March 2017 e-Newsletter: 13 Feathers and 13 Stones

I have some great news! Grandmother Rita Blumenstein and Marie Meade will be returning to Sturgeon Bay from Anchorage, Alaska in early May.

Yup'ik Wise Women Healers and Storytellers
Grandmother Rita Blumenstein, Marie Meade and Dr. Nelson (seated) leading in prayer at Healing of the Waters 2014

Grandmother Rita will be sharing oral teachings from her great grandmother; the last tribal shaman in her village. When she turned 9 years of age, her great grandmother gifted her with 13 eagle feathers and stones. She told young Rita that one day when she is old and gray, she would give these gifts to 13 grandmothers. In 2004, when 13 grandmothers from all parts of the Earth responded to the following prophecy, she presented them with the feathers and stones.

“We are now at a critical time in human history.

If we do not change our ways of relating to each other and to our Mother Earth,

we will face cataclysmic consequences.”

In presenting them, Grandmother Rita said, “Thirteen stones in honor of the 13 Grandmothers, the 13 planets in our universe and the 13 full moons of the year. We’re late but we’re here!”

This marked the first gathering and the formation of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, in Menla, NY.

This was also the beginning of my own decade of service to the 13 Grandmothers, traveling all over the world annually to each of their homelands. When I was traveling with the Grandmothers, they would often counsel us, “Every thought we think, word we speak and prayers we offer have a significant effect on the world. We are dreaming our world forth… we are a walking prayer.”

Throughout the past ten years, they would each offer their ceremony, prayers and intentions to bring awareness, peace and healing to the world.

Whether we realize it or not, we are all dreaming, creating the collective dream we’re living in on this planet right now. When we center our hearts and choose to act, feel and “be” from within love, moment-by-moment, it dramatically affects the collective energies we are streaming and dreaming into the world. This requires an honest look into our own hearts and minds to see what is going on inside of us and what we may be projecting out there, to analyze what it is that we might be blaming as simply “the state of the world.”

Since the Women’s March, all around the world women are becoming empowered. Our energy and voices have been unleashed, releasing the true potential of all people regardless of gender. We are discovering our hard-earned knowledge, gifts and special talents are the catlyst needed to create a thriving world for future generations. Self-care became a primary focus, as we discovered our wisdom and as we continue to seek inspiration for cultivating more inner growth and wholeness with practices that support our health, vitality and overall well-being.

It is so easy to get caught up in the “chaos energy,” sometimes falling into despair, feeling overwhelmed, out of control and lured into the “smoke screens” and distractions of political dramas and dense energies. It is crucial to take personal responsibility for the energy we each contribute to the world and consciously choose to emanate a strong beacon of light for the well-being of all. Hope is essential. Gratitude guides us. Compassion and kindness are the way of love. This is the medicine so needed in our current world.

Have a blessed March!
Dr. Melissa