Grandmothers Tsering Dolma Gyaltong and Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance
Dear Catherine Anne & A Celebration of Women,
Welcome to
the Spring, 2011 issue of the Center for Sacred Studies Peace Messenger. In this time
of upheaval, we are called to our highest spiritual selves to respond with kindness in our daily lives. Thank you for your part in creating peace in your homes, your families and your communities.
Thank you for practicing love in the face of change.
From all of us in the CSS community.
CSS Mission: Sustaining indigenous ways of life through cross-cultural practices, ministry and education, and a commitment to peace and unity for all peoples.
Center for Sacred Studies Programs
The Center for Sacred Studies honors the many faces of the divine with programs in the following areas:
Practices
Sanctuary Program: Providing prayer services, ceremonies and worship gatherings from various spiritual traditions to honor the many faces of the divine. Consistent with our teachings from our Indigenous elders, we offer the use of our prayer sites on a donation/giveaway basis.
Education
Stargate School; Maitri Breathwork; Earth Forums. Providing training and studies on safe ways to work with subtle energies within the mind-body-spirit. These programs offer a deeply transformative process where individuals and the collective access non-ordinary states of consciousness and study healing within those states. sacredstudies.org.
Advocacy
The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. Brought together in 2004 by a common vision set in motion by the Center for Sacred Studies, the Grandmothers’ Council has come together to pray for peace and unity; to educate; and to realize projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language, and ceremonial ways of prayer. grandmotherscouncil.orgforthenext7generations.com
Fiscal Sponsorships: Sponsorship of other like-minded organizations.
Community
The purpose of all our offerings and programs is to invite individuals, families and the community to strengthen their relationship to the divine. In this we are reweaving the sacred hoop of relations.
Earth Ministry
We minister to the Earth as our first mother. The Ministry Training Program is an online global learning circle incorporating a variety of indigenous spiritual practices and earth-based ways of prayer. Individuals who successfully complete the course can be ordained as a Minister of Prayer.
Center for Sacred Studies CEO, Darlene Hunter with granddaughter Gabriella
Dear Friends and Relatives,
We are writing you en route to Machu Picchu to work with Kucho,
the principal shaman of Machu Picchu.
Kucho shares, “The entire planet is experiencing a time that is very special. In the tradition of the Incas, it is called the New Pachacuti. Humanity will continue but in a different manner. Material structures are going to change. We are living in the most important age and time: all of the prophecies of the world, all of the traditions, are converging in this moment. This spiritual ideal is happening right now.”
Before we go up the mountain, we want to take a moment to join with you in prayers to send to our friends and relatives of Japan as they embrace the challenges that have occurred in these most recent days. We are being told that as a result of the earthquake, Japan has moved 8 feet and that has changed the way the earth sits on her axis. At the moment this happened, the earth actually stepped out of time, shortening our days by some few milliseconds. Through these dramatic occurrences, we are beginning to see how connected we are.
The prophecies have been preparing us for these days. It is a time of physical challenge, yet a great doorway is opening in our spiritual being. Some of our elders have said that these are the first contractions that will bring forth the birth of a new time on Earth. It is a time to breathe into our hearts, learning to live from them, centering ourselves and trusting the Universe in this unfoldment. Many from all over the world have joined resources to aid Japan and it is through these actions of collaboration that the spirit of unity amongst all people will become more visible.
It is a time of choice. What will we choose? Fear or Love? Separation or Unity? Destruction or Creative Construction? Nature is trying to shake us awake! Our prayer is that we will listen!
Our prayers and hearts are with you!
Jyoti & Darlene
Recently, our Spiritual Director, Jyoti recorded one of the Wisdom Keeper Stories, which has now been enhanced with film score quality music and time lapse videography. In sharing this beautiful piece, we also have an opportunity to receive the benefits from viewing the Wisdom Film. It is a great centering experience, that breathes refreshment into the mind and heart.
CSS News
Practices
We continue to offer ceremonies and teachings at the beautiful Black Mountain retreat center in Northern California.
“The Stargate Mystery School introductory weekend gave me an opportunity to challenge myself by opening up my heart, expressing and examining feelings in ways I previously had difficulty with. I feel so much gratitude towards all my teachers and fellow participants for their guidance, holding a safe space, support and sharing. Now my journey has taken me to enroll in the full program out in Ohio where I wade into a new process of transformation.” – Nathan J. Huerkamp
Advocacy
Join us in Alaska, May 18th-21st for the 9th Council Gathering to honor Yup’ik Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein. Please see our new registration options so that those who want to attend can afford it.
With Grandmothers Mona Polacca and Rita Blumenstein
March 31 & April 2, 2011 In Seattle, WA
Affiliate Organizations
The Grandmothers’ Film, For the Next 7 Generations has been spreading their message far and wide. Host a screening in your own community, opt on to the newsletter, watch the trailer or meet some of the Grandmothers as they join the 22 city Timeless Message Tour.
Sacred Fire is a beautiful magazine published by Sacred Fire Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable and educational organization that supports initiatives that honor and sustain Indigenous spiritual approaches, Traditional Knowledge, and the ancestral ways that foster global balance and sustainability. Sacred Fire Magazine has generously offered a 43% discount to all of you who are interested in subscribing.
” Turtle’s Dreamis a wonderful means of imparting traditional knowledge to young hearts, minds and souls. I became ‘childlike’ and a participant in the story. The message of being One with all of life on the sacred Mother Earth is beautifully delivered. This is a very worthwhile story for use at home, in classrooms and any opportunity to share with children.”
– Grandmother Mona Polacca, Havasupai/Hopi/Tewa
10% of sales from Turtle’s Dream support CSS.
Community
CSS Staff: Top row Sandy Emerson, Valerie Hausmann, Karyn Lawson, Hokhmah Joy, Trish Noble, Janis Arch. Second row: Mary McCulloch, Ali Palisca, Ann Rosencranz, Jyoti, Darlene Hunter, April Hunter, Megan Clemens. Missing: Margin Broux
Two Anishinawbe Grandmothers, and a group of Anishinawbe Women and Men have taken action regarding the water issue by walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes.
Along with a group of Anishinabe-que and supporters, they walked around Lake Superior in Spring 2003, around Lake Michigan in 2004, Lake Huron in 2005, Lake Ontario in 2006, Lake Erie in 2007, Lake Michigan in 2008, and St Lawrence River in 2009.
As we approach our spring retreats for the CSS Ministry Training Program, first year students will be meeting everyone for the first time. Students in the Ministry will have a chance to meet their mentors. Second year students are approaching graduation and ordinations. It’s an exciting time for all of us. CSS know it’s really just the beginning! Our Ministry staff look forward to the retreats and the start of a new class on May 1st.
CSS Minister of Prayer, Leah Walsh is surrounded by 1000 cranes of peace that she offered at the 9th Council in Japan
What Attracts Students to the Ministry Training
There has been strong interest this year in our training, with many applicants coming from diverse and varied backgrounds.
Incoming student Janet Jacobs in the Class of 2013 spoke of what attracted her to the program:
“In 2008, I was part of a group that brought 8 of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers to Groton, NY. I knew I would at some point I would be part of the whole that was bringing change to our world through prayer and ceremony. I practice prayer in my work and my personal life. To be able to lead others in ceremony and share this walk is a gift I know I am to experience. Spirit guided me to the program and Jyoti was the link that made it a physical reality.”
-Janet Jacobs
“How Can I Help?”
Partner with the Center for Sacred Studies to sustain its schools and programs. In 2011, CSS will organize Gatherings of the Grandmothers’ Council in Alaska and Brazil, hold Stargate schools in California and Ohio, conduct online classes for another full class of prospective ministers, and produce many other workshops and forums.
Your donation supports the worldwide efforts of our staff and volunteers. May your generosity come back to you a thousandfold.
“Upon attending the Stargate Introductory Week-end, I found I had safely entered into a glimpse of the “mystery” and a sense of the meaning of “stargate” as used by the Stargate Mystery School. By exploring where my own consciousness or subconscious took me, I felt connected, guided, inspired, and protected in my path. Since then, with each passing day I feel more and more confident of the invisible guidance and visible sign-posts that I see, hear, and sense. I am looking forward to attending the School in 2012.”– Valerie Ralston
Recently, our Spiritual Director, Jyoti recorded one of the 
Experience a divine taste of what the 
