Video clip about the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers by filmmaker Carole Hart, maker of the documentary film For The Next Seven Generations.
In October of 2004, thirteen elders from indigenous cultures scattered around the world met at the Menla Mountain Retreat in Phoenicia. Sacred objects were revered. Prophecies were uttered. Visions were shared. And out of that meeting, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers was born: an alliance of women with nearly 900 years of life experience between them, dedicated to furthering world peace, the ecological health of the planet, and the well-being of women and indigenous cultures.
Seven years later, the Council is still going strong, and its members convene every six months. They've had a documentary made about them. They've traveled the globe dispensing words of wisdom to groups from the National Organization for Women to the Bioneers. They've petitioned the Pope to retract 15th-century papal bulls giving nations the authority to vanquish "Saracens and pagans." (No response yet from His Holiness.)
Next week, the thirteen grandmothers return to upstate New York for a week-long workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck. And along the way, the New Paltz Times reports, a few of the grandmothers will be stopping at a farm in New Paltz to pray for the Shawangunk Ridge. The ceremony will be this Sunday, June 5, at 1pm, and the public is invited:
Billed as a “Blessing of the Children,” this ceremony is open to the general public and will take place at the Three Suns Farm (a/k/a the Brownstein land) at 47 Butterville Road. Parking is limited, so please carpool if possible, and bring your own food and drink for the afternoon event, which is sponsored by the Wild Earth Wilderness School. Although there is no fee for attendance, donations toward the upcoming Tenth Council gathering in Brazil will be most welcome. So if you ever get a yearning to be part of something much bigger and deeper than your workaday existence, this lovely spot with a heart-stopping view of the Gunks may just be the crucial place to be this Sunday afternoon.
