Before leaving, she sold everything she owned. By having nothing to pull her back, she was free to create an entirely new life anywhere in the world. She purchased a twenty-year-old Ford sedan in Sydney and set off into the outback.
For the next six months, she traveled territory so rough she had to drive down the middle of the two-lane road. She chewed through five tires, carried spare gasoline, and stored a two week supply of food and water in the trunk. Every night she pulled off onto some lonely patch of desert, cooked over an open fire, and slept under the stars. She learned to play the didgeridoo and talked with Australians from all backgrounds.
Upon returning to the US, Laine learned about Native American culture by participating in ceremonies and discussing different concepts and traditions with tribal members. She then became a certified Master in Huna, the Hawaiian system of shamanic beliefs, and now speaks extensively about what these three cultures offer modern people. To take her deeper into her work, in February of 2005 she was ordained as an interfaith minister.
For the last ten years, Laine has used perspectives from native cultures, ancient spirituality and a host of religions to provide simple, accessible solutions for daily life. Popular topics include women's empowerment, the untold secret behind prosperity, living your dreams, and relationships from love to marriage and friendship.
She has conducted seminars at EarthStar Spiritual Center; The Loft, the nation's largest independent literary center; White Earth reservation; the National Writer's Union (NWU); Spirits Touch Shamanism; A Center for the Arts annual conference; Sacramento Reads!; the New York Mills Cultural Center; and others. Currently she lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina. In her spare time she hikes, dances at Native American powwows in the traditional women's buckskin category, and devours movies in nearly every genre
Everything she writes, both fiction and nonfiction, weaves traditional and modern thoughts, ideas and concepts into messages that help people live better lives. Her first novel is set in the Australian outback; it has won two national awards and has been called "the best novel in ten years." In Message Stick, Gabriel Branch must face a murderous shaman and the Aboriginal heritage he lost as a child.
Seven Sisters is the first book in her nonfiction series. Australian Aboriginal folktales are paired with essays that help modern people deal with daily issues. People haven't changed much in thousands of years; only their external world has changed. The wisdom found in different ancient cultures is as valid today as it was then...and provides new perspectives that are as powerful as they are straightforward. Launch date is now set for late fall to early winter of this year.
The second book in this series will pair Native American folktales with new essays.
Laine went on a radio show out of Amsterdam, NY, to discuss the native perspective on the swine flu pandemic. She has appeared on television segments including "What The Secret didn't tell you about success," or The Three Hawaiian Minds. A radio show appearance focusing on love mixed ideas from all three cultures, and a psychologist interviewed her for a series on women's empowerment. Press coverage includes MSNBC, USA Today, Sydney Morning Herald, Awareness Magazine, Ladie's Home Journal, Die Presse (Austria's national newspaper), and television and radio talk shows in three countries.
She is available for speaking engagements for large and small groups. She is also available for one-on-one counseling. Click on the menu for information about seminars, workshops, presentations and ceremonies then call to book her for your group.
