Ancestors of the 4 Directions
Guest Presenters
bring their Voices for Earth
Bios of our Guest Speakers, Team and Ceremonialists
Listed According to Elder Protocol
* Denotes Tribal Leader / Chief
Indigenous Ways Elders and Representitives - Guest Presenters
Captain Michael Harris
Educator, Storyteller, Healer & Cultural Ambassador
Michael F. Harris is an Indigenous Native Elder who belongs to the Gitxsan Nation, The Gitanmaax Village, The House of Wii Gaak, and The Wolf Clan, (Northern British Columbia). Michael’s Spirit Name is Nagwa Yel Wa which means He Who Walks Far.
Michael has five children and four grandchildren, three of whom are Lifegiver Triplets.
Michael always asked himself, one question, “How will this affect my children and grandchildren”? When Michael was making plans for himself in all aspects of his life, he would repeat this question to himself. He spoke of his children and grandchildren prior to being eight years old. He never wanted the negativity that was put into him as a child to be passed onto his children.
Michael attended Marine School at age twenty-seven and received his Mate's Certificate and his Command Endorsement, which is a Captain's license. Michael was the second deckhand to be promoted and achieve active Captain status. Today, Michael is the only identifiable First Nations Captain to be a Master on the high powered, high-weighted tractor tugs on the west coast of Canada.
He is also active in many First Nations committees to raise awareness and funds for numerous Native concerns, and assisted in organizing and fundraising for the March for Murdered and Missing Woman on The Highway of Tears. He was a board member of The Urban Gitxsan Society for eight years, and an organizer of Idle No More Ceremonies.
Michael is determined to utilize any of his gifts for The People. He is being called more and more to do healing, counseling and teaching work for The People.
Michael’s teachings include, “Our Native Bows and Arrows today, Native Education, freeing oneself from Alcohol and Drugs, Respect for Self and all Creator gives us, Non-Racist attitudes, Good hard work in attitude and the job at hand, Love and Caring for Mother Earth and all Beings, through God Our Creator. Aho”.
Red Feather Woman
Traditional Storyteller, Musician, and Cultural Ambassador
Red Feather Woman aka Rose Red Elk is from Ft. Peck Reservation, from Eastern Montana. She is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine/Sioux tribes, a Traditional - Inspirational Native American storyteller, producer, author and artist, creator of fine art dream catchers. Red Feather Woman is an award-winning recording artist; Native American Music Awards - Spoken Word, and Best Folk Recording. She has toured internationally as well as throughout the US, blending the old with the new, weaving the oral storytelling with the teaching vital lessons of values, and spirituality of interconnectedness for all human spirits. Her most important duty is the preservation of an ancient culture, inspiring and giving hope to all people. Her latest work is a new release and 4th album- “Keepers of the Wisdom-Healing Stories and Meditations”
Gail Noyka
Druid Priest and Storyteller, U.K.
Gail Nyoka is a spiritual practitioner, acting Druid and member of the U.K. Order of Ovates Bards and Druids. Of African descent, she has traveled solo in Egypt, a place that has always intrigued her, was born in Trinidad, grew up in London, and lived in Wales, before moving to Canada. Her mother, a Trinidadian, was part of the post-World War II wave of immigration to Britain from the West Indies. An oral storyteller, author and award-winning playwright, she was a 2015/16 Nord Foundation Playwright Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre. Her storytelling encompasses both traditional and original work. See Gail's Website: https://gailnyoka-stories.com/
Gail studied at the University of Ottawa, was awarded the Chalmers Canadian Play Award for Theatre for Young Audiences, and was a Nord Foundation Playwright Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre. She divides her time between Ontario & Ohio.
Awards:
Finalist, Governor General’s Award, Children’s Literature for Mella and the N’Anga: An African Tale, 2005
Shortlisted for the Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award for Mella and the N’Anga: An African Tale, 2006
Honourable Mention, (Juvenile, Young Adult Fiction) IBBY Book Awards for Mella and the N’Anga: An African Tale, 2006
Honour Book, TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award for Mella and the N’Anga: An African Tale
Chalmers Canadian Play Award: Theatre for Young Audiences, 2006
Michael D. McCarthy
Black Panther Party alumni & Multi-cultural story teller and Speaker
Michael D. “Mac” McCarty was born in 1950 in Chicago. As a young man, he attended St. Ignatius College Prep, where he started a Black Student Union and was subsequently expelled for his involvement in protests. In 1968, he joined the Black Panther Party as part of the education cadre. He left the party after the assassination of Fred Hampton. He joined the Army in 1972 to avoid being a target of the FBI. After leaving the military, he became an acupuncturist.
In 1992 he discovered the world of professional storytelling, and he has been telling stories and teaching storytelling around the country and around the world ever since. He specializes in stories of African and African-American history and culture, as well as multicultural stories. Since 2014 he has worked in California prisons as part of the Arts In Corrections program, teaching inmates to find, develop and tell their stories.
In 2019 McCarty was the subject of the award-winning film, "The Story of Michael D. McCarty: A Belonging in the USA Documentary" which shares the life journey of McCarty who even in the face of great obstacles spreads joy wherever he goes. The film follows Michael as he evolves from aspiring scientist to Black Panther Party member, from FBI target to soldier, from drug addict to health nut. The twists and turns of Michael’s life will fill you with hope, laughter and a living example of resilience. ​
Awards and Grants
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Public Corporation of the Arts Grant (Long Beach, CA) 1994 -1999
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Candlelight Award for Sharing Hope 1998 (South Africa)
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National Storytelling Network’s 2003 Leadership & Service Award (Pacific Region)
Professional Associations
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The GRIOT Workshop (Director)
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National Storytelling Network (NSN)
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Community Storytellers
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National Association of Black Storytellers
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Dreamshapers Arts Organization (VP)
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LARP Literacy Council (VP)
Education
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Midwest Center for the Study of Oriental Medicine
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Doug Lipman’s Storytellers Workshop
Mario Blackwolf
Storyteller, Medicine Man, Cultural Representative
Mario Henry Blackwolf, American Indian Medicine Man of Mechica-Apache heritage, is a Native historian and philosopher, who lives in Rimrock, Arizona. He was involved in the fights for Native Rights and the recognition of tribal lands in the "1970's". Leaving the "battlefields" behind, he became a lecturer on Native culture and spiritual beliefs, and has appeared on both local and international television giving lectures and interviews. Mario has published several books, writing for the cause of the Native peoples, as well as sharing the experiences of his own life path in hopes of providing both understanding and awareness. He also writes for those who seek historical and spiritual information on the Native American Indian of today. Mario Henry Blackwolf is looked upon as an advisor in both spiritual customs and native plant understanding, and is a teller of traditional stories. Many have sought his counsel on spiritual matters throughout the years.
Mario also lectures on tribal traditions and the lives of the men in the American Indian cultures, as well as the male aspect of American Indian spiritual traditions. The differences between the Native World and the Western Culture regarding the understanding of rites and rituals, their sense and purpose, along with stories of male spiritual beings in American Indian truth like Ching'ishnish and Matutuk of the Californian tribes, as well as the Peacemaker of the Iroquois and Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs are highlighted. In the context of "Medicine of the Earth" he also discusses in-depth psychological conditions, that come from a spiritual consequence of fighting and war. He has also provided rites of passage ceremonies for male and female youth as well as conducted a "feather talk" program for young women in the Arizona School District to highlight respect, healing and empowerment.
Ariella Gaughan
Indigenous Permaculturist, Conservationist
Permaculturist Ariella Gaughan, Chickasaw Nation, hails from a small town in Northern CA. There, she obtained a paralegal certificate and worked at local law firms, whilst studying for her undergraduate degree. After transferring to UCLA in 2021, Ariella became involved in a multitude of environmental and indigenous projects, often intertwined. By the time she graduated from UCLA in 2023, she had earned a B.A. in Political Science, was a URSP UCLA Grand Challenge: Sustainability Research Scholar 2022-2023 and served as the Director of Sustainability for various USAC offices in 2023-2024.
Her continued research maintains a primary focus on the Los Angeles natural environment and its indigenous history. Her advocacy for CA natives is presented through her research of indigenous plants, people, lands, and most importantly, perspectives. She believes advocating for the environment requires empowering the Tribal communities within and beyond the colonial borders of America. She is attending UCLA once again to obtain her Master’s degree in American Indian Studies, and hopes to continue her focus on Tribal sovereignty. She is involved in the California Native American Truth & Healing Commission and is a part of the education, youth, and urban subcommittees. She has done advocacy work for tribes in various capacities including a variety of ecological and cultural terrains in CA, MT, SC, OK, & HI.
Topics of interest for research include: wildlife conservation, tribal sovereignty, environmental justice, and sustainability policies.
Team, Counseling & Non Violent Communication Experts
Team
Martin Luther Diggs
Co-collaborator for "What it's Like to Live in my Skin" Workshop Series.
Martin is from Kansas City, Kansas, the original ancestral lands of the Osage, Kaw (Kansa), and Otoe-Missouria. A photographer and designer, Martin picked up his father's camera at the age of four and it was love at first sight. He studied theatre and film at the University of Kansas and has lent his talents to feature films and television commercials (in front of and behind the camera), photoshoots, and design projects across the globe.
In the early stages of covid, Martin was guided to find wonderful support and healing love energy via the online community, The Connection Field (Good of the Whole), where he shared his passions by supporting the community with his technical knowledge, graphic design and visual meditations he produced and edited.
Bonds that formed with his new virtual family, lead Martin to sit in circle with and facilitate zoom sessions and Facebook live events for groups such as "Ancestors of the 4 Directions," Ancient Arts Revival, Web of Love, SoulFire 4 the Earth, and others that promote peace, love, and equality for all.
Father of three and brother to many, he enjoys cooking, experimenting with different styles of painting, driving aimlessly, and spending time in nature while photographing his encounters with our beautiful earth mother.
Martin and Mari Fix McEwen have been working on creating a workshop series that familiarizes other races with the realities that African Americans and POCs in the United States face on a daily basis, presenting a more comprehensive true history on the subject, and a real-time look into the lives of our beloved brothers and sisters. This interactive and participatory series now premieres this June 2022 at World Unity Week.
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Michael Oden MA
Counseling and Non Violent Communication Team
Michael is a Retired Deputy Probation Officer, Keynote Speaker, Communication and Behavioral Strategist, Personal & Corporate Coach, and award-winning Author.
Michael has been successful at helping men and women transform and improve their personal and professional lives since 1998 with an 85% success rate in behavior shift. He has advanced knowledge about how your communication style, behavior and beliefs impact your performance in your personal life and in the workplace.
By teaching the family how to better communicate with each other, as well as, individual clients, these new tools will improve family relations, reduce conflict, stress, and generate a harmonious work environment.
By offering people practical tools to take with them and to apply this method to any situation will empower those individuals to transform their lives. The Need Based Method® is a cutting edge thinking and communication style process that reduces conflict & connects people to live a purposeful life.
Counseling
Counseling & Ceremonial Team
Cynthia Klatte Cunningham M.S.W.
A4D & OWS Teams, Ceremonial Team, Professional Counseling Support
Cynthia is the daughter of Roxanne Jurkowski, who was daughter of Stephania Saletnik, & Michael Jurkowski, and granddaughter of Kazmiera Sajdak and Jan Saletnik of Galicia, a region occupied by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy which is now Malopolska Poland. This voivodship was occupied by Austria during their lifetime. Kazmiera Sajdak’s mother was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, which was hidden from her descendants who came to the US and was only discovered by myself in my 20s. I am also great granddaughter of Daniel Jurkowski and Anna Nowak of the land that is now Poland which was occupied 3 times by Austria, Lithuania and Russia.
I am the daughter of Robert Klatte, who was born Robert Cunningham (Clan Cunningham), who was adopted by an Anglican minister from Germany and his English wife who had immigrated to the US. My father hid his adoption and it was accidentally discovered during my adult years.
I graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a
B.A. 1991, Cum Laude, Psychology Major, French minor and with a Masters in Social work in 1997 from the University of Connecticut. I currently work for the University of Arizona as a licensed Social worker, counseling students at the university. I was also a foreign exchange student at the Universite de Dijon, France 1989 summer exchange program in French language.
I have been with the Indigenous Grandmothers of Europe as a Sister on the Meeting Organizing Team with Sister Ava and Grandmother Mari Fix McEwen, and am currently a member of the OWS. I am also a Talking Circle Facilitator
with Chief Phil Lane's Four Worlds International and and a member of OBOD, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in the U.K.
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Ceremonial Team
Joanna Wiley
Ceremonial Guest, Purification
Joanna Wiley graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and Humanities, having studied the fields of Counseling, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology. Born Joanna Bullock, her ancestors come from the British Isles and Eastern Europe. She has been exploring her Celtic ancestry. She has also studied the spiritual traditions of the Peruvian, Mayan, Lakota and Cree People. She has participated in Sundance, Round Dance, and in women’s ceremonies. Joanna has been certified in permaculture and has served in the role of a Death Dula or Death Midwife. She has worked with energy medicine for 19 years and has been a student of yoga and Buddhism for 25 years.
George Szabo - Guest / Non Violent Communication Facilitation Ideas
Ceremonial Team
Ává Niamh
A4D & OWS Team, Ceremonial Teams: Purification & Fire Keeper for the
Ancestors of the 4 Directions
Ává's ancestral lineages are from what is known today as the south of Ireland and Germany on her mothers’s side, and the north of Ireland/England/Scotland on her father’s side. She is of the Ferguson Clan. On her father’s side, her grandmother’s ancestors have been residing on Turtle Island (in North America) for over 11 generations, which is where she feels most at home.
Ává is a vocalist with SOLACE of LUNA, creates abstract art as iCreatrix and has worked as a creative consultant in many disciplines and industries.
She was born on the beautiful & unceded territories of the xÊ·mÉ™θkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and SelÌ“ílÌ“witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, also know by the colonial name of Vancouver, Canada. For well over a decade she has been deeply devoted to an Indigenous ceremonial way of life of the sundance, sweatlodge and sacred teachings of White Buffalo Calf Woman. Ává is grateful to be blessed with respected elders and mentors on this path which share their wisdom, songs, prayers and medicine in a good way, as we are all related in this sacred hoop of life.
Auntie Deborah Griffin - Ceremonialist
