Heyoka Merrifield

After graduating with a degree in sculpture, Heyoka left his native California to move to a remote Northwest Indian reservation. As he embraced many of the mythical treasures of the indigenous people of the land into which he was born, he became involved in the Sundance, Vision Quest, Sweat Lodge, and Sacred Pipe ceremonies. This led Heyoka to write a novel about what became his primary myth, Eyes of Wisdom: The Myth of White Buffalo Woman. This story sprung from the Native American goddess archetype in the area of the country where he now lives, and is the first book in the White Buffalo Woman trilogy.

Heyoka Merrifield is a celebrated multi-media artist, medicine man, and author. Searching for the reason ancient art pieces radiate inner life and power has led him on a lifelong quest of learning. While on his journey for the same source that illuminated these artistic ancestors and their sacred art, he embraced his own heritage, the Native American shamanic traditions, and was able to experience the universality of ceremonial art. Touching the sacred within his work has brought him international acclaim, and his pieces appear in private collections around the world.

Heyoka’s great grandmother was a Cherokee nation member who escaped the Trail of Tears. His mother practiced and taught him the old ways of planting with the moon cycles and using healing herbs. He has spent time with several Native American tribes where he received his teachings from the elders and eventually became a sundancer. In 1980, Heyoka was adopted into the Crow tribe and danced in their sundance ceremony, which he continues to this day.

Heyoka lives in an earth-friendly, hand-built, sustainable home in southwest Montana. He lives what he writes in his stories: he plants corn each year, hunts with a sacred attitude, and participates in Sundance, Vision Quest, Sweat Lodge, and Sacred Pipe ceremonies.