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Richard Wagamese Selected: What Comes From Spirit
Richard Wagamese, one of Canada’s most celebrated Indigenous authors and storytellers, was a writer of breathtaking honesty and inspiration. Always striving to be a better, stronger person, Wagamese shared his journey through writing, encouraging others to do the same.
Following the success of Embers, which has sold over fifty thousand copies since its release in 2016, this new collection of Wagamese’s non-fiction works, curated by editor Drew Hayden Taylor, brings together more of the prolific author’s short writings, many for the first time in print, and celebrates his ability to inspire. Drawing from Wagamese’s essays and columns, along with preserved social media and blog posts, this beautifully designed volume is a tribute to Wagamese’s literary legacy.
Following the success of Embers, which has sold over fifty thousand copies since its release in 2016, this new collection of Wagamese’s non-fiction works, curated by editor Drew Hayden Taylor, brings together more of the prolific author’s short writings, many for the first time in print, and celebrates his ability to inspire. Drawing from Wagamese’s essays and columns, along with preserved social media and blog posts, this beautifully designed volume is a tribute to Wagamese’s literary legacy.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published April 12, 2022
52 people are currently reading
675 people want to read
About the author
Richard Wagamese
26 books1,574 followersRichard Wagamese was one of Canada's foremost Native authors and storytellers. He worked as a professional writer since 1979. He was a newspaper columnist and reporter, radio and television broadcaster and producer, documentary producer and the author of twelve titles from major Canadian publishers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
February 22, 2022
This book, this man has touched my heart in many different ways. Sympathy for the young boy he was, a five year old taken away from his native American family, a family he wouldn't see again for twenty years. A young man who didn't know what path to follow, a lost soul who would become addicted to drugs, alcohol, spend time on the street, and even go to jail.
Admiration, for with the help of some wonderful people, natives and others, who helped him overcome, find his true path, showed him the way back to his Indian past.
And finally awe, that this man who had experienced to much loss and sorrow, found a way to author some great books but also to look forward without bitterness. To learn to love the beauty in life, nature and express them so beautifully.
He died too early, but his words are a treasure he leaves, an execution inspiration for all who struggle.
There were so many quotable passages, and I'm so glad I own this book. I'll just quote one, among many that I found amazing.
"You have to really see the morning to come to believe in it. Not a dawn groggy with little sleep or a mind already busy with sorting through obligations or rushing about preparing for another hectic frenzy but a morning full of deep silence and an absolute clarity of perception. A dawn you observe around you, degree by degree."
Admiration, for with the help of some wonderful people, natives and others, who helped him overcome, find his true path, showed him the way back to his Indian past.
And finally awe, that this man who had experienced to much loss and sorrow, found a way to author some great books but also to look forward without bitterness. To learn to love the beauty in life, nature and express them so beautifully.
He died too early, but his words are a treasure he leaves, an execution inspiration for all who struggle.
There were so many quotable passages, and I'm so glad I own this book. I'll just quote one, among many that I found amazing.
"You have to really see the morning to come to believe in it. Not a dawn groggy with little sleep or a mind already busy with sorting through obligations or rushing about preparing for another hectic frenzy but a morning full of deep silence and an absolute clarity of perception. A dawn you observe around you, degree by degree."
April 12, 2022
Treasure these timeless words. Honour his thoughts. But don’t read it too fast. Soak it in. Enjoy every morsel. Linger on each page because every paragraph has nuggets of understanding. Lines of wisdom. Stories to appreciate. - Drew Haysen Taylor (edited by)
Last June I was introduced to the beauty of the writing of Richard Wagamese reading his ’Medicine Walk’. This past November I listened to his ’Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations’ which was also lovely, so when I saw this one, I knew I wanted to read it. It isn’t a story, per se, although it shares his life story in pieces throughout this, as well as sharing his views on life, love, spirituality, and more. His thoughts and his wisdom are on each page. There are very few pages in my copy that are not highlighted.
’There’s a cave in a rock cliff in northern Ontario. It lies somewhere just north of the town line of Kenora. Although I haven’t been there in years, lately I’ve been returning there in my mind because that was where everything really started.’
Raised in a foster home from a very young age, with no one that bothered to take the time to explain why he’d been ripped away from his home and family, this cave was his haven. The one place where he could leave his fear behind and dream of a different life from the one he was living. In that cave, he wrote stories, stories of a life with his family, stories he wished were his reality. Outside of the cave, his life was devoid of love, affection, or even a kind word.
’...I never ever forgot those nights alone in the ink of a northern night writing and reading by flashlight, never forgot the calm and strength that came from the process of going inward to create outward.’
There’s more to his story, but it deserves to be discovered by the reader, but I will leave you with this last quote:
’THE LAND IS A FEELING. Sitting beside the fire in this winsome river valley, the mountains seem to enfold you as deeply as the night. Against the sky they become a single purple smudge atop the shadowed apex of pine and poplar.
The river gurgle snakes through the sharp crackle of the fire just long enough to remind you where the real power lies. It’s a feeling I’ve come to recognize as home.’
Of note: For each copy of this book sold, the publisher will make a donation to the Ontario Arts Foundation in support of the Indigenous Voices Awards: https://indigenousvoicesawards.org/
A profound, lovely and quietly passionate read that is not to be missed.
Published: April 12, 2022
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Douglas & McIntyre / Ingram Publisher Services
March 17, 2024
5 🙏🏼🙏🏼🧘🏻♀️🙏🏼🙏🏼
Upon finishing this gem I started it again. Beginning or ending my day with his words acts on my psyche like a level balancing on plumb line.
In his introduction, narrator Drew Haydon Taylor notes “Don’t read it too fast.” Good advice.
The voice of Christian Baskous' reading is perfection. One review noted "listening to the audio book was Yoga for the soul" and I couldn't agree more. I slowed it down a bit to catch every word.
The pages, so full of wisdom, comfort, and healing.
If you're on Audible it's included with membership.
Upon finishing this gem I started it again. Beginning or ending my day with his words acts on my psyche like a level balancing on plumb line.
In his introduction, narrator Drew Haydon Taylor notes “Don’t read it too fast.” Good advice.
The voice of Christian Baskous' reading is perfection. One review noted "listening to the audio book was Yoga for the soul" and I couldn't agree more. I slowed it down a bit to catch every word.
The pages, so full of wisdom, comfort, and healing.
If you're on Audible it's included with membership.
June 3, 2023
The back of the book indicates "more meditations and short fiction writings" and it certainly delivers some heart-wrenching, uplifting, inspiring and empowering (very) short-stories and thought-provoking words.
The stories detail his life growing up as an Indigenous person from birth to youth to adulthood, his struggles being part of the 60's scoop, being placed in foster care, incarceration because of alcohol and drug addiction to recovery and find his voice in his writings.
Take your time with this one (and "Embers" & "One Drum") if you've not read them to absorb everything. And, if you've been looking to delve into Mr. Wagamese's work, these will be good starting points - and then look into his many novels.
The stories detail his life growing up as an Indigenous person from birth to youth to adulthood, his struggles being part of the 60's scoop, being placed in foster care, incarceration because of alcohol and drug addiction to recovery and find his voice in his writings.
Take your time with this one (and "Embers" & "One Drum") if you've not read them to absorb everything. And, if you've been looking to delve into Mr. Wagamese's work, these will be good starting points - and then look into his many novels.
October 3, 2021
The wisdom and beautiful writing of Richard Wagamese lives on through his meditations, stories and thoughts. He shares little pieces of himself: the impacts of abuse, being taken from his family, foster homes, adoption and later, learning about himself, his birth family, his language, culture and nature. His writing continues to engage and this book is meant to read slowly, to ponder and reflect before moving on to the next text.
March 21, 2024
This man was taken too young, and I miss knowing he's still in this organic world with us.
This is a unique voice, shaped by a troubled beginning and smoothed eventually by finding forgiveness and peace. I want to say he should never have had some of those life experiences, but then he wouldn't be the man he became, and we'd be poorer for the loss of that. A lovely collection of thoughts and insights and stories, well worth a read/listen.
Wagamese's idea of spiritual is to do things that "move your spirit"...when you feel alive, and that's the nature of "ceremony". Not something you go to or attend. It's what you carry in you. You make everything a ceremony with the small joyous rituals that move your spirit that you do every day. That nugget alone was worth the time spent in this short book. But...there were many more.....
This is a unique voice, shaped by a troubled beginning and smoothed eventually by finding forgiveness and peace. I want to say he should never have had some of those life experiences, but then he wouldn't be the man he became, and we'd be poorer for the loss of that. A lovely collection of thoughts and insights and stories, well worth a read/listen.
Wagamese's idea of spiritual is to do things that "move your spirit"...when you feel alive, and that's the nature of "ceremony". Not something you go to or attend. It's what you carry in you. You make everything a ceremony with the small joyous rituals that move your spirit that you do every day. That nugget alone was worth the time spent in this short book. But...there were many more.....
March 25, 2022
Each page, thought and word written in this book made me think and moved me. It became a ritual I looked forward to, like meditation, reading from this book most mornings. I re-read parts of it that really resonated and made me feel seen at a soul level. It reminded me how intricately connected we are to earth, ourselves and each other. Thank you Richard Wagamese for gifting the world your beautiful words. They will live within me.
April 1, 2022
What to say? In these days where everyone seems to be doubling-down on cruelty and unkindness, it seems Wagamese is about the only one I want to read. He writes often of the medicine of tobacco, sage, and cedar ... and now it is his words that are medicine.
October 28, 2021
I actually bought this book after reading it from the library. So many good essays and poems. A collection I will read over and over when I need inspiration or peace.
November 21, 2021
A great selection of Wagamese’s writing. The literary world has a gaping hole left by the passing of Wagamese in 2017. It saddens me that there will be no more new work by him, but I intend go back and read all of his works.
October 10, 2021
Reading Richard Wagamese is a transcendent experience.
October 26, 2021
I loved the style of writing. It's musings that induce you to think about subjects so much more than what Richard himself went through. Listening to the audio book was Yoga for the soul!
November 12, 2022
One to savour
May 12, 2025
He was telling me that words cannot exist without feeling. That a text is only as useful as the truth it holds. That dreams and reality are the same world. That what I know is less important than what I desire to know.
So inhabit what you read. Allow it to fill you. Let the intent of the spirit of the story take you where it will. Stories and books are tools of understanding on the journey of coming to know. Pick them up. Carry them. This is what I carried away. This is the message I brought to my own storytelling to here, to this page, stark in its blankness, waiting like me to be imagined, to be filled.
A Special Collection of Inspirational Writings.
One of my favorite books read in 2024.
Read in 2024 (twice) and 2025.
Related Works: Indian Horse, One Story, One Song, One Native Life, Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations
Favorite Passages:
Introduction by Drew Hayden Taylor
Stories, and I speak as a writer, have a soul. They have a spirit. They have a life - at least, the good ones do. This is true for all works of art. They should have their creators' DNA in them. So, you know when you've come across a Wagamese original. Sometimes cruel and critical, other times light and life-affirming, his musings will take you to so many unexpected places.
______
Most of his novels exist in a universe he created for us, but here is the universe Richard Wagamese lived in.
THE LAND IS A FEELING
The land is a feeling. Sitting beside the fire in this winsome river valley, the mountains seem to enfold you as deeply as the night. Against the sky they become a single purple smudge atop the shadowed apex of pine and poplar.
The river gurgle snakes through the sharp crackle of the fire just long enough to remind you where the real power lies. It's a feeling I've come to recognize as home.
______
Sunlight spills over the mountain like a newfound joy. There is the sparkle for the symphony of the sky all glassine, blue and shimmering on the placid face of the lake. Birdsong. Life energy reawakening all around you.
_______
When the sun sets behind these mountains you can almost see them begin to breathe. It's a trick of the light, really, something created by the encroaching purple darkness, distance and an indefinable desire for magic.
_______
You have to really see the morning to come to believe in it. Not a dawn groggy with little sleep or a mind already busy sorting through obligations or rushing about preparing for another hectic frenzy but a morning full of deep silence and an absolute clarity of perception. A dawn you observe around you degree by degree.
Where The Heart Is
My elders say that we dream ourselves into being. That sounds powerfully esoteric but it isn't nearly as hard to decipher as you might think. It simply means we have the ability to become whomever we choose to become. All of us. There's no limit to our human potential and there's no limit where our spirits can choose to go. Hot on the heels of the power of choice is the power of allowing. we Ojibway have a phrase for that - yuh-gotta-wanna.
_______
Within each of us is the residue of the places we come from. We carry the information of our cultures and our histories within us like latent genes.
When we move, when we choose to live somewhere other than our traditional homes, those are the things that allow us to dream ourselves into fullness. Our touchstones. The feel of home we carry between our ribs. It's not an Ojibway thing. It's a human one.
What Remains The Same
Standing beside a tiny creek in the mountains I suddenly remember how it felt to catch minnows in a jar. The goggle-eyed sense of wonder at those silvered, wriggling beams of light darting between stones and the feel of the water on my arms, cool and slick as the surface of dreams.
_______
The only extraordinary thing I've done is to never allow the mistakes of my past to discolor or erode my hope for the future. Because it's not the big things that add up in the end; it's the hundreds, thousands, millions of little things we do on a regular basis that define our lives as extraordinary, like teaching someone to love the taste of cold blueberries or how to find a planet in the night sky or how perfectly a Brahms sonata fits a rainy morning . . . those are the extraordinary things that define a life.
Wolf Tracks
Rain falls heavy as a curtain and everywhere there is the sound of applause on the streets where everyday people aim themselves at their lives in deliberate trajectories and no one notices the world's ovation or the hands of the rain dripping off the brim of a hat, gentle on their faces. This is a poem this world, this life, this elegant morning bathed in the tears Mother Earth sheds to cleanse us, everything.
______
There's magic in the sound of a human voice augmented by the crackle of a fire. There's something ancient and eternal that stirs things within us and you don't have to be a native person to understand that. Everyone from every culture has a fire and a story in their past.
THE TRUTH STAYS THE SAME
What comes from spirit is beyond time, beyond place. It exists in another realm and when I get in touch with it, when I get in touch with my essential self I am transported, altered, changed, empowered and I become less a human being working than a perfect spirit moving. This is powerful. This is truth. This is spiritual.
______
The world is changeable but the truth stays the same. Life is a whirlwind of change; accidents happen, people get ill, lovers leave, loved ones die, the bottom sometimes falls out of things. But the truth is that we all exist under the hand of grace. That stays consistent. Always. It's believing that through the harder times and acting out from that belief that allows me to experience the whole gamut of life without buckling, regressing, isolating or giving up. My people say that there is a teaching in everything and to follow ceremony is to always look for the teaching. At its core, the universe is light.
THERE ARE NO STRANGERS
. . . it is our soul's mission to learn love.
_______
Sometimes life turns us upside down and backwards. It's caring that gets us back on our feet again and pointed in the right direction.
_______
You can't fail when you choose with love.
Gathering
Becoming a human being is a process too. It takes a lot of work to create a personal history. There's far more to it than just showing up for life every day. There are choices, both profound and banal, that need to be made. There are things to consider. There are numerous directions to take at a moment's notice and there are literally a multitude of people willing to offer opinions, advice, suggestions and judgement.
Just when you think you know, life comes along to show you that you really don't.
______
I realize where I want to go most is nowhere. Not that I don't want to travel because I do. What I mean is in the depths of my morning meditation, when I let go of the world and travel inward, I don't have to leave my couch to be filled, given purpose, to get a glimpse of joy. In that immaculate stillness I touch the Source and am rejuvenated. My soul is tanned. The surf of my spirit unfolds on the coast of my being. I walk my inner geography and am healed.
Shinny Game Melted the Ice
I believe we become immortal through the process of learning to love the ones with whom we share this planet. I believe that in the heart of everyone who takes the time to look, there's something like that rink where we've chased each other's dreams and lives around, only to collapse in the tears and laughter that will echo forever across the universe.
And in this, we are all Indians.
______
From my window I watch the sure and elegant creep of the sun across the pine pocked flank of the mountain. Beneath it the mercury platter of the lake and the undulation of the land dancing down to meet it at the reeds where the red-winged black birds sing. The sky is a bowl the color of old denim. Why do we gaze at sights like this in such awe and wonder yet never take the time to see what miracles we ourselves are? We are that, you know. Miracles of Creation. Each of us. We are pieces of sky dancing.
WE ARE ALL STORY
Spirituality isn't simply spectacular. It's spectacularly simple. It means whatever moves your spirit. Not your mind. Your spirit. Your mind is not the seat of you. Your soul is. Your spirit. Finding, approaching and engaging with whatever moves your spirit is being spiritual. Music, books, film, art, theatre, dance, a bird skimming a straight line through the air, a sunrise, a breeze, the smell of rain, a quiet conversation, a hug. It's spectacularly simple. If it moves your spirit, it moves you closer to your true, essential self - and so, closer to Creator.
Scrolls
He was telling me that words cannot exist without feeling. That a text is only as useful as the truth it holds. That dreams and reality are the same world. That what I know is less important than what I desire to know.
So inhabit what you read. Allow it to fill you. Let the intent of the spirit of the story take you where it will. Stories and books are tools of understanding on the journey of coming to know. Pick them up. Carry them. This is what I carried away. This is the message I brought to my own storytelling to here, to this page, stark in its blankness, waiting like me to be imagined, to be filled.
So inhabit what you read. Allow it to fill you. Let the intent of the spirit of the story take you where it will. Stories and books are tools of understanding on the journey of coming to know. Pick them up. Carry them. This is what I carried away. This is the message I brought to my own storytelling to here, to this page, stark in its blankness, waiting like me to be imagined, to be filled.
A Special Collection of Inspirational Writings.
One of my favorite books read in 2024.
Read in 2024 (twice) and 2025.
Related Works: Indian Horse, One Story, One Song, One Native Life, Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations
Favorite Passages:
Introduction by Drew Hayden Taylor
Stories, and I speak as a writer, have a soul. They have a spirit. They have a life - at least, the good ones do. This is true for all works of art. They should have their creators' DNA in them. So, you know when you've come across a Wagamese original. Sometimes cruel and critical, other times light and life-affirming, his musings will take you to so many unexpected places.
______
Most of his novels exist in a universe he created for us, but here is the universe Richard Wagamese lived in.
THE LAND IS A FEELING
The land is a feeling. Sitting beside the fire in this winsome river valley, the mountains seem to enfold you as deeply as the night. Against the sky they become a single purple smudge atop the shadowed apex of pine and poplar.
The river gurgle snakes through the sharp crackle of the fire just long enough to remind you where the real power lies. It's a feeling I've come to recognize as home.
______
Sunlight spills over the mountain like a newfound joy. There is the sparkle for the symphony of the sky all glassine, blue and shimmering on the placid face of the lake. Birdsong. Life energy reawakening all around you.
_______
When the sun sets behind these mountains you can almost see them begin to breathe. It's a trick of the light, really, something created by the encroaching purple darkness, distance and an indefinable desire for magic.
_______
You have to really see the morning to come to believe in it. Not a dawn groggy with little sleep or a mind already busy sorting through obligations or rushing about preparing for another hectic frenzy but a morning full of deep silence and an absolute clarity of perception. A dawn you observe around you degree by degree.
Where The Heart Is
My elders say that we dream ourselves into being. That sounds powerfully esoteric but it isn't nearly as hard to decipher as you might think. It simply means we have the ability to become whomever we choose to become. All of us. There's no limit to our human potential and there's no limit where our spirits can choose to go. Hot on the heels of the power of choice is the power of allowing. we Ojibway have a phrase for that - yuh-gotta-wanna.
_______
Within each of us is the residue of the places we come from. We carry the information of our cultures and our histories within us like latent genes.
When we move, when we choose to live somewhere other than our traditional homes, those are the things that allow us to dream ourselves into fullness. Our touchstones. The feel of home we carry between our ribs. It's not an Ojibway thing. It's a human one.
What Remains The Same
Standing beside a tiny creek in the mountains I suddenly remember how it felt to catch minnows in a jar. The goggle-eyed sense of wonder at those silvered, wriggling beams of light darting between stones and the feel of the water on my arms, cool and slick as the surface of dreams.
_______
The only extraordinary thing I've done is to never allow the mistakes of my past to discolor or erode my hope for the future. Because it's not the big things that add up in the end; it's the hundreds, thousands, millions of little things we do on a regular basis that define our lives as extraordinary, like teaching someone to love the taste of cold blueberries or how to find a planet in the night sky or how perfectly a Brahms sonata fits a rainy morning . . . those are the extraordinary things that define a life.
Wolf Tracks
Rain falls heavy as a curtain and everywhere there is the sound of applause on the streets where everyday people aim themselves at their lives in deliberate trajectories and no one notices the world's ovation or the hands of the rain dripping off the brim of a hat, gentle on their faces. This is a poem this world, this life, this elegant morning bathed in the tears Mother Earth sheds to cleanse us, everything.
______
There's magic in the sound of a human voice augmented by the crackle of a fire. There's something ancient and eternal that stirs things within us and you don't have to be a native person to understand that. Everyone from every culture has a fire and a story in their past.
THE TRUTH STAYS THE SAME
What comes from spirit is beyond time, beyond place. It exists in another realm and when I get in touch with it, when I get in touch with my essential self I am transported, altered, changed, empowered and I become less a human being working than a perfect spirit moving. This is powerful. This is truth. This is spiritual.
______
The world is changeable but the truth stays the same. Life is a whirlwind of change; accidents happen, people get ill, lovers leave, loved ones die, the bottom sometimes falls out of things. But the truth is that we all exist under the hand of grace. That stays consistent. Always. It's believing that through the harder times and acting out from that belief that allows me to experience the whole gamut of life without buckling, regressing, isolating or giving up. My people say that there is a teaching in everything and to follow ceremony is to always look for the teaching. At its core, the universe is light.
THERE ARE NO STRANGERS
. . . it is our soul's mission to learn love.
_______
Sometimes life turns us upside down and backwards. It's caring that gets us back on our feet again and pointed in the right direction.
_______
You can't fail when you choose with love.
Gathering
Becoming a human being is a process too. It takes a lot of work to create a personal history. There's far more to it than just showing up for life every day. There are choices, both profound and banal, that need to be made. There are things to consider. There are numerous directions to take at a moment's notice and there are literally a multitude of people willing to offer opinions, advice, suggestions and judgement.
Just when you think you know, life comes along to show you that you really don't.
______
I realize where I want to go most is nowhere. Not that I don't want to travel because I do. What I mean is in the depths of my morning meditation, when I let go of the world and travel inward, I don't have to leave my couch to be filled, given purpose, to get a glimpse of joy. In that immaculate stillness I touch the Source and am rejuvenated. My soul is tanned. The surf of my spirit unfolds on the coast of my being. I walk my inner geography and am healed.
Shinny Game Melted the Ice
I believe we become immortal through the process of learning to love the ones with whom we share this planet. I believe that in the heart of everyone who takes the time to look, there's something like that rink where we've chased each other's dreams and lives around, only to collapse in the tears and laughter that will echo forever across the universe.
And in this, we are all Indians.
______
From my window I watch the sure and elegant creep of the sun across the pine pocked flank of the mountain. Beneath it the mercury platter of the lake and the undulation of the land dancing down to meet it at the reeds where the red-winged black birds sing. The sky is a bowl the color of old denim. Why do we gaze at sights like this in such awe and wonder yet never take the time to see what miracles we ourselves are? We are that, you know. Miracles of Creation. Each of us. We are pieces of sky dancing.
WE ARE ALL STORY
Spirituality isn't simply spectacular. It's spectacularly simple. It means whatever moves your spirit. Not your mind. Your spirit. Your mind is not the seat of you. Your soul is. Your spirit. Finding, approaching and engaging with whatever moves your spirit is being spiritual. Music, books, film, art, theatre, dance, a bird skimming a straight line through the air, a sunrise, a breeze, the smell of rain, a quiet conversation, a hug. It's spectacularly simple. If it moves your spirit, it moves you closer to your true, essential self - and so, closer to Creator.
Scrolls
He was telling me that words cannot exist without feeling. That a text is only as useful as the truth it holds. That dreams and reality are the same world. That what I know is less important than what I desire to know.
So inhabit what you read. Allow it to fill you. Let the intent of the spirit of the story take you where it will. Stories and books are tools of understanding on the journey of coming to know. Pick them up. Carry them. This is what I carried away. This is the message I brought to my own storytelling to here, to this page, stark in its blankness, waiting like me to be imagined, to be filled.
November 27, 2021
In this newly released collection of short works, we are treated to the exquisitely balanced, meditative and poetic writing voice of Richard Wagamese. He was one of Canada’s most talented and celebrated Indigenous authors. Sadly, Richard Wagamese passed away in 2017 and Canada lost one of it’s strongest Indigenous voices. However, we can all still learn and be inspired by the teachings of this beloved storyteller with this new posthumous release. The pieces gathered in this collection are from the full span of his life. Richard Wagamese reflects on the joys, hardships and everything in between about growing up in Canada as an Indigenous person. No book ever has all the answers, of course, but the reflections organized here present a hopeful and compassionate set of values that all of us should strive for. Within these short stories and passages, Richard touches on a wide range of topics including the retelling of traditional Ojibwe tales, the importance of children’s education, his brutal encounters with the police, his sadness at the loss of Indigenous traditions in Canada and even hilarious directions on how to dress like an Indigenous person. The beautiful and meaningful words found in this book will have a profound effect on your mind, heart, body and soul. Every Canadian will find inspiration in this book, needed now more than ever as we stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples across Canada after the horrific discoveries over this past year. Finally, be sure to treasure the stories in this collection and linger on every page because each sentence is filled with an abundance of beauty and wisdom.
March 1, 2023
A book full of beautiful wisdom.
November 6, 2023
The book comprises a collection of reflections and stories taken from Wagamese’s various published writings.
Brief one-paragraph meditations are interspersed with stories, drawn from his memory and life situation, but each of them also contains an insightful moral or a nugget of wisdom. Although his reflections arise from his Native spirituality and Ojibway worldview, they show a wisdom that in many respects parallels the wisdom drawn from the so-called contemplative or mystical spirituality in other religious traditions. When Wagamese, for instance, refers to our ‘ego’ or ‘essential nature’ or ‘weakness and faults’ or ‘Old One and Elder’ or ‘Creation,’ or ‘Creator’, Richard Rohr and others in the Christian tradition speak, respectively, of the ‘false self, ‘True self,’ ‘sin,’ ‘spiritual director,’ ‘the created world,’ and ‘God’. References to ‘love’ and ‘relationship’ are a common theme in both a Native spirituality and a Christian spirituality.
On the surface, the book is an easy read. But if read through quickly, we would miss the richness contained in its selections. Along with Wagamese’s earlier 'Embers, One Ojibway’s Meditations', this posthumously selected 'What Comes from Spirit' merits a slow, meditative reading.
Brief one-paragraph meditations are interspersed with stories, drawn from his memory and life situation, but each of them also contains an insightful moral or a nugget of wisdom. Although his reflections arise from his Native spirituality and Ojibway worldview, they show a wisdom that in many respects parallels the wisdom drawn from the so-called contemplative or mystical spirituality in other religious traditions. When Wagamese, for instance, refers to our ‘ego’ or ‘essential nature’ or ‘weakness and faults’ or ‘Old One and Elder’ or ‘Creation,’ or ‘Creator’, Richard Rohr and others in the Christian tradition speak, respectively, of the ‘false self, ‘True self,’ ‘sin,’ ‘spiritual director,’ ‘the created world,’ and ‘God’. References to ‘love’ and ‘relationship’ are a common theme in both a Native spirituality and a Christian spirituality.
On the surface, the book is an easy read. But if read through quickly, we would miss the richness contained in its selections. Along with Wagamese’s earlier 'Embers, One Ojibway’s Meditations', this posthumously selected 'What Comes from Spirit' merits a slow, meditative reading.
January 3, 2022
I finished this book on a cold crisp clear Toronto morning, in the exact chair I was seated in when I first read of Richard's death in March 2017. His words and writing always bring me great joy; I remember well his smile and warm sense of humour. But I am keenly aware that the joy he brought to the world is like parge over the corroded bricks and mortar which was his destroyed childhood and youth. We did that to him. That is our forever shame. Richard worked diligently to discover his traditions,joys and wonders-and he brought joy to his readers. He was an inspiration. I admire him forever. Thank you Drew Hayden Taylor for the introduction to this collection. Like the opposites which were Richard's struggle, I was challenged by two polar opposite urges in my encounter with this book. I wanted to rush in and be immersed into his words and images; but I also wanted to sip and savour slowly his ideas, his reflections, his contemplations. He has become for me my essential "old familiar ". The deeper you read, the deeper your experience of reflection and awareness. He is a true blessing.
November 2, 2021
Another beautiful and truthful offering from one of the best writers in Canada. Wagamese, who passed away a few years ago, was a prolific writer, and this book of shorter pieces was compiled from his blog and articles. He dives deep into his own story as an Ojibway man who was taken by the Children's Aid Society when he was two, and only re-discovered his family and culture later in life. He also delves into the things of the spirit, passing on the teachings he received from Elders throughout his life, as well as his own reflections on how to move towards the Creator.
December 27, 2021
Much of the writing here was familiar, but no less powerful.
Meditations and inspiration on every page, this small collection of the late Richard Wagamese's social media shares, newspaper stories is something I could dip into every day. He even manages to make doing dishes and housework ceremonial.
While it is sad that we lost this wise and inspiring writer, thank the Creator that his wondrous words live on.
Meditations and inspiration on every page, this small collection of the late Richard Wagamese's social media shares, newspaper stories is something I could dip into every day. He even manages to make doing dishes and housework ceremonial.
While it is sad that we lost this wise and inspiring writer, thank the Creator that his wondrous words live on.
May 10, 2025
We lost such a gem of a story teller, when Richard Wagamese left our world. This book is a collection of stories and bits of wisdom we can all take something from, or share with others. Thank you. It also led me to read Richard Van Camp, a delightful bonus. A book you want to read over and over.
January 7, 2022
Some very thought provoking meditations and reflections. Definitely needed your deep thinking hat on for this one....although passages were short, you needed to be focused to appreciate the meaning behind the words and to sit and ponder for a moment.
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May 2, 2022Much like Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations in style, content and prose. Read slowly in pieces over months.
October 3, 2021
I like his attitude to life and his thoughts profound. A good spiritual book if you are in the mood.
October 29, 2021
i learned a few great lessons from this collection
i studied indian horse in 2019, wagamese was really an amazing writer
i studied indian horse in 2019, wagamese was really an amazing writer
December 31, 2021
Quite simply - a beautiful posthumous breath of fresh air from R. Wagamese.
February 26, 2022
Reading his work is like coming home. Every time.
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March 7, 2022Lyrical, soulful, peaceful.
March 30, 2022
This is a book to own, to go back to, to wander through, to feel. Read this book, again and again. Thank you Mr. Wagamese.
June 8, 2022
thank you always, always, for the existence of Richard Wagamese.
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