Explorations & Mad Love for Native American Culture

My Name Is Amber Ray Cutting.

I was named after the rays of light that were cutting down through the fall leaves on the autumn trees in the rolling glacier carved hills of southeast Wisconsin. My father originally wanted to name me Amber Star, but my grandmother refused, stating that “no granddaughter of hers would be a Burlesque dancer”. Ironically that has become my main profession where I have joyfully danced and sung my way through the years, across the world, entertaining people and inspiring thousands of women across the world to animate themselves with sensuous humor and soul-freeing acts of beauty.  This has made me a peculiar type of feminist. I would like to reprogram the way people think about our magical bodies and free us from the judgments that actually hurt our ability to live freely with love, beauty and even pleasure.  I am often disrobed, sensual and theatrical type of provocateur. I attribute it to being an old soul who was once a temple dancer 10,000 years ago in the mideast. (I don’t actually believe in past lives, But I think, perhaps, my DNA has seen some unspeakable things).

As time has gone on, My namesake, in synchronicity with my fiery honest nature, brings light to many things, some people think would be better kept in the dark. I am not afraid. I am a warrior of love and truth.  Also, concerning my name and purpose, the Gem stone Amber (petrified tree sap), is known for preserving history and DNA, so it just seems right I would reveal the secrets and truths of the past to you.

My fascination and deep love in my heart comes from a deep soul draw to the culture of the aboriginal Races of the americas. I’m sure you want to know why this has become so important to me and why I feel the need to look deeper. This is my way of becoming an activist and a protector of life.

Here’s an explanation:

I am originally from Milwaukee Wisconsin. The furthest back that I can remember Being drawn to the Native American Cultures, was probably kindergarten where we were learning about Thanksgiving and celebrating it. I remember the whole Story about Squanto being a translator from the Wampanoag to the pilgrims and how they came together to have the first Thanksgiving because apparently they “needed” each other. In my recent research the story was that the Wampanoag had suffered some disease and some other tribal conflicts and the Pilgrims coming were like an alliance to the community. The pilgrims obviously were fresh off a strenuous trip across the atlantic and were not too keen on surviving or establishing themselves in the new world they encountered. 

I just remember strongly insisting that *I* was Squanto. I felt like the native people were my own people at a very young age, despite my skin color or where I came from. 

(I’m doing a good deal more of investigating on this subject and gathering more information and books, so please bare with me and feel free to correct me if you find my information to be incorrect or incomplete, or if you have a dispute or more information to share!)

There are so many things that I have completely disagreed with as long as I have had a mind, to do so. I was an only child who grew up moving quite a bit, never having stable relationships that grew over my childhood years. I had a really hard time fitting in and ended up spending a great deal of time alone imagining how I wanted life to be. I played endlessly with my horse models and dolls, making up elaborate stories of romance and adventure. I knew one day I was going to live a life like this. I hated the way my mom worked, yelled at me and was really never around. My dad, too, was absent except for a weekend here and there. I would build teepees in the forrest and field around my home and play like I was living off the land. My mother would attend rendezvous in western wisconsin in reenactments I was never allowed to go to. I would just marvel over her deerskin fringed and beaded dress and anything I could find on television that would tell me more about the native people. I read books like “Indian in the Cupboard” and “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, over and over again. In my teenage years I became rather interested in mystical studies… I read Lynn Andrews books and studied other books about inner manifestation, the Kaballah, and of course any other religion or spirituality that peaked my interest. I kept finding that the only thing that really made sense to me was having a connection with everything we already have on this planet. And that’s when everything truly became a mirror, Now I see more reflections than ever, before and I have worked hard to open my heart and look inside myself to find my connection in this reality with everything else I am perceiving. So much of what I am learning is full of life giving properties. I want to challenge the world to live the way they should with open hearts and wonder, to bring back the enthusiasm that is often bitterly soured by a world with structures we actually don’t agree with but participate in, anyways. We need to reprogram and set some new standards. We ARE evolving and it is time to live in a way that is up to the abilities of our consciousness. We should strive to be healthy on all levels and do our best in everything we do.

A few years back, when I was in Germany on Tour for 3.5 months, I became quite homesick for America. My way of dealing with it was to start following Native dancers and culture on Facebook when I wasn’t performing. A few people accepted me as friends and I just started adding more people and watching the pictures and updates to see what was going on. I made a few friends and even got chased by some of the dancers. 

After seeing a couple of the dancers, I become even more interested. Especially after intense talks about racism, political issues, community issues, abuse issues and a host of other horrors that were not being discussed, enough. I wanted this stuff to become common knowledge. So I very carefully have decided to add my voice to the plights of these people.

Even in our burlesque community, some very heated issues have come up about race and appropriation. At first, I myself did not see the big deal but after about 3 years or really researching privilege, colonialism, and the truth about America’s History, I feel a need to stand with the misunderstood and people who have been endlessly emotionally and culturally beat down. I also feel that as a person of white privileged who has finally come to understand what it means, I should probably help other people of privilege help understand their own privilege, since it is very obvious to me that my friends of color are weary and tired of trying to explain their grievances, or just don’t want to, anymore. They are exhausted. 

There are way more magical stories and reasons for my interest and involvement, but I want to give them all their own Blog Posts.

I have seen visions of Sitting Bull and a council before me. I have had a vintage Inupiat doll show up on my front lawn in the dead of winter. I have been given feathers and stories, over the years, by powerful people in my life. There is so much more.  

This whole Blog is about learning and sharing things and hopefully also about passionately and respectfully talking and relating to create a better, more informed and sensitive world with better, more conscious communities, overall. My aim is also to redirect all people back to the truth, to the teachings, lore and magic of this multifaceted Jewel of humanity known as The First Nations (Canada) and the Native Americans (Of the United states) so we can all crack our hearts and minds open further and understand the rich depth of our history, what makes us who we are, and what decisions we are going to make today, that will make us who we are in the future. I have a LONG list of people I will be featuring who amaze the hell out of me. I’m really looking forward to sharing everything I have been learning. I really hope this will reach outside of Native communities so the understanding is more broad and available to those that might not necessarily do this research or know what is going on. I try to do that on Facebook, daily, but I think this blog will organize and elaborate my thoughts and attention on these matters on a grater scale.

In the Last year I have dove head and heart first into studies surrounding the multifaceted cultures attributed to North American Natives. There are At least 562 federally recognized tribes, though through my meanderings I have found that there are actually over 700 tribes. I have travelled from Cape Cod to Canada to Alaska to New Mexico to DC to study what is going on, and what has happened. I arrange my Burlesque/teaching tours in different areas all over north America so that I can get some first hand experience, meet individuals, hear their stories and hopefully celebrate these Multifaceted Tribes and communities, in person.

Every time I walk up to a Powwow or a museum, My heart fells like it is popping out of my chest and I usually smile pretty hugely through some tears of happiness. I’m so grateful to all my friends and the people in all the communities I have visited accepting me in and sharing such beauty with me. Even though I am not a part of your family, I have never felt more at home. 

Please Join me on this journey of knowledge and life to which I am so passionately grateful to be swept up in. Already I feel these people are my family. and I want to love them and protect them and help them grow, as I would my own family. There is a horrible mess that has been made for the last 300 Years and I am here to help clean that up. I have no problem taking responsibility for what my own ancestors have done, educating myself, and not denying the truths. As American People we really need to tell the truth and start picking up the pieces of a genocide that killed over 19 MILLION people to establish this “Great” country we call the United States of America. 

Horrendous crimes against humanity were committed and still have been, ever since. We just don’t see all the racism and complicated crimes and events that were occurring and are still occurring, unless we educate ourselves. The native american population was about 3 million the last time I checked. That’s a small demographic. 

We are all of the human race. We are all one, We come in a variety of vibrant colors and cultures. Everyone deserves respect and I’m here to gently enforce and support that reality. I’m all for the rainbow tribe helping planet earth heal and become strong. 

I have been very driven to achieve my dreams and live a life full of creation on this journey. The more I learn about myself, the more I learn about everyone and everything else and, in turn, love this “life experience” deeper. I hope my joy becomes contagious to you, and you too will have a wonderful time following my journey. I face my fears with love and fight the things that destroy life, wether it be abuse or just the way people think.

Someone recently said something to the effect that what I am doing with these studies and talks about them is like the subtle beating of a heart or drum that is always there, encouraging truth. I personally believe that the repetition will create life and create breakthroughs, just as drops of water will make holes in stone with it’s endless persistence. 

So please enjoy. Please be active. Let me know what you think and let’s evolve and grow together!