Quero Apache lineage carrier Maria Yraceburu reminds us 90% of what our culture tells us is wrong, and it is time to reclaim the truth. As thirty-five of us gathered from across the nation in Northern New Mexico for the first annual Grandmothers Summit we witnessed each others power and claimed our unity as transformative wisdom keepers; we reclaimed the truth. It is time for the women to guide humanity into our true birthright of love, beauty and integrated power. This is what the Grandmothers Summit was all about.
Maria Yraceburu
The Grandmothers Gathering has emerged out of The Sisters of Honua Dream Seed Council that carries a vision of women’s groups worldwide dreaming the new reality together. Future Grandmothers Gatherings will be designed to address the main issues the women in the local councils have been dealing with through that year. This is the way we shall change the world.
Two weeks before the Grandmothers Summit I had a dream.
A group of Yraceburu EarthWisdom women had gathered in a classroom. I shared a dream I had experienced where I had a glowing white X “written” on my abdomen. I asked the group if any of them had had a similar experience and most of them raised their hands as yes. Later I looked at a post-it with lines drawn on it and colored in with multiple highlighter pens. After seeing this image I also knew that the X on my belly was rainbow colored.
When I asked Maria about this dream she said it is a sign we have become Universal. We are reclaiming our expansive star-seed lineage and transforming into the carriers of the new paradigm of peace and cooperation. Maria Yraceburu has said that as we all walk into these changing times the women will lead the way over the Rainbow Bridge into the 5th World of harmony, they will reach out and take the children’s hands, and the children will bring the men along.
Guardian Deni Halterman with Yolanda Martinez
Guardians Janet Elk & Melissa Weiss Steele {moi}
I was honored to be one of the Guardians at this event, and it allowed me a view of the process that was unique and fascinating. To be consciously tracking the energies, supporting the teachers and creating the container that allowed the event to be welcoming and cohesive was a rewarding position. Flow is our job. The Guardian allows the teacher to focus on offering her gifts because the Guardian is managing the practical logistics as well as tracking the energetic dynamics. The Guardian is to intuitively “see through the eyes” of the presenter so her needs are graciously met. To be able to anticipate what the presenter actually needs instead of what your own projections may be is a valuable skill to cultivate.
During our Guardianship training with Maria Yraceburu she spoke of the crucial balance between giving and receiving. Many women have never experienced the support a dedicated Guardian can offer while they are working in the world. To be able to rely on the Guardians presence is a gift we all need to cultivate. Because Maria was raised by her Apache Grandfather, Juan Ten Bears, within the web of extended-family connections she has an innate understanding of Native cultural behaviors. She explained during our training that to truly be in harmony one must know how to both give and receive. Many of us over-give, while receiving is a challenge. Maria shared that as a newcomer to a Native community you may be observed to see how well you receive. This shows them how authentic your giving is, because if you can receive you are in balance. This is an essential piece for many of us to truly be resilient and sustainable in our work and relationships, to learn how to be taken care of as well as care take. Thank you Vanessa, Max and Serena for allowing me to be your Guardian; Janet and Deni my fellow Guardians for a beautiful experience of harmonious team-work; and the entire gathering for allowing me to both give and receive. It was an honor.
Vallecitas Retreat Center
I would like to share a little taste of each of the presenters at this year’s event…a little snapshot of the gifts we received during this potent week. There are links to all of the presenters websites at http://www.sistersofhonua.org/ if you want to learn more about their work and other events, pilgrimages and local Dream Councils you may host.
Vanessa Kay & Yolanda Martinez
Vanessa Kay Bayesmana grew up in the Pueblo culture of Trinidad, Colorado. She is a Biologist working in Dark Field Microscopy and analyzes blood to find optimal health and wellness in individuals. She currently works in partnership with the Shipibo Indians of Peru to sustain rainforest culture and harvest sacred herbs honorably. Vanessa is a delightful woman. The room lights up when she smiles, and she carries her wisdom with a gentleness and warmth that immediately puts one at ease. Her offering to the group was both a process of witnessing each other’s current transformations and the nourishment of botanical spa treatments. It was a lovely way to begin the program through bonding with a partner and pampering ourselves through her deep relationship to the sacred herbs.
Melinda Allec on the left
Melinda Allec is an Energy Medicine Practitioner and artist whose training with Alberto Villoldo lead her to being initiated in the Holy Mountains of Peru by the Q’ero, descendents of the Inka High Shamans. Through Melinda’s own personal transformation she has become a valued guide in supporting others in releasing suffering and struggle in their own lives. Melinda has depth in her eyes. She holds her light and her dark, offering each of us a change to embrace our own complexities. Her presentation was a mix of modalities that she has developed to reach the un-integrated parts of ourselves and reclaim our wholeness. The work was both intimate and intense, a powerful taste of the gifts she now carries.
Lynda Yraceburu
Lynda Yraceburu is world renowned as a lineage carrier and practitioner of the lost Gypsy Healing Art of Vas Pesh-HandWalking. She is also an earth spirit photographer capturing the spirit within the natural world. Vas-Pesh is an ancient system the Romani Gypsy people cultivated to care for themselves as they lived their nomadic lifestyle. Working with the hands was potent, quick and extremely effective. Lynda now carries this simple yet mighty modality through her own workshops and healing practice. Lynda is also a powerful storyteller and her examples of life-changing sessions with the Vas-Pesh work were truly inspiring.
The Mellissae-honey bees {Mellissa Seaman on the left}
Mellissa Seaman is a Shamanic Priestess and co-founder of Avalon Springs, a hot springs retreat center with organic gardens and ecovillage in Northern California. Mellissa shared with us her deep feminine wisdom through her YoniSpeak channeled messages. If you have a chance to go see her do this, GO. I was struck by how irreverent and playful the messages were at times, reminding us that we have signed up for a grand game of duality on earth to experience embodiment fully. We’ve chosen to feel the whole spectrum from isolation to love, suffering to bliss, and through the messages in the channeling we could step out of the limiting stories and witness the fascinating process. Wisdom when delivered with compassionate humor is a great gift. I was enthralled. I asked a question about releasing my constricting sense of duty and the reply was when feeling trapped in the illusion to think of how children call poop Doodi. Hysterical. My favorite line from the presentation was “Feeling is F@#*ing Healing.” Feel, and it shall set you free. Love it.
Serena Poisson
Serena Poisson has been involved with self-growth and mediation for the past 26 years. She has trained with eleven Reiki Masters and teaches at The Nine Gates Mystery School. Through her initiation into Hawaiian sacred traditions she teaches the forgiveness and release process of Ho’o Ho’o Pono Pono. Serena is a delight. She is a gorgeous silver haired Elder who openly carries the joy and magic of the path she has been lead to. She offered us a taste of The Ho’o Ho’o Pono Pono method and the Aka cords that we all create as we move through the world. We did an experiential exercise with the Aka cords that showed how bound-up we can be by the conscious and unconscious ties we create energetically with others. We now have a prayer that releases these unwanted cords and allows us to move more freely in our own energetic fields.
Thanks Melinda for the group pic!
Yolanda Martinez is an award-winning performer, drum maker and painter. She is a magnetic singer and storyteller, enchanting the room with tales of her southern New Mexico upbringing as a magical child singing to the land and her animal companions. Through The Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers who have been traveling around the world with the massive Mother Drum Yolanda has been called to be the keeper of two primordial and fierce sacred staffs reunifying the feminine and masculine. One staff has a glistening black obsidian arrowhead as the masculine, and the other has a chalky white stalagmite as the feminine energy. When these two sacred items were uncloaked the entire room stood still and took a deep breath in. The elemental power of those two ceremonial pieces is almost unfathomable. Some things have a power that words cannot convey.
Hillary Raimo
Hillary Raimo is a psychic intuitive, ordained spiritual counselor and nondenominational minister. She currently teaches Reiki, Dreaming, Energy Medicine and Creative Arts. Hillary hosts her own radio show: Matters for Mind, Body & Spirit on Achieve Radio and leads pilgrimages to sacred sites across the globe. Hillary carries her power in a way that is both concentrated and expansive. She teaches women how to access their own potency and live as grounded dreamers. Hillary shared a process of claiming a new vision of sisterhood that is based on respect, trust and deep honoring through unpacking our old stories and creating a shamanic spirit doll to embody the new potential. I was deeply honored to have Hillary use my Oracle of Initiation divination cards within her process as a way for sisters to see both the shadow and light within their own relationship to female solidarity.
Max Dashu
Max Dashu founded the Suppresses Histories Archives in1970 to research and document cross-culturally the true history of women. She has dedicated herself to living as a free woman and has amassed a catalog of fifteen thousand images of women’s true lineage as powerful co-creators of civilization. She teaches on-line courses through the medicine of these powerful ancient images helping to break the cultural spells of women’s disempowerment. She is currently completing a multi-volume sourcebook on women in European folk religion and the legacies of the witch-hunts. Max is a spitfire. She is an early feminist maverick supporting women breaking out of cultural restrictions and illusions. Her lecture on the suppression of women’s power was fascinating, and the slide show could have lasted for hours. During her lecture I carried one of her incredible Female Icons posters around for the group to see. It was amazing to see the fascination, awe and respect in each woman’s eyes as she encountered these ancient images of feminine power.
Max Dashu's incredible Female Icons poster. wow.
Maria Yraceburu is an author, ceremonialist and 13th generation bundle carrier for her Quero Apache Snake Clan lineage. She grew up in the White Mountain Apache reservation in Eastern Arizona traditionally trained by her Grandfather, Juan Ten Bears.
Maria Yraceburu
Maria is a force of nature. The first time I met her five years ago at a Horse Dance Ceremony I was struck by how intense and kind she was. Here was this petite woman with a huge knife dangling off her belt and a radiant smile. To watch Maria in action, storytelling, offering initiations, speaking of the true realities, doing the pipe ceremony and making relations is to watch a woman deeply embodied in her power. She carries her lineage with great honor. May we all find our own inner essence as she has and live from that place.
Melissa, Joy & Stacey
Sister Stacey Robyn of Go Gratitude also did a masterful job of honoring Maria’s tireless work and dedication to all our transformation. She finally got to call Maria forth with a whip of the feathered talking stick {one of Maria’s signature moves} and lead Maria around as we all offered words of tribute to her work in the world. Thanks again Maria, we love you.
shamanic spirit doll
On the Novembers New Moon we step into the Apache New Year of Birthing a New Reality. The old paradigm of isolation and solo-work is over, it is time to live our true lineage, together. I am grateful to call this community my family, and look forward to meeting more of you on this journey of emergence.
My Oracle of Initiation cards-Conduit & Naivety during Hillary's presentation- thanks Melinda
Kwahu Abeja, Eagle Prayer HoneyBee
Oracle of Initiation Courage card with the materials for a shamanic spirit doll
Katherine in the Aspens
Melissa Weiss Steele's Blog 