind.   In Diana, her more dynamic aspect as the Huntress has survived.  She retains her rightful role as the Great Goddess, embodiment of strength and power--swift, straight and deadly as her arrows.

(24k gold, silver, electrum, carved pipestone, moonstone, emerald, malachite, crystal, diamond, 1986)