Gotta love that name. I picture something like a centaur or pegasus, deer with the body of a woman at the head, with giant butterfly wings. The wings of a butterfly, if you've ever seen them close up, are no longer pretty. At twenty feet long they'd be real ugly and incredibly creepy.
Also a Huna follower. Says she grew up in Germany, don't know if she's German or had parents in the military. The photo of hers here manages to be both creepy and hilarious.
http://dwij.org/forum/cerritomni/r1_zan_benham.html"On Ceremony and Ritual
I love ceremony and ritual. I have since early childhood, when I dressed up in my grandmother's old frocks, and knelt, bowed, danced and prayed before altars of pine forests outside our Frankfurt, Germany home....
Many years ago in Hawaii I studied Huna, the ancient holistic system of self-realization. I came across something which struck me as very important and profound. These findings have since repeated themselves in countless ways throughout many new and old thought studies.
Huna speaks of the three selves: the "higher," "middle," and "lower" selves—not too different from our "super-ego," "ego," and "id," or "super-conscious," "conscious," and "unconscious" selves. What Huna says is that the pathway to "higher self" is through "lower self....
Zan Benham is a highly respected teacher and counselor whose Act Your Way Into Being workshops have been a catalyst to many students who are opening into their creative process. Zan is also the clan mother of the Mockingbird Clan, an intuitive Counselor and Reiki Master. For information on her classes and workshops contact Zan at: womanspirit@comcast.net"
She used to be a would be theater actress and agent.
http://www.theplayers.org/school1.html"Zan Benham has a wide range of experience in the entertainment industry in New York City, as a talent agent for over 9 years, a professional acting teacher, director of a NYC acting school, co-author, director and TV show producer."
Other dubious types she had a conference with.
http://www.4womenofworth.com/"Rev. Zan Benham-- "Drumming Circle: dancing around the medicine wheel
Landy Reed, Author-- "Become a woman of wonder"
Betty McCormack, Medium-- "Healing though Medium"
Diane Kirchin-- "Your souls journey through color"
Ann Williams-- "Crystal and Tibetan bowls and toning"
More on that "Mockingbord Clan", the usual pseudo Lakota hodgepodge by an alleged Cherokee. Also a reincarnaiton believer, once again, wrong kind of Indian.
http://www.allnativepeople.com/ourclan2a.htm"Mockingbird Clan has been in existence since 1989, in Sarasota County, FL. We call ourselves a Rainbow Clan, as our people come from many directions and disciplines to celebrate native way spirituality. We follow the call of the ancient ones of this Turtle Island. We are not formally registered.
Our dream walk is to help awaken the understanding of our oneness and interconnection with all things, as understood in the words Mitakuye Oyasin, meaning all my relations, all things are related or everything is in relativity to everything else.
Ina Maka, our great Earth Mother understands this well for all things in nature, including us, are interdependent on one another for survival....
Many are back, and are reborn and live in us and we in them.
The message now is, that we must forgive and let go of the past in order to move forward into the enlightened times of the new beginnings."
Interesting, seems like she's asking for NDNs to forgive whites like her. Seems she forgot her claim to BE an NDN.
Their beliefs
http://www.allnativepeople.com/ourclan2.htm"Ripe Berries Moon
July 20 to August 4, 2001
With the new moon of Friday, July 20th, we enter into the energies and awaken to the 2nd Moon of the South known by some as the Ripe Berries Moon or Moon of the Red Hawk. This moon comes into fullness on Saturday, August 4th, 2001. It's teaching is for us to work from the heart center in all our realtionships. Moon of the Ripe berries or Moon Of the Red Hawk (In Cherokee) The animal totem here is the Sturgeon, king of the fish from whom humans beget caviar and roe. Sturgeon teaches us about opulence, strength, endurance and power. In Cherokee the animal totem is Hawk (tlanuwa,) like brother Eagle, is likened to the phoenix, the winged messenger from God, mythical firebird, symbolic of radiant energy, the blazing of new trails, the flash of intuition and the thunder of sudden change. So it is now in the heat of full summer. Hawk is a good totem for business.
The mineral totem for this moon is Garnet and Iron. Garnet helps strengthen and open the heart. It helps balance sexual energies and is good for blood flow and opening up emotional blocks. Iron too is good for the blood flow and helps with grounding and strength. Both Garnet and Iron encourage discrimination. In Cherokee the mineral totem is the Agate, member of Chalcedony; excellent for meditation, increasing perception, and protection.
The plant totem here is Raspberry and like the rose, it has the thorns, expressing the duality in life and love, from the sweetness of the berry to the prick of thorn. Its leaves and roots have medicinal properties for cleansing. As an astringent is often used for diarrhea and upsets stomachs. It can be used as a gargle and as an enema. It helps to expel kidney and gall stones (harshnesses in life) and
is frequently used to strengthen the uterus and reproductive organs. It is excellent to take during pregnancy and childbirth. In Cherokee, the plant totem is the Yarrow, called the herb of Venus. The whole flowering plant is used as an astringent, tonic or anti-spasmodic. It can be used for colds and all kinds of mucous membrane disorders, helps slow bleeding and aids in menstrual cramps. It is used in the I-Ching for divination.
The color totem here is Red; the red of life force; of sexuality; of blood, heart, fire, power, greed and emotions. This color will give the wearer energy and a sense of power.
Totems are symbols which offer us the opportunity to understand the subtle communication in nature and in spirit. Hopefully these will draw to you a deeper understanding and experience of the "magic," of the Mitakuye Oyasin, all is related.
An offering by Zan, Tchi-hawae Butterfly Deerwoman"
