About Grandmother Winter Jade
My name is Grandmother Winter Jade Forest. I’m a priest in my Cherokee tradition, and my spiritual journey over the past 50 years has taken me on two parallel paths, one is healing and the other is teaching.
I have received so much along the way. At this point in my life, I really want to share it and to pay it forward. My life’s purpose is to be of service. My calling is to help you be happy and healthy in mind and body, heart and soul.
In addition to my Cherokee trainings, I have done extensive studies with shamans of three additional cultures. All my mentors have endorsed me to carry on their teachings and healing practices. I offer my skills and knowledge with great respect and sincere gratitude for all my teachers, clients, and students.
Born as Lindy Ferrigno. Reborn as Grandmother Winter Jade.
Early Years: Celtic and Shinto Medicines
My first exposure to the spiritual side of indigenous medicine came from Celtic priestesses. I still lead celebrations on the holy feasts of The Wheel of the Year. A life altering change came when I began studying Shiatsu in 1974. I began to realize that true healing came not from pressing my thumbs on acupoints, but from transmitting self-healing impulses to clients.
It was Shinto priest, Shinmei Akinobu Kishi, who inspired me the most. He was able to show me how to alter my vibration to meet the frequency of a client’s vibration (we all vibrate due to electrical impulses of our nervous systems). He impressed me so much that, after studying with him in the States, I felt compelled to move to Europe to apprentice with him from 1982-84.
In Japanese tradition, I lived in the same household and had 24-hour access. He was training me to become a Shinto priestess, but I had to return to the States before I felt ready to assume that responsibility. However, his was my most profound and formative education.
The Knowledge to Heal
Kishi was a healer of extraordinary magnitude. He was in a horrific automobile accident when the driver fell asleep at the wheel going 100 mph. Kishi was thrown clear and landed in such a way as to completely shatter his 1st lumbar vertebra, destroying it completely. While in the hospital, he refused drugs and grew back his vertebra. The doctors couldn’t believe it.
Kishi was inspirational. Just being in his presence was uplifting. He passed away in 2012. He still lives in my heart. He had the most profound influence on my hands-on healing. How deeply he touched me is inexpressible.
For me, even the important influences of my subsequent mentors take meaning and significance through the lens of Kishi’s direct transmissions. Although memory fails me in many areas, I can still recall his exact words, tone of voice and facial expressions as he instilled his absolute certainty within us that we have the power to catalyze positive change. All my thoughts, experiences and endeavors in my work are permeated with his invincible spirit and his unwavering faith in Spirit . . . and our ability to channel it.
Embracing the Cherokee Faith
Many years later, I met a Cherokee priest named Grandmother River (the Cherokee people use the word priest for both women and men). I was introduced to her at a pivotal moment in my life. She understood what was on my heart when no one else could.
Grandmother River gave me a year’s worth of tasks to complete before she would perform my Eldership Ceremony. That ceremony had been my reason for meeting her, and I fully expected its completion to be the end of my association with her. But I had been so profoundly touched and changed by my encounters with her and the practices she assigned to me, that I continued with her from 1996-2003.
I found Grandmother River to be magnificent in Ceremony. At a certain point in my training, she endorsed me to lead individuals and groups in the Old Ways of Journeying – a method for meeting your Totems and Spirit Guides, and for healing your past in many ways. Though now 2,000 miles away, I can still rely on Grandmother River for mentoring whenever I need counsel about advancing my spiritual walk.
Practice of Prayer
During that same period, I met and studied with medical intuitive Gregory Antyuhin, a Russian “Shaman Without A Drum.” His way of praying is my personal favorite. It is so full of love that you can feel yourself filling up with it. At the end of a prayer, I feel that I am literally made of love, from the depths of my DNA all the way out to the very hairs on my skin.
He has a very special way of viewing and clearing Chakras, and in 2004, he endorsed me to teach this unique work. It is one of the most inspired and prayerful practices I have been privileged to learn and share.
They Are Still With Me
It was the mastery and mentorship of my teachers that urged me to develop my own work. I still hear their wisdom and guidance whispering in my ear, encouraging me to delve, yet a little deeper, into understanding the human potential for healing and happiness.
I have learned that you have the power within you to connect to Spirit and to your own soul: to be self-determining; to be courageous and compassionate; to find forgiveness and appreciation; to give and receive; to know when to take a step back, and when to step up.