Had an inkling that this would be a very good idea, an evening with the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers at Urban Zen, and that it would be an even better idea to bring Jonah, my almost 5-year old son. To see his face, full of awe, watching these women speak; to see his body move when the music and blessings commenced, was affirmation enough. The 13 Grandmothers, a Council of women from all over the world who descend every six months on one of their homelands, sink into every culture, honour it fully, and encourage the preservation of its wisdom. These women stand for our future, for the environment, for our children. They urge us to harvest good relations, so that we can experience love for our Creator and love for the beauty all around us.
Bernadette Ribenot, a grandmother from Gabon, said “Once we heal our inside, everything else will heal; I remain optimistic. Even when I think of the difficulties, I just face them. We speak for the cause of our children and grandchildren who are born into a world very different from the one we were once born into.”
Maria Alice Campos Freire, one of two grandmothers speaking remotely from the Brazilian Amazon, said “The prophecy of the 13 grandmothers is to shake the world awake. We might be late, but we are here. My hope is that a seed has been planted in everyone here tonight, watered and cultivated, ready to fight for something.”
Speaking of what she hoped people would take away from the event, Jyoti, a traveling ambassador for the Grandmothers and a co-founder of the Council, said, “I am always relieved to see people attending these events and learning from these women. I hope people take with them what the grandmothers are trying to tell us:
“We need to wake up and stand up for ourselves.”
For more details on the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers click here.
This article was originally posted by Elena Brower here. Reposted with permission.