International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers (aka the 13 Pay to Pray Old Ladies)

[Teacher]

Hey folks -- just got this in my "inbox": 

Posted By: Margin Broux
To: Members in 13 Indigenous Grandmothers from all over the world
Early Registration Discount for the CSS Ministry Training Program?
Becoming a Minister of Prayer through the Center for Sacred Studies prepares one to assist others as they move through the many transitions of life. Directed study creates the opportunity to explore specific methodologies, practices, theories, traditions, beliefs, scriptures, and philosophies, as well as allowing for the integration of individual spiritual experiences. In addition to developing the skills and knowledge to act as a support to others, this process is designed to enlighten an individual's practice of worship and daily living-for the purpose of living life as a "walking prayer".

Individuals who successfully complete the course of training can be ordained as a Minister of Prayer, and will be qualified to conduct ceremonies, facilitate study groups, and mentor others in the process of spiritual unfoldment unique to each individual.

Members of The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers are featured (in the Grandmothers Corner), along with instructors from our staff and allies.

The Next Class Begins May 1, 2011
The two-year on-line program consists of 22 monthly modules, four breathwork workshops, and two five-day retreats held on-site in Northern California. Each full-time student has a Mentor, and there are two hour-long conference calls per month: one with the instructor, and one with our Spiritual Director, Jyoti. Upon completion of the program, you can be ordained as a Minister of Prayer with the ability to support others at marriages, births, deaths, and other transitions of life.

We offer two options for enrolling in the Ministry Training Program:
(1) The full two-year course - $2750 per year, $5500 in total.
Tuition does not include the 4 breathwork sessions or the two retreats.
(2) The Auditing option - $1100 per year, $2200 in total.
The Auditing Option has reduced requirements and does not lead to ordination, but auditors have access to all the audio and video content.
Flexible payment plans are available.

Click http://www.cssministryofprayer.org/files/mtp_registration_open.html to download a description of our program and an Application Form.

To qualify for a $500 early registration discount, completed registration must be submitted before January 15, 2011. If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to send an email or give us a phone call.

Contact Information:
Mary McCulloch, Registrar
registrarmtp@yahoo.com
www.cssministryofprayer.org
Phone: 415-552-1692
Toll-free Fax: 1-866-685-8962


 

[Saga]

Ok, I love the old ladies and their speeches (that I've watched from youtube), but this is a bit......

[Superdog]

I wouldn't put the blame for this exploitation on the grandmothers.  As the "course" outline stated they are "featured" along with other staff and allies.  From what's been posted they are not the instructors nor do they show any endorsement of this program.  What I'm seeing is the Center for Sacred Studies using them to advertise and bolster the appearance of the legitimacy of their program. 

I'm sure it sells more than actually stating the truth:

"For only $5500 you too can become "certified" in our version communal tribal specific practices that we have conveniently streamlined into a cookie cutter version that will get you a piece of paper that tells you that you are now a master jedi knight (or what they call a "sacred minister" or something) that only YOU will recognize and will have the power to run the universe from your online internet connection.  Come and watch our free youtube videos and read public freely available transcripts of people that charge for their self appointed guru services as well as pretend we represent legitimate individuals through this construct and pay top dollar for it so you can feel like you've gotten the absolute best wisdom money can buy and live the lie we tell you to live."

Doubt it would sell as well at that high of a price.....

Sheesh "Individuals who successfully complete the course of training can be ordained as a Minister of Prayer, and will be qualified to conduct ceremonies, facilitate study groups, and mentor others in the process of spiritual unfoldment unique to each individual."

They might add "you don't even have to physically meet any instructors or actually apply any of the things we're attempting to teach because it's all done online with no accountability and as long as your check is good...in two years all this will be yours."

Oh brother....   

Superdog

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

Well, after reading that, why wouldn't the grandmothers cancel? 

[Defend the Sacred]

http://www.cssministryofprayer.org/files/MTP_Pamphlet_2011.pdf

"This approach to life is based on the teachings of the “Original Peoples” — who related to the world by
“listening” to the world around them as a form of guidance from Spirit."

Note past tense there.

"This is a process that facilitates the path of discovering one’s own gifts of healing, what the Original Peoples call one’s “medicine”. This is a perspective that views every being as a unique herb in the garden of Creation. It’s a perspective that encourages one to cultivate that herb — to follow the Spirit of their true Self — and, ultimately, to actualize one’s Self."

Selling an alleged way to "medicine" which is now reduced to "self-actualization".

Members of the 13 Grannies group are listed here as instructors:

http://www.cssministryofprayer.org/files/MTP_Pamphlet_2011.pdf
*************************************************

Course of Study: Modules and Instructors

Year One Modules  May 1 – March 31   Instructor   Grandmothers’ Corner  Date

2. How to work the process Jyoti and Russell D. Park, Ph.D. Beatrice LV Holy Dance June Y1
3. Choosing your spiritual Nancy Rowe, Ph.D. Mona Polacca July Y1
practice
4. Walking your prayer Ryan Brandenburg Flordemayo Aug Y1
5. Transpersonal Psychology Russell D. Park, Ph.D Margaret Behan Sept Y1
6. Mystical Faiths Gloria Karpinski Rita LV Holy Dance Oct Y1
7. Vedic Technologies of Consciousness - Candace Badgett Aama Bombo Nov Y1

9. Prayer as a Science Ryan Brandenburg Bernadette Jan Y1
10.Prayer As Action Darlene Hunter Agnes Baker Pilgrim Feb Y1
11.Dialogue with Creation Flordemayo   Rita Blumenstein Mar Y1
*****************************************************

Screencaps attached.

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

Well, after reading that, why wouldn't the grandmothers cancel? 

I mean, if they are that sought after, then they have the opportunity to lay down
some boundaries and teach something of respect. All this reflect badly on them, imo,
I don't see where they are not part of it.

[Saga]

Oh, and I didn't mean to blame the grandmothers with my comment, just meant that it really does sound a bit bad to connect them to this thing that seems to be mostly about getting big bucks... If they would attend tho, then they might actually have something valuable to say to all those people... Still makes me sad that they are connected to all that make lost elite happy stuff. Since no normal person can afford those expensies.

[ska]

Anchorage Alaska to Host 9th Gathering of the Int'l Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers

http://www.prlog.org/11408161-anchorage-alaska-to-host-9th-gathering-of-the-intl-council-of-13-indigenous-grandmothers.html

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 30, 2011 – Convening on May 18, 2011 at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage Alaska, the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers will open their 9th Council gathering.  The gathering is open to the public through May 21. 

Hosting the gathering is Yup'ik elder and healer, Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein.  The theme, "Healing the Spirit from the Light Within," will manifest through three and a half days of prayer ceremonies, healings and cultural exchanges. 

The gathering begins with a traditional Eklutna Leader's welcome, followed by the Yup'ik purification dance known as Tarvamaramken.  Local dignitaries include Alaska Federation of Natives President, Julie Kitka, former State Senator, Arliss Sturgelewski, and Father Peter Chris.

Three times daily at the sacred fire in the park, each of the 13 Grandmothers is scheduled to offer prayers from her respective tribal tradition. The Grandmothers will offer a special blessing of the homeless, veterans (men and women) and men at the sacred fire. A Youth Environment Education Program will include traditions in tending a sacred fire. Women and children will be blessed indoors.

Each morning and afternoon Open Council roundtables will be held during which participants can publicly address the Grandmothers. Open Council themes include the role of women and motherhood, restoring your foundation and peace (mental, physical, spiritual health), healing Mother Earth, and balancing life with laugher, tears and healing.

Grandmothers' Mission Statement:
We, The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.

Origins of the Grandmothers' Council:
In the fall of 2004 thirteen indigenous Grandmothers gathered from the four directions, from Alaska, North, South, and Central America; Africa; and Asia. They came together at the Tibet House Menla Mountain Retreat center in upstate New York. Within three days they formed a Global Alliance for the good of all beings.
The Council was set in motion by a common vision, prophecies seeded decades ago in many people around the world. One of these seeds was planted by members of the Center for Sacred Studies which helps facilitate the Grandmothers many activities.

[Defend the Sacred]

Pay: http://www.grandmotherscouncil.org/alaska-gathering-new

Pray: "Don't miss out on this opportunity to pray with the Grandmothers"

[Epiphany]

One of Bennie LeBeau's sites http://www.earthwisdomfoundation.net/ lists International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and Turtle Women Rising http://www.turtlewomenrising.com/ as co-sponsors. Bennie was just recently through Olympia, WA - may be back this June, and I see Turtle Women Rising will do an event in Olympia in October. Turtle Women Rising states that they are "in alliance and purpose" with the International Council of 13.

Both of those groups are part of http://www.sacredstudies.org/

This thread here on Council of 13 and the entire site is very helpful in working to decipher some of this, thank you. Will help in figuring out what to communicate to people locally who are pulled into these events and groups.

[nemesis]

Wisdom of the Mother with Grandma Mona Polacca

Time   
Friday, May 6 at 7:30pm - May 8 at 5:30pm
Location   
The Waterfall House
Created By   
THE WATERFALL HOUSE AND RETREAT CENTER
More Info   
Wisdom of the Mother -Ancestral teachings and ceremonies with
GRANDMOTHER MONA POLACCA
of the Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers

With Yoga and Meditation by Debi Medeski
And nourishing foods for body and soul by Jill Pettijohn

"[Generations of grandparents] prayed for the great-great-great-great-great grandchildren they would never see, but knew were coming. They prayed for us to be praying people, to continue the prayer, and to recognize through a prayer when you are blessed. The way I have been taught in walking this road is to always take time to acknowledge our ancestors, those who were here before us and were the ones who made the prayers that made it possible for to be here. In order for me to be able to stand or kneel on Mother Earth, to make a prayer, it's because of them." ~Grandmother Mona Polacca

Dear Friends & Extended Waterfall House Family

We are very excited to be joined again this year by Hopi Elder Mona Polacca for a Mother's Day weekend of teachings honoring the Mother/Grandmother energy. This is a very special opportunity to connect and pray with (and for) your own mother or grandmother, as well as honor the mother aspect in all of her human and divine forms which exists in the cosmos, the elements, the animals and in the earth herself. You are encouraged to bring your family and learn together about this "beauty way" of prayer and gratitude from a revered grandmother whose ways are gentle, but whose teachings are powerful and deeply transformative.

The weekend will consist of two sweat lodges (one for adults and one for children), talking circles, nature walks, yoga classes, creative time and even a chocolate making class for the kids!

Delicious food will be provided by chef extraordinaire, Jill Pettijohn. You will also have the option of doing one of her amazing juice cleanses if desired. The weekend will culminate with a big Mother's Day brunch.

Please scroll to the end of this email for more details and if you have any questions or would like to register for this event please email me at debramedeski@gmail.com.

Also please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested. Thank you!
_________________________

Space is limited so register to hold your spot soon!

Dates
May 6th to 8th, 2011

Costs
$350 1st person (all inclusive with dorm room accommodations, private rooms $100 extra)
$250 2nd person (family members only, bring your child, parent, grandparent or partner)
$150 children up to 12

Location
The Waterfall House.
256 West Fulton Rd., West Fulton, NY 12194
518-827-8718

Registration
Email Debi at debramedeski@gmail.com for more information or to sign up.

_________________________


Weekend schedule (subject to change)

Friday May 6th
Arrive between 3 and 5pm
Opening circle
Dinner
Teachings/talk with Mona

Saturday May 7th
Breakfast
Nature walk/offerings
Adult Yoga and Meditation with Debi
Kids teachings with fire keeper
Kids sweat lodge

Lunch
Kids Yoga and Meditation with Debi and Tulsi
Adult Sweat Lodge
Kids chocolate making class with Jill

Dinner
Teachings/talk with Mona

Sunday May 8th
Light breakfast
All ages Yoga and Meditation with Debi
Teachings/talk with Mona
Nature walk
Closing circle

Mother's Day Brunch
3 to 5pm Check out

_________________________


Grandmother Mona Polacca

"Indigenous people have come through a time of great struggle, a time of darkness. The way I look at it is like the nature of a butterfly. In the cocoon, a place of darkness, the creature breaks down into a fluid and then a change, a transformation, takes place. When it is ready and in
its own time, it begins to move and develop a form that stretches and breaks away from this cocoon and emerges into this world, into life, as a beautiful creature. We grandmothers, we have emerged from that darkness, see this beauty, see each other and reach out to the world with open arms, with love, hope, compassion, faith and charity".
~Mona Polacca

Mona, a Hopi/Havasupai /Tewa elder, and one of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, has a Master of Social Work degree. She serves on several United Nations committees on indigenous people's issues and is a featured author, speaker, and educator on indigenous people's human rights, aging, mental health, addiction and violence. She is also the President/CEO and faculty of the Turtle Island Project, a non-profit program that promotes a vision of wellness by providing trans-cultural training to individuals, families, and healthcare professionals.


Debi Medeski

Debi was born and raised near West Chester, Pennsylvania. She attended Temple University in Philadelphia and in 1991 moved to New York City. She studied photography at the International Center for Photography in Manhattan and worked as a photo journalist for 6 years until she gave it all up for Yoga.

She started practicing Yoga in 1995 after stumbling across the studio of the revered Shri Dharma Mittra. She was soon hooked and left her job with the New York Daily News to pursue a career as a Yoga teacher. She started teaching at the Dharma Yoga Center in 1997 and two years later completed the Jivamukti Yoga Center's year-long, 2000-hour teacher training program. She continued to teach Yoga at Jivamukti, various health clubs and privately in New York City until 2000 when her daughter was born and she moved to Woodstock, NY.

Debi then opened Bliss Yoga Center in Woodstock and worked there as owner, director, teacher and even coordinator for 10 years until she sold it in the summer of 2010 to focus more on her teaching and retreats. She has led eight 200-hour Yoga teacher trainings on her own and is now completing her ninth as co-director along with her fellow teacher and soul sister, senior Yoga instructor, Alison Sinatra, of Kula Yoga, NYC and Bliss Yoga, Woodstock.

Her Yoga asana style is influenced by her teachers who come from many different traditions including Sivananda, Jivamukti, Iyengar, Ashtanga and Anusara Yoga. Her inspiration continues to come from the Bhakti Yoga transmitions of Shri Amritanandamayi Ma (Ammachi) to the Shamanic teachings of North and South American native peoples.

Debi has been leading retreats all over the world from Europe to Central and South America.
For the last 4 years she has been concentrating on bringing groups to the Andean Mountains and Amazonian jungles of Peru. She lives in the Woodstock area with her husband John and her 11 year-old daughter Tulsi, who will be joining her on this retreat.


Jill Pettijohn

Jill was born and raised in New Zealand and is a registered nurse. She attended La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia where she studied fine art photography and film making. She has lived in the U.S. for 21 years.

She began working in restaurants as a waiter and quickly moved to the kitchen working as a chef. She has worked as a personal chef for celebrities such as Donna Karan, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Drew Barrymore, and Steven Seagal and has worked as a food stylist both for magazines and for movies and commercials.

Jill says this, "During this period my philosophy of food began to change, gone are the more traditional thoughts and relationships with food to be replaced with a more nuturing and healing relationship with what one puts into their bodies. I use food more as medicine. I believe in using fresh and organic produce and most of the food I prepare is termed, living food. I have been a vegetarian for over 25 years and I truly believe that by teaching people to understand their bodies they can better serve themselves for a more energetic and medicine free lifestyle. It all starts with the life force that passes your lips. Having a medical background has proved fortunate to allow me to understand the human body and to teach others. I have a natural curiosity and look forward to being able to research things further. I have began creating simple 5 day nutritional cleanses for the average person who has never fasted before. These are proving very successful and I am documenting the results, for future use".

source:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114242738650437

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

They're now working on making a documentary..

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1834620749/the-ride-home-a-documentary-and-webseries/

Grandmother Margaret of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers envisioned a modern horseback ride retracing the historic route of the tragic and heroic Cheyenne Exodus of 1878. On June 1st, six riders of diverse backgrounds and eight wild mustangs rescued from slaughter are embarking on this journey to fulfill the Grandmothers’ vision of mourning, healing, offering and forgiveness.

The Council has now seen that this unique voyage should be witnessed and co-written by as many as possible, as these riders cultivate the wisdom of the Earth, the horse spirit and the Cheyenne ancestors. Our team has been engaged to fulfill this incredible mission. We are going to create a feature-length documentary, THE RIDE HOME, as well as regular series of web-docs from the trail over the entire course of the ride. And we’re going to do it with your help! Because while we’re engaging our resources to pursue grants and funding from a broad spectrum of sources, the (ridiculously) short time line before the ride begins, means we need some generous hearts and not just a little bit of magic to get us started on strong feet and hooves.

[Smart Mule]

I clicked the link.  I don't see any involvement from the Northern Cheyenne.  The Northern Cheyenne already do this http://www.yellowbirdinc.org/cms/index.php?page=fort-robinson-outbreak-spiritual-run.  Oh, and look at that (on the link critter posted), Dennis Banks is involved 

[Defend the Sacred]

I don't see any involvement from the Northern Cheyenne in this, either. It is not on the tribe's website, where community projects, open ceremonies, pow wows, and other events are posted. http://www.cheyennenation.com/

I also don't see any Northern Cheyenne involvement in this "Cheyenne Elders Council" Margaret Behan is saying she represents (or is going to form). There are already Cheyenne Elders' councils, so why does she need to create a new one?

It looks like on July 1, 2008, Margaret Behan registered "Cheyenne Elders Council, Inc" as a nonprofit corporation, out of a P.O. Box in Lame Deer. http://www.charityblossom.org/nonprofit/cheyenne-elders-council-inc-lame-deer-mt-59043-margaret-behen-300477652/
Her webpage about her project (http://www.cheyenneelderscouncil.org/) only shows pictures of herself, only lists her as a member, and the address for donations is a P.O. Box in New York City (Cheyenne Elders Council, PO Box 1260, New York, NY 10009-1260): http://www.cheyenneelderscouncil.org/Donations.html

Somehow I doubt people who read, "Cheyenne Elders Council" will know that this is a private org, with only one reported member, as opposed to a real council made up of recognized Cheyenne community Elders.

The text on the old ladies' page (http://www.grandmotherscouncil.org/Montana/Montana.html) is unclear as to whether this campout will be on tribal lands. I haven't called to find out but, given the phrasing of the adverts, I'm wondering if Behan bought private land in Lame Deer. They keep saying it's on her land.  As I'm pretty sure Behan herself has admitted, it's my understanding that she did not grow up on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, but that she moved there as an adult. I don't know if she was involved in any NDN community before that. But even if she's only lived there for a few years, or even a decade, she would already know there are real councils. I don't see how asking newagers to send donations to New York City to buy tipis for the 13 old ladies helps the Cheyenne.

And, no surprise, a minimum "donation" of $200 or more is required if you want to attend. http://www.grandmotherscouncil.org/Montana/Montana.html (They take PayPal!) In addition, you will have to pay $100 per person to camp there. Of course, like the other old ladies' events, this is being marketed to non-Natives. Looking over the pages for the film and ride they want to do, the supporters look almost entirely like non-Native newagers.

[Defend the Sacred]

And... They are doing a repeat pay to pray event at the Omega Institute - a Newage center in upstate New York that hosts some of the worst explointers. Listed under "Shamanism & Native Wisdom":

http://www.eomega.org/workshops/the-wisdom-of-the-thirteen-indigenous-grandmothers
___________________________________________________________________________

Workshop: The Wisdom of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
June 10, 2012 – June 15, 2012
Location: Rhinebeck, NY
Tuition: $435
(additional fees range from $370 if you camp, to $1,220 if you stay in a private, rustic cabin. So the $425 is the fee for prayer, ceremony, and "teachings")

This is an extraordinary opportunity to experience the timeless wisdom of indigenous elders joining together in sacred space to pray for all life and for the next seven generations to come.
...
This special week of traditional prayer, meditations, silence, ceremony, and council is open to all women and men of goodwill.
...
This gathering of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers includes:

Margaret Behan (Arapaho/Cheyenne from Montana)

Rita Pitka Blumenstein (Yup’ik from the Arctic Circle)

Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance (Oglala Lakota from the Black Hills of South Dakota)

Rita Long-Visitor Holy Dance (Oglala Lakota from the Black Hills of South Dakota)

Agnes Baker Pilgrim (Takelma Siletz from Grants Pass in Oregon)

Mona Polacca (Hopi/Havasupai/Tewa from Arizona)