Manataka® Book Review - Talking Circles by George Walking Bear

George Walking Bear Gillette is an American Indian elder spiritual leader and medicine man. He is a member of the Kern River Indian Community known as the Tubatulabl Tribe, which is a Shoshone/Paiute band in California. Family history claims he also has Blackfoot and English blood from Canada. His full Indian name is Walking Bear Has Two Eagles. He was born at the foot of Mt. Shasta in the town of McCloud, California in June of 1927 and served in the Navy during World War II.

Walking Bear became a Behavioral Therapist in 1968, successfully combining Indian doctoring and hypnotherapy into his practice. Drawing from real experiences over the course of his life work, he has authored and illustrated seven books: Talking Bear’s Talking Circles—Book One, Talking Bear’s Talking Circles—Book Two, To Hell With My Soul Mate: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, The Secret Success of Life and Its Problems, From Here to Eternity, Divine Design, and Life Goes On.

Walking Bear has served as guest speaker for Indian Health Services, Urban Indian Health Services, and United Indian Health. He has conducted classes on using hypnosis for childbirth, self-improvement, and surgery, and he taught weight loss with hypnosis at the Stanford Medical Center and in Iceland and Sweden. Walking Bear served on a special committee who made it possible for Native American spiritual leaders to become chaplains in California prisons.

Walking Bear’s many speaking engagements include the Santa Rosa reservation at Lemoor, Fresno State University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Shasta College, and Local Indians For Education in Shasta Lake City, California. He has also been a guest speaker on radio and television shows in California, Iceland, and Sweden. He was invited to the Navajo reservation in Tube City, Arizona to explain Indian doctoring to the hospital’s medical doctors and served on a special panel for the One Sky Center at Portland State University in Oregon. He helped conduct a ceremony for the releasing of condors in the Santa Maria Mountains of California and was a guest speaker at the Ishi Memorial in Mt. Lassen National Park, California. In 1994, Walking Bear was taken to Wounded Knee in South Dakota to help with a sacred ceremony for the White Buffalo Calf.

All but the last of Walking Bear’s books (Life Goes On) were previously published as spiral bound books, and all are sold out. Now Oak Savanna Publishing is reformatting, editing, and publishing second editions of all of his books. Profits from sales benefit Walking Bear’s Four Winds Spiritual Center in northern California. This book and Walking Bear’s Center are dedicated to teaching Indians how to be Indians again—to walk their sacred path. The books are also for those born in black, yellow, or white skins for, as Walking Bear says, “our souls have no color or race. We are all Divine beings traveling on the journey of experience to gain wisdom.”

Walking Bear’s Talking Circles — Book One has 228 pages including forty-two illustrations, a color photo of the author, and an index. It is full of Walking Bear’s wisdom and humor, creating both a light-hearted and enlightening walk along this sacred path.

Book Reviews

I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for spiritual enlightenment. The stories are very poignant and timely and you can almost hear the voice of the author. I was taken on a journey that was so very simple in its complexity - respect the earth and Creator and you will find balance. Awesome! ~Jamie-Elizabeth Cook-Tate

George Walking Bear's style of writing lends itself to being understood by anyone. You can just imagine yourself sitting on the side witnessing his stories. You get to reading and sometime you just can't put the book down. Each story leaves you wanting more. ~P.A. Goins “Skylark”

It teaches about life as a whole and the in-depth meaning of what karma is. There are hidden messages for those captured by the phenomenal wisdom and capable of opening their hearts to the highest values of the souls. This is a rare and valuable source of information that's recommended to the individuals who are guided to spiritual matters by their hearts. ~Red Thunder

Talking Bear’s Talking Circles — Book One is full of wonderful insights and depth, yet it was lighthearted and easy to read. We found George Walking Bear's writing style even and straight-forward. His use of familiar metaphors, similes and colorful descriptions brought the reader close to the heart of George Walking Bear. The book was well worth the time. ~Manataka Book Review Committee