Alice Walker

A common phrase heard in more enlightened circles is, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

Those who pay attention know the planet is in dire trouble.  Where shall we turn for guidance and healing when the world is spinning out of control?

African healer and Iboga Bwiti elder Bernadette Rebienot had a vision.  She saw a grandmothers' council, one in which indigenous grandmothers and women of wisdom meet regularly to discuss the current threat to their healing traditions in the face of modern westernization.  It was there in Africa where Rebienot met Jyoti, a spiritual and psychological consultant who'd studied indigenous healing extensively, undergone Jungian training, and had over 30 years experience with clan mothers and indigenous elders.  Jyoti was inspired by Rebienot's vision and also desired to bring these wise women together.  But how?

When fundraising expert Lynn Schauwecker got wind of their idea, she immediately knew how: they'd hold a three-day conference and raise money to bring them together by inviting influential women activists from Western culture, as well as the public.  This would enable the grandmothers to have their own closed-door meeting beforehand with the financial burden of travel lifted.  These Westerners could listen to the grandmothers talk of the Earth wisdom passed down through generations of women before them, discuss global challenges and limitations of our social system, focus on preservation and the forging of a unified alliance between all the Earth's peoples, and learn how to deepen our relationship with the feminine.  Thus, the Global Women's Gathering was born.

"A lot of these indigenous women come from long histories of prophecies that have been handed down from their tribes," explains Schauwecker.  "The prophecies have to do with this time period.  These women carry a certain amount of wisdom and have lived really close to the planet, so they will bring information to us, instead of us trying to help them."

Meet some of the women from around the world who will be present to impart their teachings: Yupik grandmother Rita Pitka Bleumentstein from the Arctic Circle; Hopi elder Mona Polacca from Arizona; Agnes Baker-Pilgrim, the oldest "living legend" of the Rogue River Indians in Oregon and Confederated Tribes of Siletz; Lakota keepers Beatrice and Rita Long-Visitor Holy-Dance; Arapahoe Cheyenne war dancer Margaret Behan-Red Spider Woman from Oregon; Mayan elder Flordemayo from the Nicaragua/Honduras border; Mazatec elder Juilietta Casimiro from Huautla de Jimenez; plant medicine healer Marie Alice Campos Freire of Mapia; Brazilian-born shaman Clara Shinobu Iura; Australian Gumbangir elder Ruth Walker; Nepalese yogini and divine mother Kusali Devi; Tibetan refugee Tsering Dolma Gyalthong; one-time US Senator and New Zealand ambassador Carol Moseley Braun; health visionary Teresa Hale; global economy analyst Helena Norberg-Hodge; England-born Tibetan nun Bhikshuni Tenzin Palmo; famed feminist Gloria Steinem; Pulitzer Prize-winner Alice Walker; former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Wilma Mankiller; founder of the non-profit Humanity in Unity Chalanda Sai Ma; recording artists Jenniger Berezan and Kristine Robin; sacred dancers Marie Meade and the Women's Moon Council; and, of course, Bernadette Rebienot and Jyoti.

In addition to teachings, the gathering will include prayers, yoga, singing, storytelling, musical performance, and dancing.  The event is open to both men and women.

Bwiti elder Rebienot tells us that the women in her native Gabon regularly gather together in the forest to share their visions and to pray for world peace and the well-being of their people.  In Gabon, "When the grandmothers speak, the president listens."  May the grandmothers' message be raised in one voice to reach the ears of all world leaders.  And be truly heard.