List of Council Accomplishments
International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
Major Accomplishments
A Prayer Unfolding
2004
October 2004-1st Global Women’s Gathering, Menla Retreat, New York- The Thirteen Grandmothers first convene and establish a global alliance as a council.
2005
May 2005- 2nd Council Gathering, Pojoaque Pueblo, New Mexico, hosted by the Mayan Grandmother Flordemayo. The Council holds daily prayers for peace, meets with spiritual elders and community leaders and begin their business as a Council.
June, 2005 –Amazon Rainforest, Brazil. A delegation of three Council Grandmothers visit the home of two of the Council members, deepening the alliance and naming their first ambassador, Madrinha Rita Gregorio de Melo.
October 2005 –Petition to the Vatican The Grandmothers Council sends a letter to the Vatican for the repeal of papal edicts dating back to 1493, which granted dominion to European nations over lands occupied by tribal peoples for thousands of years. These edicts remain the spiritual, legal, and moral justification for the exercise of jurisdiction, however unjust, over tribal peoples by nation-states today.
2006
May 2006 – 3rd Council Gathering, Oaxaca, Mexico, hosted by Mazatec Grandmother Julieta Casimiro. During this council, the council names two more of their Ambassadors—Maori Elder Grandmother Pauline Tangiora and Princesse Constance de Polignac of France.
April 2006 – Acknowledgment by California Legislature: The Grandmothers receive resolutions from both the California Legislature Assembly and Senate recognizing their work in the world.
October 2006 – 4th Council Gathering, Dharamsala, India, hosted by Grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyaltong. During this gathering the council appoints Jyoti as their Traveling Ambassador Charged with the Mission. The council has an audience with His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and the Nechung Oracle of the Tibetan peoples.
October 2006 –Grandmothers Counsel the World, Shambala Publications. The book written about the Council by Carol Schaefer is presented to the Council in its completed form and released to the public. It has now been translated into seven languages around the world.
2007
June 2007 – 5th Council Gathering, South Dakota, hosted by our Lakota Grandmothers Beatrice and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance. The council meets with local and state officials, holds an open Council for hundreds of attendees and participates in a Sundance to strengthen their prayers for unity of all people.
July 2007 – Third International Women’s Peace Conference, Dallas, Texas. Several Grandmothers accept the invitation to the Conference along with 5000 women from all over the world, including three women Nobel Peace Laureates.
July 2007 – National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference, Detroit, Michigan. Representatives from our Lakota grandmothers’ family attend the NOW conference where a resolution, ”Restore Peace and Dignity to Indigenous Women” is passed to protest uranium mining on indigenous lands as well as to support the Grandmother’ letter to the Vatican to rescind 15th century Papal edicts.
October 2007 – Bioneers Conference, California. As a fulfillment of their goal for Education and Community Outreach, the Grandmothers come as honored presenters to the Bioneers Conference which hosts 3000 people in the Marin Civic Center in California, and provides satellite links to 12,000 people in 18 sites across the nation.
Satellite Broadcast: The Bioneers host a showing of the Link TV program “Turning Prayer into Action”, on the 2006 spacebridge link between the Fourth Council in Dharamsala, India and the Bioneers Conference in California. This documentary has aired on Link TV to over 23 million homes around the world.
2008
July 2008 – European Tour.
Prayers at the Vatican: In Italy, the Grandmothers fulfill a long held intention to lay down prayers at the Vatican. They re-deliver their 2005 letter to the Pope requesting that the Vatican rescind several Papal Bulls, accompanied by their first youth ambassador, Davian Stands.
Assisi, Italy: Private Council: The Council holds a seven-day private council in Assisi, Italy.
Spain: The grandmothers touch hundreds of people with their teachings and are present for the release of the Spanish edition of their book. Their prayers on their final night in Europe at the Gaudi Garden attract over 600 people.
October 2008 – The Grandmothers Speak, Groton NY. Eight of the Thirteen Grandmothers of the Council are featured in a gathering for teachings and prayers sponsored by the Women’s Gathering of Groton and Cornell University.
October 13th 2008 – Heartbeat for Peace, Washington, DC. On the fourth day of a four-day event, and on the fourth anniversary of their founding as an Alliance, the Grandmothers join with Turtle Women Rising in a Drum Gathering for Peace on the Ellipse in front of the White House.
November 6-10th, 2008 – Aspen Summit, Aspen Colorado. Grandmothers Mona Polacca, and Beatrice and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance meet with faith leaders from around the country to address the nation's needs to heal religious divides and to mobilize a new spiritual voice based on compassion, and a vision of oneness
October 22nd -23rd , December 9th -10th 2008- International Inter-religious Conference, Faith in Human Rights-The Hague
On the anniversary of the signing of the 1948 Declaration on Human rights, Grandmother Mona Polacca is invited to represent the Council as one of authorities of the different world religions to draft and sign a Statement of Faith in Human Rights.
2009
August 2009 – Premiere of the Grandmothers feature length documentary film For the Next 7 Generations. The Grandmothers’ film is received with a standing ovation by hundreds. In its first six months, screenings took place in over one hundred locations
August 2009 – 6th Council Gathering, Oregon, hosted by Takelma Siletz Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim. Close to 500 people from around the world attend to support the Council and join in their prayer.
August 2009 – Omega Institute, New York. The Grandmothers Council facilitates a week-long retreat of teachings and prayers.
December, 2009 – 7th Council Gathering, Sedona, Arizona. Hosted by Hopi/Havasupai Grandmother Mona Polacca. Close to 500 people gathered from around the world to support their prayer for peace.