Eagle and Condor Native Wellness Center Opens in East Saint Paul

Emma Needham: This is Minnesota Native News I’m Emma Needham. This week, a new community wellness center opened in Saint Paul’s East Side, bringing Indigenous people together in a safe space. Deanna StandingCloud reports.

Deanna StandingCloud: It’s a crisp November day on the East Side. The sun is shimmering into beautifully designed Dakota patterns through the storefront window; inside, two Indigenous women sip herbal tea and prepare for the grand opening of the Eagle & Condor Native Wellness Center, located within the Indigenous Roots Cultural Center.

Maria Morin McCoy :Part of our prophecy is bringing that the eagle and condor would come back together, and we would have that flow of relationships that was no longer divided by the borders that have been set up through colonization. The eagle and condor are here, in this wellness space and that there’s good medicine happening between all the communities.

DS: Maria Morin McCoy is from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and has French Canadian, Irish and German descendancy. Her spirit name means “Filling up with light Thunderbird Woman” and she is from the Bear Clan. She has been learning about energy healing since the late 1990’s and believes we have the innate superpower to heal our own bodies.

MMM: A person has the wisdom inside of themselves to know what they need to do the healing work and I’m there to support that journey. We hold disease in our bodies and when given the opportunity, the body will begin to talk to us and let us know where the block are and how they can be released.

DS: Maria owns Making Medicine and is committed to bringing healing techniques and plant medicine to her community. Her teachings and approach fit well with the vision of the Blue Hummingbird Woman or Tanagidan To Win, with whom she shares the new space. Tara Perron is a mother, author, and artist from the Lower Sioux Dakota community. Tanagidan To Win is her given Dakota name meaning Blue Hummingbird Woman. She shares with us how her vision became reality.

Tanagidan To Win: Blue Hummingbird Woman started off when I started writing children’s books in Dakota language & also the Ojibwe language. I worked with a Native American non-profit publisher and then it grew from there. I started writing all kinds of children’s books and we started bringing our medicines to the public.

DS: The Blue Hummingbird Woman Indigenous Heart Medicine Gift Shop offers a variety of traditional healing and self-care products, including wild teas, tinctures, and salves. They also intentionally build up other independent Native artists and herbalists in the area by selling their merchandise in the store. 

TTW: I love bringing our Native entrepreneur gifts to the world. It is important to me that I get to uplift other artists that may have not have the space.

DS: These two Indigenous women hold their traditional healing sacred and want to share that with the world. Along with Maryanne Quiroz, co-founder of the Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center, they collectively saw a need for a wellness center that could connect tribal nations from all across Turtle Island back to their traditional healing medicines. Tanagidan To Win, also known as Tara Perron, is a decent of White Earth Ojibwe as well, and she says this is a place for everyone.

TTW :This is a wellness center for all of us. This is our space, so it’s open to everybody. If you need something, contact one of us. We will make it work however we can.

DS: The Grand Opening of the Eagle and Condor Native Wellness Center brought together elders and community members to share prayer, song, nourishing food, dance, and local shopping. Indigenous art, fashion, jewelry and native made works are avail available to the community.

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Deanna StandingCloud

EN: You can find out more about Indigenous Roots at indigenous-roots.org and about Blue Hummingbird Woman at bluehummingbirdwoman.com.

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