This is a room devoted to Native cultures around the world. We have items representing the Hopi, Navajo, Iroquois, Tlingit and other Alaskan nations, and some African and South American cultures. As mentioned downstairs, these cultures believe that God put conscious, communicative spirits in everything. They believe that not only can we communicate with these spirits, as we discussed downstairs, but we also can merge with these spirits. Much of the imagery in this room is of this.

For example, if you were a Hopi Indian and your role was to merge with the Sun Spirit and represent Sun Spirit in the rituals, then you would wear the mask and the costume that are represented by a small kachina doll which is on top of a plexiglass case that holds another kachina. If you were a Bobo in Western Africa, you’d wear the really large round mask on the wall for exactly that same purpose. So you have two totally different people, cultures, continents and yet they relate to Spirit in much the same way. Similarly, the large carving on a large pedestal is of a northwest Indian flying with eagles while he’s dreaming, and one of the items we have for sale is an Inuit carving of a shaman combining with eagle while he’s in a trance.

his room also has crystals because these cultures tend to be very earth-based. Again, they recognize everything is alive, including stones. When I opened the Center, I had no intention of having crystals. In fact, I was very resistant to having them, as I thought it was nonsense to believe they radiate energy. However, I’ve come to appreciate that crystals really do affect energy. Everything is energy. Everything is vibrating. As energy goes through crystals, its affected because the crystals are so dense and have a crystalline structure. I’ve found that different crystals do have their own characteristics, and that people find them helpful to their spiritual growth.