—THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT—
On Sunday, Oct. 6, join us at Mohonk for extraordinary conversations with Indigenous women elders discussing and reading from their newly published book.
In conjunction with the national release of Worlds within Us: Wisdom and Resilience of Indigenous Women Elders from Spirit Aligned Leadership and Guaní Press, Mohonk Consultations is honored to present a special program featuring distinguished Native elders sharing honest and uplifting personal narratives about their lives and the worlds they encompass.
The Indigenous ancestral knowledge of these remarkable women reveals doors to a better future, where humanity can avoid the mistakes of the past.
In addition to meeting the authors, audience members will have the opportunity to purchase signed copies of the hardcover first printing limited edition.
HOLDING EVERYTHING TOGETHER:
Wisdom, Healing, and Courage of Indigenous Women Elders
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 3–5:30 p.m.
Mohonk Mountain House Conference Center
New Paltz, New York
ALL AVAILABLE SEATING HAS BEEN ALLOCATED, SO TICKETS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR THIS EVENT.
LOOK FOR A RECORDING OF THE EVENT ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL LATER THIS MONTH
About the Book
Worlds within Us: Wisdom and Resilience of Indigenous Women Elders
How does one measure the intentions of a life?
This is a question that Tekatsi:tsia’ kwa Katsi Cook (Wolf Clan, Mohawk Nation, New York) asks in her introduction to Worlds within Us, a book rich with the voices of eight Native American women elders.
Each elder represents a distinct nation, a community, a family, and an individual carrying the history, wisdom, and traditions of generations. They share their very personal life stories with us, inviting readers to reflect on their own lives.
Whether from present-day Alaska, the American Southwest, the Great Plains, or upstate New York, what each elder brings to readers is unflinching honesty, but also common values, common problems, and above all the common desire to assist in the transformation of others through the example of their own extraordinary lives.
As we read one story after the other it becomes apparent that each one adds a new layer to a narrative arc and little by little we begin to discern a pattern, a coherence, a tapestry being formed, connecting experiences and creating a bigger story. A story with a single beating heart, a life force that Cheyenne leader Gail Small perceptively defines in her foreword: “Healing and forgiveness are centered in each women’s life. If they can heal and forgive, the rest of the world should at least know their stories … and learn from them … This is the reciprocal process of being invited to listen and learn from tribal elders.”
By accepting this gift, this invitation to listen and learn from the words of Worlds within Us, you become part of that process of reciprocity. Just as they will enter your heart with their stories, you, as their audience, will enter theirs. And nothing would be more powerful in expressing that reciprocal gratitude for the lessons learned than to, paraphrasing Gail Small, work toward a better future and dedicate our lives to creating a more loving and balanced world.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Author of Braiding SweetgrassAbout the Presenters
Tekatsi:tsia’kwa Katsi Cook (Wolf Clan, Mohawk Nation, New York)
Onkwehonweh Traditional Midwife, Elder, and Executive Director of Spirit Aligned Leadership Program, Katsi Cook is a Wolf Clan member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. She resides at the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in upstate New York. Katsi’s work spans many worlds and disciplines and demonstrates a lifelong career of advancing the cultural superlatives of Indigenous knowledge. She is an advocate of Indigenous women’s health across the life cycle, drawing from a longhouse traditionalist perspective the teaching, Woman Is the First Environment.
Active at the intersections of environmental reproductive health and justice, research, and policy, Katsi’s body of work connects health research scientists, community health professionals, and community members. Her groundbreaking environmental research of Mohawk mother’s milk reveals the harmful intergenerational impact of industrial chemicals on the health and well-being of the community. Katsi leads a movement of matrilineal awareness and rematriation in Native life. Her lifelong advocacy of Indigenous midwifery and health throughout Indigenous communities in North America continues on many fronts.
Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook (Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge, South Dakota)
Loretta Afraid of Bear is among the gems of the Indigenous traditional world. She is a natural inheritor of her Lakota people’s extensive knowledge and a fluent speaker of their ancient language. Individually endowed with extraordinary memory, curiosity, and intelligence, Loretta was chosen by her elders to uphold and teach the Seven Sacred Ceremonies to the coming generations. Her lifelong leadership in Sun Dance ceremonial cycles and in mentorship among women follow the teachings of her mother, renowned spiritual elder Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, who for over fifty years fueled and guided many Lakota families (tiospaye) in the preservation of their traditional lifeways.
Loretta is a noble woman elder bundled in the high character and guidance of master teachers. She is currently at the forefront of contemporary movement on the central cultural issue of her people: the resolution of use and ownership of Paha Sapa, “the heart of all there is,” the sacred Black Hills. She possesses mastery over all of the ceremonial rituality associated with the tradition of the Sacred Pipe, Sun Dance, and other spiritual practices that promote unity.
Loretta’s vision recognizes Native relatives and all people of good will, wherever they are situated, and moves us toward restoration of spirit and sacred space.
In 2018, Loretta received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Alaska–Fairbanks.
Wakérakats:te Louise Herne (Bear Clan, Mohawk Nation, New York)
Wakérakats:te Louise Herne is a traditionalist leader and consistent innovator who illuminates the journey of her people to regenerate love for themselves, their children, and their ancestral culture. Louise has presented at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and lectures regularly at universities throughout Canada and the United States on Ratinonhsón:ni philosophies and self-determination in regards to women.
Her life-long home community is the Akwesasne Mohawk (St. Regis) Reservation, which straddles the US-Canadian border on the St. Lawrence River. A condoled Mohawk Bear Clan Mother, she pulls the threads of ancient matrilineal knowledge from Sky Woman’s original legacy to the present. Louise activates ceremony as a way of being and knowing over the life course – truly as a pathway away from violence, abuse, and from illness to health.
For nearly two decades, she has led youth and their relations through the Ohero:kon Rites of Passage, a four year process to contemplate and steadily incorporate Haudenosaunee values that will guide them as adults. Through her Moon Lodge Society, Louise opens sacred space linked to natural cycles for girls and women, a place where prophetic dreams are shared and made real. She is also a founding member of the Konon:kwe women’s circle, where Mohawk women work to reconstruct the power of their origins through education, empowerment and trauma-informed approaches.
Always starting from a place of perpetual gratitude, a foundational Longhouse teaching, Louise has co-created a renewed Haudenosaunee narrative for resilience and resistance. Louise embodies the head Corn mothers advice, “to keep her hand on the pulse of her people.”
Wakérakats:te has been the Distinguished Scholar in Indigenous Learning at McMaster University Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (MIIETL) and received the honorary degree of doctor of humane letters from the State University of New York at Canton in 2017.
About Spirit Aligned Leadership Program
Spirit Aligned Leadership exists to elevate the lives, voices, and dreams of Indigenous women elders who heal, strengthen, and restore the balance of Indigenous communities. Our goal is to honor and support Indigenous women elders who desire to intentionally transfer their knowledge and experience to younger women. Together, we identify collective wisdom and integrate solutions to help address the challenges of our times. We are part of an emerging global movement to share our stories to gain understanding and balanced perspectives.