Wisdom of the Grandmothers

• Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim
• Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmother was set in motion by common visions and prophecies, seeded decades ago in many people around the world. Some of the prophecies were held for generations by the Grandmothers’ peoples. Some of those visions were held by members of the Center for Sacred Studies (CSS), who convened the Grandmothers in 2004.

In this opening session, Grandmothers Rita Pitka Blumenstein joins Grandmothers Agnes Baker Pilgrim, sharing the prophetic spiritual messages that gave birth to this global movement – and sharing what is at the core of their work. You’ll learn how these elders see our current times, and how we can answer the larger call for us to transform our relationship with each other and the earth.

• Grandmother Ambassador Pauline Tangiora

We all live within a global planet. However, we need to accept that we are not all the same. Over the past hundreds of years, there has been oppression of peoples who live in a natural world – receiving what Mother Earth and Sky Father provide for our daily existence, and making it possible for the generations who follow to care and carry on to the next generation. This has meant that transmigration, whether by force or accident, has deprived indigenous nations of their place in their country – and therefore their society.

• Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim
• Grandmother Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance

The Grandmothers come from lines of prayer and ceremony that restore and renew our relationship to Creation, and to one another. This session will focus on truly living ceremony as a powerful way to heal relationships, create bonds of mutual trust, and access great energies that are not available on our own. From ceremony, we learn about the importance of mutuality and reciprocity.

• Grandmother Mona Polacca
• Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance

The Grandmothers follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, and bring that wisdom to share with all of us. Indigenous traditions revere ancestors, and you’ll understand from this session how to create a deeper relationship with your physical and cultural lineages. This gives a sense of place, of rooting and grounding, as well as cultivating a state of deeper gratitude for life itself.

• Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim
• Grandmother Mona Polacca

One of the key teachings of The Grandmothers is to take responsibility for peace in our communities and peace in our hearts. Part of this is developing a deeper relationship with the natural elements around us. By entering into this reverential relationship, we begin to know water, for instance, as the source and the mother of life.

Listen as the Grandmothers share about their relation to this primary element. Learn to connect more profoundly with the water inside you and around you – which leads to a real shift in how you move through life.

• Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance
• Grandmother Julieta Casimiro

The heart of the Grandmothers’ prayers are for the next seven generations – so that the ways of life continue. As we educate our children in the ways of peace, harmony and balance with the earth, and with one another, we grow a world of hope. For our children will carry the action of peace forward into the future.

• Grandmother Julieta Casimiro

For all peoples, throughout all times, sacred songs have given voice to the deepest connections with Source. Songs open hearts and heal bodies; they call on spirits and banish negativity. Grandmothers Maria Alice Campos Freire and Julieta Casimiro use sacred song and chants in their healing ceremonies. They will share their songs and the wisdom of this sacred medicine of sound.