Grandmothers Bernadette, Margaret & Agnes in conference |
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| Type | Non-profit |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Location | Sonora, California |
| Focus | Environmentalism, internationalism, indigenous rights, cooperation and peace |
| Website | www.grandmotherscouncil.com |
The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers is a group of Spiritual Elders who came together in 2004 to form an international alliance of indigenous female elders. The Grandmothers are concerned for the state of the world and all living in it; believe that the need for change is urgent; and consider that their formation is fulfilling an ancient prophecy by many indigenous people of the world in which,
| “ | when the Grandmothers from the four directions speak, a new time is coming.[1] | ” |
By 6 February 2010, the Grandmothers had a pool of 889 years of wisdom and experience to rely on.[2]
Contents |
The Council was founded and sponsored by a non-profit organisation, The Center for Sacred Studies, under guidance of the Center's Spiritual Director Jyoti.[3] The Grandmothers Council initially met, for 7 days, on 11 October 2004 at the Dalai Lama's Menla Retreat Center on Panther Mountain in Phoenicia, New York, declaring themselves a council at that meeting. The choice of location for the meeting, the land of the Iroquois, was fitting as the Iroquois nation always consulted their own Council of Grandmothers before any decision was made, including whether or not to go to war.[4]
The number of Grandmothers who could have joined the Council might have been more. In total, sixteen spiritual elders were contacted by Jyoti and asked to join the council. The number of Grandmothers who finally accepted the invitation (thirteen) coincidentally is seen as auspicious, as thirteen is a number held sacred in many indigenous cultures and appears in a prophecy of the Grandmother of one of the Grandmothers. When Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein was nine years old, her Grandmother told her that she would be in a council of Grandmothers and gave her thirteen eagle feathers and thirteen stones, telling her to give them to the Council of Grandmothers when they finally met.[5]
Instrumental to the creation of the Council was Jyoti's vision of a sacred basket. When Jyoti shared this vision with future Council Member Bernadette Rebienot, they realised that they had had the same vision. Bernadette Rebienot had also signed a letter with Peruvian Indigenous people to unite in protecting Mother Earth. The letter (paraphrased by Jyoti) read:
We were here before the governments came and we will be here after the governments leave. It is not okay for them to go into our forest and patent our medicine without our permission. It is time for all First Nation people to stand up globally and declare our solidarity as First Nation people and guardians of our planet again.
Later, in the Brazilian rainforest Jyoti met with Maria Alice Campos Freire who, with her daughter, had an almost identical letter which they had signed with six tribes within the inter-regional Brazilian rainforest in Jurua. Due to this realisation, the International Council of Indigenous Grandmothers was formed.[6][7]
It was a surprise for Jyoti to be told, at the first Council meeting, of the existence of First Nation indigenous prophesies of a council of 13 Grandmothers.[8]
The Council believe that their ancestral ways of "prayer, peacemaking, and healing are vitally needed today."[9]
Other abilities which the Grandmothers state that they are able to offer are, "how to [develop and reinstate] the proper relationship between women and men, integrating traditional and indigenous medicine, maintaining the Earth's balance, and bringing forth the collective power of wise women by deepening our relationship with the feminine." [10]
One lesson which the Grandmothers stress is the concept of communality and sharing that is common in all indigenous people.[11]
The Grandmothers refer to prophecies from each of their cultures about the Purification Times, claiming that people will be cleansed through changing themselves from being materially to spiritually oriented.[12]
The Grandmothers state that indigenous tribes have been connected with the earth and had the role of Earth's caretakers. The Grandmothers wish to help restore this connection, and the role of respect for and care of the planet, in order to restore the balance that has been lost.[13]
The Grandmothers are open to share rituals and ceremonies with others in order to advance healing. This includes sharing with people who have been their oppressors.[14]
The Grandmothers together petitioned the Catholic Church in 2005 and 2008, asking that it revoke a 15th-century Papal bull and related edicts which authorised Portugal to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans". This sanction, relating to the invasion of the west coast of Africa, contributed to set the agenda in the conquest of the Americas.[15] The Grandmothers did not wish to personally blame or accuse Pope Benedict XVI (the head of the Catholic Church) for any complicity, as he was not there; they only ask Pope Benedict XVI to close the door on past policy and set the stage for a new climate of acceptance of indigenous people. If the Church does this, the Grandmothers feel that it would lift the stigma on the Catholic Church and be "a feather in the cap" of Pope Benedict XVI.[16]
The Grandmothers received no reply from Pope Benedict XVI after this request, nor after delivering their petition to the Vatican City by hand in 2008. However, their requests are seen as significant.[17]
The Papal Bulls that the Grandmothers are demanding to be revoked are:
One of the things that the Grandmothers feel is vital for effecting change is to re-balance the relationship between the sexes. Being givers of life and connected with the seasons, the Grandmothers see that women are achieving important roles and going through changes. The Grandmothers suggest that men should take on the roles of women so that this will free women to help the change needed in the world.[19]
During a satellite conference with Bioneers, the grandmothers were asked how men could help with their work and global change. The answer, voiced by Maria Alice Campos Freire, was to be humble and thus receptive. Bernadette Rebienot added, with a smile, that "anything is possible."[20]
The Grandmothers consider that indigenous medicine should remain legal and free from ownership or being patented.[21] The Grandmothers believe that indigenous peoples are "the Guardians of the forest and medicines and are appointed by nature" rather than forests being destroyed for the greed of the few.[22]
It was proposed at the first meeting, by Grandmother Agnes, that the Council should meet every six months in order to "build our relations and learn about each other's cultures."[23] Since then, with one exception when Grandmother Bernadette was unwell in 2008, the 13 members of the Council have been hosted by each of the 13 Grandmothers in turn twice a year.[24] The frequency of the councils are also seen as necessary because of the urgency of their work.[25]
During their meetings, the Grandmothers begin by carrying out a seven-day prayer vigil, each wearing her own traditional dress and carrying out her own prayers and ceremonies.[26]
The work of the Grandmothers is said to have inspired the creation of "little circles of Grandmothers around the world."[27]
The dedication of the Grandmothers is said to be very great. Before arriving at one of the Council meetings, Aama Bombo from Nepal is said to have "literally walked through bombs dropping in order to get to the airplane so that she could get to one of our meetings".[28]
The author Carol Schaefer worked with the Grandmothers to publish Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet through Trumpeter Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications. In a note to the reader the author writes,
Finally, though my name appears on the cover of this book, the words of wisdom expressed within it are not mine, and I do not lay claim to them. In a sense, this book represents our collective spiritual heritage.[29]
The book has been printed in nine different languages.[30] It is in its 4th edition in English.[31]
The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Carole Hart directed the film, For the Next 7 Generations: The Grandmothers Speak which documents the Grandmothers as they meet and travel around the world.[32]
The title of the film stems from the indigenous culture of long-term acting and planning in order to consider how one's actions would affect the next seven generations.[33]
The film won the 'best of festival' and 'best documentary' at the Talking Circle Film Festival in Hawai'i in 2009.
Several elders have been involved in supporting the message and work of the Grandmothers, among them: