Waterbird's Nest: Vatican's Silence Sparks Historic gathering of International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in Rome

Dale Auger

Dale Auger: On Art, Blood and Kindred Spirits
by Terri Mason

Defining Dale Auger in one sentence is akin to releasing the colours of a diamond in one cut. It can’t be done. It’s the many facets that release a diamond’s true brilliance, as it is the many facets of Auger’s life, education, ancestry, experiences and beliefs that have shaped and polished his work into the internationally acclaimed and collected artist that he is today.

Born a Sakaw Cree from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta, Auger’s education began as a young boy when his mother would take him to be with the elders. “I used to say to myself, ‘Why is she leaving me with these old people?’ – but today I see the reason; I was being taught in the old way.”

Auger’s respect for traditional teachings led him on a journey to study art, opening the door to a doctorate in education. He is a talented playwright, speaker and visual artist whose vividly coloured acrylics have captured the attention of collectors that reads like an international ‘Who’s Who’ spanning English to Hollywood royalty. The essence of his work is communication, and now Dr. Auger has come full circle, interpreting the life of his culture – from the everyday to the sacred - through the cross-cultural medium of art.

Read the rest here:

http://www.daleauger.com/printversionbio.cfm

Monday, July 21, 2008

Vatican's Silence Sparks Historic gathering of International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in Rome

In the fall of 2004, thirteen indigenous female elders from all over the world—the Amazon, Asia, Africa, Mexico, the Arctic Circle, the Northwest Southwest and Midwest U.S. and Central America—met at a retreat center in upstate New York and agreed to form an alliance. They declared: “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 believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. 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.”

The Grandmothers’ Council convenes every six months, as they travel the world to each other’s homelands to cultivate their unified prayer for peace and care for Mother Earth. In Spring 2005, the Grandmothers’ Council met at the home of Nicaragua Mayan grandmother Flordemayo in New Mexico. In May of 2006, they visited Mazatec grandmother Julieta Casimiro in Oaxaca, Mexico. Next they met in Dharamsala, India, in October 2006, (the exiled home of the Tibetan grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyaltong), and the Council had a private audience with H.H. the Dalai Lama. In June 2007, the grandmothers gathered in the Black Hills of South Dakota to honor Rita and Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance, culminating in a Lakota Sundance.

This summer marks their first visit to Europe. Following their stay in Italy they will continue on to Spain to spread their teachings and light the fire for world peace in Barcelona. Their prayers will go out through the waters of the Mediterranean to the shores of the River Jordan as they join with a global day of Prayer for the Waters of the Earth on July 25th.

The grandmother’s teachings are quickly spreading around the world. Their book, Grandmothers Counsel the World: Indigenous Women Elders Offer their Vision for Our Planet (Shambhala Publications, 2006) is in its fourth printing and available in Czech, Dutch, German, Japanese, Slovene, Spanish and Taiwanese. A documentary film about the Grandmothers, “For the Next Seven Generations,” directed by Emmy and Peabody award winner Carole Hart, will be released in the fall of 2008.

The Grandmothers have decided to persevere, despite much hardship, in laying down their prayers at the Vatican. Encouraged by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's official apology to the aboriginal peoples of Australia, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent apology to First Nations people in Canada, and Barack Obama's promise, if elected, to appoint a Native American adviser to his senior White House staff, the Grandmothers will let nothing deter them from contributing momentum to this wave of support and healing for the world's indigenous peoples.

In their first letter addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper at the Vatican, dated October 22, 2005, the Grandmothers write, "Our peoples must still live with the continuing legacy of this first denial of our right to be treated as equal participants in the community of nations. Our peoples are still struggling for the right to live on earth and practice our cultural and spiritual traditions as our ancestors did." No response was received from the Vatican.

The July 9th gathering represents an enormous physical and logistical feat as the Grandmothers gather from all four directions of the World. The Grandmothers intend to present themselves in full native regalia and with the collective force of their individual personalities backed by centuries of indigenous tradition and wisdom.

The Grandmothers were nearly evicted from the Vatican grounds. Read the article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417739

Read the letter here: http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/docs/vaticanletter.pdf. Information gathered from www.grandmotherscouncil.com.