01/15/2024
"Keewaydinoquay Peschel (1919 – 1999) was a scholar, ethnobotanist, herbalist, medicine woman, teacher, and author. She was an Anishinaabeg Elder of the Crane Clan.
According to her biography, Keewaydinoquay was born in a fishing boat en route to the hospital from the Manitou Islands, which capsized, and her survival was interpreted as miraculous. Her childhood name, meaning "Walks with Bears", derived from an incident when, as a toddler, she was left on a blanket as her parents gathered blueberries. They returned to see her standing by bears, eating blueberries off the bushes. Her adult name Giiwedinokwe, recorded as "Keewaydinoquay", means "Woman of the North[west Wind]" and came from her vision quest.
She apprenticed with the noted Anishinaabeg medicine woman Nodjimahkwe from the age of 9 and worked for many years as a healer, at a time when her people had little access to conventional medical care and when conventional medical care.
At the age of 57, she decided to study anthropology. She received a Master of Education Degree from Wayne State University and completed course work for a Ph.D. in ethnobotany at the University of Michigan. She was awarded the Michigan Conservation Teacher of the Year in 1975. She taught classes in ethnobotany as well as the philosophy of the Great Lakes tribes at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and lectured at many herbal conferences. She was consulted for many prestigious books, including several on Great Lakes indigenous plant use.
She was the author of numerous books on herbs, Native American medicine, and rare legends for children and adults."
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