A few years ago I was home alone and suddenly I felt like I was directly connected to my Embera ancestors (an indigenous people from Colombia) and I could feel all the suffering and struggle they had encountered throughout the ages. which made me very sad.

But after a while I also realized their strength and accomplishments: They never gave up to fight for the right to be who they are and to follow their own way of life without giving in to the global mainstream culture.

Indigenous cultures from around the world are the keepers of  knowledge that is of importance to all of  humankind: how to live in balance with nature, how to heal in a holistic way and how to communicate with the spirit world.

So here I want to show you 10 pictures of ten people belonging to ten indigenous tribes from around the world. Please take a moment to honor these peoples who have preserved so much knowledge for all of us.

.

Papuan man from Papua New Guinea (photo by Eric Lafforgue)

Karo bride from Ethiopia (photo by Helga)

Embera woman from Colombia (photo by Anselmo Mantovani)

Kuna Women from Panama (photo by Rita Willaert)

Sami people from Finland (photo by Helga)

Koori Men from Australia (photo by Wayne Quilliam)

Nuba man from Sudan (photo by Rita Willaert)

Massai women from Tanzania (photo by Mayalika)

Ainu woman from Japan (photo by Todd Stradford)

Samburu Warrior from Kenia (photo by Helga)

.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

He confronts the great number of issues facing Native Americans today with his choice of weapons: paints, brushes, canvas, his music, his mind and his culture.  Bunky has exhibited his work throughout the United States and overseas. He also writes, mainly poetry these days, but has  had some of his plays produced.  He proactively uses his art to address issues, to fundraise for various Native nonprofits, and to help Indian-owned businesses.

In addition to being a full-time dad, he is  also a co-founder and the Executive Director of  NVision, a national Native nonprofit that focuses on Native youth development. They reach out to Native youth through multi-media arts and leadership development.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6BkOtb3_uw&feature=player_embedded

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-QAgWa7g2w&feature=player_embedded

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

Goddess Leonie is an artist, a wise woman and a Creative Web Biz owner. I found her blog about six months ago and have been subscribed since.

Here is what she does in her own words:

I do things to help you and me find and discover and celebrate this Goddess inside each of us. I make artworks to celebrate your Soul Story and the Goddess In You. I’ve photographed women as Goddesses from the desert centre of Australia to villages in India. I create e-courses and retreats for you to help experience the creative and spirited Goddess inside you. And I do Goddess Guidance coaching & oracle reading sessions for gorgeous women all over the globe, to help you find clarity, guidance and spirit on your journey.

.

What does this have to do with business coaching?

No , she is not a biz coach, I know that.

But….

To develop her own Creative Web Biz Leonie works with Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, who in turn helps solo-preneurs earn more money and suck less. Now, I don’t have the money to be coached by her, but I do read her blog and have learned lots from that alone (first lesson-cursing on a blog is okay) . And as Goddess Leonie is implementing all the grat advice she gets from Naomi, I watch and learn from her too.

.

Creative Web Biz lessons from Goddess Leonie:

1. Making custom art:

I always thought this was not for me, but now I decided to start making custom handmade energy jewelry (if you haven’t seen my jewelry yet, check it out here).

Here is how it works: you tell me what kind of energies you want to attract in your life, i.e healing,  abundance, more meaningful relationships etc.) and I will do a shamanic journey for you to ask the spirits for help and guidance and will then create a piece of jewelry that will assist you on an energetic level to manifest these desired energies in your life. There will be more info coming on this soon!

2. Create an e-course:

When I started my Creative Web Biz series I wasn’t sure if anyone would be reading it, but now I know that there are many, many creative entrepreneurs out there,  who want to learn more about this topic.  I’m planning to set up a course on Creative Web Biz in in the future, but not quite yet. I will let you know when I’m ready!

3. Don’t do it all at once or you will feel overwhelmed in no time.

Take one step at a time or your head will start spinning so fast it might take off and fly away. This happened to Leonie and here is a post by her on  how to stay sane during business busy-ness.

Of course, there is much more to learn from Goddess Leonie as well as Naomi, but this post was really just meant to inspire you. Go out and find people in your niche and learn from them! It will make you smarter, get you more readers and let you meet great new people.

In fact, I liked writing this post so much that I will start a new series. I don’t have a name yet but it will be about Creative Web Biz ownwers and what you can learn from them.

.

Now it’s your turn:

If you know any Creative Web Biz owners that inspire you, please share their names and sites in the comments, so we can all learn from each other.

Creative Entrepreneurs need to stick together, right ?

.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

.

Mermaids Around the World

When researching my  roots I also discovered the power of mermaid medicine. It started when learning about Antomia, the Mother of Water known amongst the Embera in Colombia. She is the one who teaches the jaibanas (shamans) how to heal and how to travel from one dimension to the other. Then I discovered Yemaja, the river goddesss that came all the way from Africa to South America, along with her people who were being sold as slaves. Today she is known among the entire African diaspora and has many priestess daughters that hold the energy for her among humankind. Another Sea Goddess from the African continent is Mami Wata, known for her healing arts and her beauty. Red is her color and she can be found in the marketplace where you will only recognize her if she lifts her skirts so you can get a glimpse of her fish tale. And then we have Sedna from the high north where the Inuit people reside. She is the Queen of the seas and the underworld. Aspiring shamans have to visit her house at the bottom of the sea to comb her hair. Only then will she bless them and give them the power to call out those animals that want to give their life to feed the people.

Combs, Mirrors and Jewelry

Most mermaid tales being shared around the world stress the fact that mermaids like combs, mirrors and beautiful jewelry. In the beginning I was a bit annoyed by this as I saw this to be a sign of vanity and shallowness. But the more I thought about it I realized that this wasn’t true at all. In reality, the mirror symbolizes the gift of  “reflection” which allows us to look at ourselves from the outside to gain new perspectives. It is also the tool that lets us see into the mirror or spirit worlds. The comb represents the ability to to control the power of sensitivity. Hair in general is nothing else but sensors that pick up even the subtlest energies. To control your sensors (senses) can therefore be a very powerful skill. Now, the jewelry shows healing powers and the ability to attract wealth. Women (and men) from all cultures have always adorned themselves with natural jewelry of all kinds. Most common are definitely flowers. To put flowers in ones hair is most certainly an eye-catcher, but what it does on a spiritual level, is to attract helping spirits with the  smell of these flowers. Perfume is also used to attract, right? Next come seeds, feathers, shells and minerals. All of them used to secure the help of their respective spirit keepers like elves, fairies, the sun, the ancestors or the star people. Copper attracts Venus energies, silver is cousin to the powers of the moon and gold is materialized sun light. Magic symbols direct these energies to where they are needed, most often for healing purposes, protection, or magical powers.

Mermaid Medicine

I use the word medicine in a sense that describes a skill that can bring positive change into your own or other peoples lives. This means that we are all born with our own medicine to bring to the world. Often times we have to go through some tough times to discover it in ourselves. But as soon as we turn inwards and listen to our higher selves and the spirit guides that come to aid us, we will be presented with a gift that heals our wounds and enables us to do the same for others. This gift is your medicine and is usually closely related to your spiritual lineage. I am one of the Water People and so my gift is the one of sensitivity, creating beauty and the ability to bring healing through reflection. To bring all this together and make it available to others, is the reason why I create art, why I started this blog and it is also the reason why I make handmade energy jewelry. It is my way of translating into matter what I learn from swimming with the Mermaids.

.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

Since I joined RedBubble I have found some amazing artists diplaying and selling their art there. One of them is Natalie Perkins. What I love about her art style are the beautiful and delicate patterns she creates drawing ink lines and coloring them with watercolor. Afterwards she edits the whole thing with Illustrator and Photoshop. Her art is available as prints, posters, cards and more.

She isn’t really hard to miss as she is also one of the more active participants in the community.  Natalie originally wanted to become a teacher but was also into art since high school and therefore ended up studying both education and art so she could combine both passions as an art teacher. But in the end she decided she wasn’t going to go through with it and instead became an independent artist and graphic designer, which of course is good for us as we can now all enjoy her creative works!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of days ago I joined RedBubble, a really nice artist community based in Australia, where artists can share and sell their work as wall art and/or t-shirts.  Right after I joined I ran into an artist I had met before at TalentDatabase. Her name is Webgrrl and she is amazing. Her art is mainly psychedelic in style and very, very beautiful! She is also one of the most active web artist I have ever met on the net. Her creative output is immense and I don’t think she ever sleeps. Besides creating art she also maintains and contributes to a ton of sites. One of her projects is a group on RedBubble called “Promote Each Other“.  Each week, members bookmark, rate, digg, review, blog about and generally promote a selection of works chosen by the group (or any others!). Too me this sounds great! That’s why I created my “Web Artist” category, because supporting each other is important!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

Charles Lewis aka  Chuck is a christian rapper (poeticprophet.com) and SEO consultant (PopLabs).

He combined the two by rapping about SEO methods for marketing and optimizing a website for search engines.

So if you are in the process of setting up a website for your art biz listen to the above video.

Wanna hear more?

Check out more videos by the SEO Rapper

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------

In Native American history, in both North- and South America and in the history of other indigenous

peoples around the world, a lot of children have been adopted out of their culture (just like me).

Sometimes this was done with the consent of the birth-parents and sometimes even without.

Most adoptive parents are either of European or American-European descent and they are well

meaning and loving people . Most of the children come from families that are not able to give them

the support they need because they themselves are struggling with downright poverty or other

circumstances that prevent them from looking after their children in a way that benefits the child.

Indigenous peoples in general are often marginalized and don’t get the chance to participate in the

dominant culture of their countries due to the eurocentric view that has become mainstream around

the world. This leads to a variety of problems like alcoholism, domestic violence and crime.

The chance to grow up in a healthy and loving family in a secure neighborhood and to get a good

education is one of the “advantages” a lot of the adoptees mention when asked about transracial

adoption. But what most of them will also tell you is that the loss of their own culture is a reason for

constant grief throughout their whole lives. This is one of the main reasons for them to start looking

for their birth-families. And those who do reunite with their first parents and culture can tell you that

it makes them feel like they finally found their place in life and the hole in their hearts starts healing.

Identity crises is something that ALL adoptees experience throughout their lives, but for interracial

adoptees it is a double loss of birth-family and of their native culture.

Trying to find out about their roots is NOT because they don’t love their (adoptive) parents and it

doesn’t alienate them from each other. It is even said that it makes the relationship better, because

the adoptees finally know who they are.

Never having the chance to meet people that look like you and act like you is like

growing up without ever looking into a mirror. How are you supposed to know who you are?

.

The book contains twenty interviews with adoptees of Native-American descent and you can get it here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

.

Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

------------------------------------------------------------