13 Grandmothers

The Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers: are collaborators in WaterSongline organization and prayers. Curious to know how the council got started? In the fall of 2004, gathered from all over the world, thirteen indigenous Grandmothers from Alaska, North, South, and Central America; Africa; and Asia. We 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. See the original signed Alliance Statement from 2004. The Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmother 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.

Grandmother Watersongline, Lighting of the Lights Ceremonies to date:

Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim (Takelma Nation), Floredemayo (Mayan Nation), Mona Polacca (Hopi Nation): Water Prayer – Big Island Hawaii. More details Prayer Location Page.

Aama Bombo Buddhi Maya Lama: who is also known as Aama Bombo (Mother Shaman), was born in the remote village of Melong in the Eastern part of the Bagmati Zone, Nepal, 65 years ago. Her father was a renowned shaman in the Nepalese Tamang tradition. Aama became a shaman in spite of the Tamang tradition that women are not supposed to practice shamanism. In the early days, her father restricted her in every way from practicing shamanism. However, when her father died at the age of eighty, his spirits and other gods and spirits started visiting and teaching her to be a shaman, against the prevailing cultural values of Tamang society.

Today, Aama has achieved great renown in Nepal. She treats around 100 patients every morning at her house in Boudhnath, near Kathmandu. Patients come to visit her from around the country, as well as from India and Tibet. She does not discriminate against those she heals, treating the poorest of the poor as well as the Royal Family of Nepal with equal dedication and respect.

Agnes Baker – Pilgrim: is the oldest living member of her tribe, the Takelma Indians, originally from Southern Oregon. Agnes is a world renowned spiritual leader, member of the Historic Society and keeper of the Sacred Salmon Ceremony.

Bernadette Rebienot: Born in Libreville, Gabon of the Omyene linguistic community, widow and mother of ten, grandmother of twenty-three. Before retiring, Bernadette worked as an educator and school administrator. Bernadette has participated in numerous national and international conferences on Traditional Medicine. She is a healer, master of the Iboga Bwiti Rite and master of Women’s Initiations. Bernadette has offered initiations and consultations for the past thirty years. She has been President of the Association of Traditional Medicine Practitioners for Gabonese Health (U.T.S.G.) since 1994.

Clara Shinobu Iura: Born in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil to Japanese parents Clara studied philosophy at the University of Sao Paulo. Through her experiences of clairvoyance and mediumship, she was initiated through many teachings, from macrobiotics to Umbanda. After helping with the curing of Padrinho Sebastiao, spiritual leader of one of the Santo Daime’s largest churches, she was invited to live and work in Céu do Mapiá, his community located in the heart of the Amazon forest. Since 1999, she has directed the Santa Casa de Saúde (Holy House of Health) Padrinho Manoel Corrente, Céu do Mapiá’s holistic healing center.

Born the youngest of 15 children in the highlands of Central America, Flordemayo was found at an early age, like others in her family, to have the gift of Sight. By age four she was being trained in the art of curanderismo which had been handed down from mother to daughter for many generations. Flordemayo’s mother was a midwife and healer and taught her daughters in the use of herbs, women’s medicine and how women are to honor and care for the Earth.

Flordemayo: is from the Mayan Nation and now lives in New Mexico. But you won’t find her at home much. She is a frequent presenter at international conferences. Since 1999 she has been part of the Wisdom of the Grandmother’s Foundation. She is the recipient of the Martin de La Cruz Award for Alternative Healing, a prestigious honor given by the International Congress of Traditional Medicine. Flordemayo is also a founding director of the Institute for Natural and Traditional Knowledge. This organization has many active projects, including the establishment of an organic seed bank and educational outreach in support of traditional agriculture.

Grandmother Julieta Casimiro: is a Mazatec elder, curandera, and healer from Oaxaca, Mexico. For more than 40 years, people around the world have come to Julieta for ceremony, healing, and life guidance. She works with people who have AIDS, cancer, emotional diseases, and psychological imbalance. “For the work to go well, I am always invoking God,” she says. “This way the people feel well and are also able to express what they are experiencing.” Doña Julieta Casimiro was born in the city of Huautla de Jiménez in 1936. At an early age Julieta began primary school where she learned how to read and write. Later on she left school to help her mother with kitchen duties and to help care for her eight brothers and sisters. At the age of 15, Julieta met the man who would be her husband and two years later, she married Lucio Isaías Pineda Carrera. They eventually had 10 children.

Grandmother Julieta began exploring her healing gifts when she was 17 years old. Her mother-in-law was a traditional Mazatec healer and taught Julieta about Tenocanacatl, the sacred mushrooms. “Because we don’t have money for doctors, we heal ourselves with the mushrooms,” Grandmother Julieta explains. “It is believed that God gave the mushrooms to the peasants and to those who could not read in order for them to be able to have a direct experience of Him.” The plant medicines helped Julieta gain wisdom and deepen her relationship with God.

Margaret Behan:  is a rapahoe-Cheyenne #003300, fourth generation of the Sand Creek Massacre. As a child, Margaret attended the Catholic Mission and Government Boarding Schools. Margaret is a Cheyenne traditional dancer. She has served as a dance leader in Oklahoma and in powwows across the U.S. A sculptress for 30 years, she creates clay figurines that have won her many honors, including shows at Eastern New Mexico University, University of Wisconsin, Santa Fe Indian Market and the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial.is an accomplished and published author, poet and playwright. She has presented workshops and retreats for women, adult children of alcoholics and co-dependents. Margaret is currently taking an active role a leader of her tribe as a teacher of Cheyenne Culture and the President of the Cheyenne Elders Council.

Maria Alice Campos-Freir: In the church of the Eclectic Cult of the Santo Daime, spiritual leaders are called “padrinhos” (godfathers) and “madrinhas” (godmothers). Maria Alice became one of the madrinhas of the Santo Daime community Céu do Mapia for her contribution as medium and healer, bringing with her the fundamentals of Umbanda to this eclectic center. Founder of Centro Medicina do Floresta (Forest Medicine Center), where, since 1989, she develops research and healings with the plants of the Amazon, as well as education of children and youngsters for the preservation of Nature and sustainable development. A member of the Alliance of Peoples of the Rainforest, she is an activist in the defense of their traditions and patrimony.

Mona Polacca, a Hopi/Havasupai /Tewa elder, 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.

Rita Pitka Blumenstein: Yup’ik mother, grandmother, great grandmother, wife, aunt, sister,friend, tribal elder. Born on a fishing boat and raised in Tununak, Alaska, Rita attended a Montessori school in Seattle for four years. She raised two children and worked at many hospitals delivering babies as a doctor’s aide in Bethel and Nome. She has traveled and taught basket weaving, song, dance and cultural issue classes world-wide, earning money for Native American Colleges.  Rita has participated in many healing conferences where her teachings of the “Talking Circle” were recorded and published. Rita is currently employed with South Central Foundation as a tribal doctor using plant and energy medicine.

Rita Long-Visitor Holy Dance: Lakota keeper of the traditional ways, great grandmother, Native American Church elder, beadworker. Rita is a member of the Council of Language Elders, focusing on Oglala Lakota language immersion and teaching their native tongue to children and to elders.

Tsering Dolma Gyaltong: was born in Tibet in 1929. Because of the Communist invasion of Tibet, she escaped along with her family from Tibet in 1958 to India. In 1972, she and her family (four children) came to Canada as refugees. She returned to India and became one of the founding members who revived the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA).During the next ten years, she served as an executive member of TWA and established over 30 branch offices worldwide. In 1995, Tsering Dolma attended the Fourth World Women’s Conference held in Beijing, China. She faced many threats and dangers as she along with others openly criticized the Chinese government and its treatment of the Tibetan people and especially Tibetan women. She now resides in Toronto and remains as an advisor to the TWA.