Indigenous Feather-Keeping and Healing Practices with Coahuiltecan Elder Masauki and his Guest Elder Milo Colton

On October 24th, 2024, Coahuiltecan Indigenous Elder Masauki Zepeda visited our campus and brought healing to our classroom setting with the help of birds and their feathers. He was joined by Elder Milo Colton, and Sam Martinez assisted with the Drum. Masauki led the class through a guided meditation intended to promote personal healing where he used an Eagle whistle to summon our Bird Relatives to meet us along this journey.

Masauki is a feather-keeper and artisan who works with feathers to create prayer fans, which he then uses in “feather-painting” which is the practice of removing negative energies with the use of healing properties of bird feathers. Milo shared some cultural wisdom on the significance of birds to the Cherokee and many other tribes. We appreciate our Elders sharing their gifts with UBP and we all left the session feeling lighter as some of the burdens had been removed from our hearts, minds, and spirits.