Elders & Indigenous Representatives of
the 4 Directions
the Voices of Earth
Listed According to Age / Elder Protocol
* Denotes Tribal Leader / Chief
Bios of our Elders, Speakers and Ceremonialists
Indigenous Elder, Malihatkwa Gwen Therrien *
Traditional Healer, Published Writer of Historical Novel, Motivational Speaker
Malihatkwa Gwen Therrien is a proud BC First Nation Warrior Woman and Elder Mother whose lineage is from Samahquam on her late mothers’ side in St’at’imc Territory,is a member of Xaxtsa-Douglas First Nation. Secewepemc, (Shuswap) on her late fathers lineage. Malihatkwa is a victorious survivor of the infamous Residential School system imposed on First Nations for 140 years throughout Canada.
Malihatkwa has been involved with issues arising from injustices faced by Aboriginal women for many decades. Working as Community Liaison for a time with aboriginal women who were incarcerated, she has served on multiple boards and acted as a consultant and spiritual elder both nationally and internationally.
Malihatkwa expresses her love and respect for her ancestry through her spiritual practice of the Sundance way of life. She is a traditional healer and sacred pipe carrier, following the traditions of her ancestors in the modern world. Known in many places also as “Grandma Grizzly Bear dancer”. A crafts woman who has won awards, a published author and helper to many, 80 years of training and with many gifts to give, she looks forward to sharing her gifts, words and dances with everyone.
Malihatkwa has dedicated her adult life to re-establishing First Nations culture and traditions beginning in 1975 with the formation of the Mission Friendship Center and First International Pow Wow event. She draws on her rich heritage in traditional practices and the values that have sustained her matrilineal culture for thousands of years. Malihatkwa honours her father’s memory through becoming a sundancer and pipe carrier. Aho. Malihatkwa lives in Mission, British Columbia, Canada
I honour the ability to develop my capacity to communicate with my spiritual ancestors through vision and audio, depending on the circumstances. I honour the gift of Hands on Healing that I do. I honor the gift of communicating with people one on one or in large groups to engage their interest for the issue being presented. I value our connection as part of the human family. Takem nsnssuni'kuwah7, (all my relations) Malihatkwa Gwen Therrien, Traditional Spiritual Elder Grandmother, Self published "GRANNY & PAPA" (LULU PUBISHING, 2013)
Indigenous Elder, Raul Mijares
Indigenous Mexica Elder, Raul Mijares has recently consented to join us with his humble and moving song and prayer.
Raul is Elder and Founder of the Blue Buffalo Lodge in Santa Clarita and mentors youth and adults as they re-integrate and celebrate their indigenous cultural ways. Raul also brings self-realization & freedom teachings as well as monthly Purification practices to his community.
During the Pandemic in the spirit of community service, Raul facilitated a weekly Metzli honoring ceremony on Good of the Whole Platform, free and open to the public for a number of years along with a bi-weekly morning fire ceremony.
Indigenous Elder, Patricia Anne Davis
Lineage Carrier of the Indigenous Change Process - guiding principals of A4D
Patricia Ann Davis is an American Indian elder. Her English name is Patricia Anne Davis, and her Dineh ceremonial name is “peacemaker”. She was born of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw-Chahta, and born to the Taa chii nii and Kii yaa aanii kinship families of the Navajo/Dineh Nation. Her maternal grandparents are Chahta, and her paternal grandparents are the Kii yaa aanii clan of the Dineh. She is an International Teacher and Healer by tribal lineage, training, and initiation. She translated Dineh blessedway ceremonial principles into an Indigenous Ceremonial Change Process to facilitate a healing process that is not coping, but correction of any out-of-balance conditions within people, society, or the environment. She designs presentations, training, ceremony, and workshops within the context of the natural order and Indigenous science, a concept from the literature to define a distinction between an Affirmative Thinking system and a Eurocentric Dualistic thinking system. The purpose is to reframe win-lose destructive and death-producing choices and decisions into win-win constructive and life-affirming choices and decisions. She designed an “Indigenous Ceremonial Change Process” to facilitate a reframe of thinking systems with these unifying principles:
Inclusive of all ethnic nationalities Cross-cultural • Inter-generational Restores resources to the next generation of youth Universal in practical life application and can be translated into any language. She has traveled to 9 countries to teach the ICCP.
Indigenous Elder, Mahara Allbrett
Mahara Albrett, works as an Adult Counsellor for Vancouver Coastal Health’s Aboriginal Wellness Program and she is a member of the T’Sleil Waututh Nation. She also facilitates workshops and does spiritual healings as well. She’s a proud grandmother of two adorable children. Mahara has many years experience working with NVC.
Mahara has been writing poetry since she was fifteen and was first published
a year later. In 1970 her book Ka-la-la Poems (under the name Skyros Bruce) was published. She has given numerous poetry readings, including two on CBC radio
and is a recipient of two Canada Council Awards. She has performed with Aboriginal Storyteller in Vancouver, has released two tapes, Deep Relaxation and First Nations Sexual Abuse Survivors Tape, and is working on her first novel. Mahara is a Family Counselor in private practice and facilitates workshops on a variety of topics including Healing the Residential School Experience. She has a daughter, Sarain.
Lewis Mehl Medrona M.D., Phd
is the author of the Coyote trilogy. His work discusses healing practices from Lakota, Cherokee and Cree traditions, and how they intersect with conventional medicine (via a social constructionist model). Mehl-Madrona has been writing about the use of imagery and narrative in healing since the 1980s. Mehl-Madrona is certified in psychiatry, geriatrics and family medicine.
His research collaborations include work on various psychological conditions, issues of psychology during birthing, nutritional approaches to autism and diabetes, and the use of healing circles to improve overall health outcomes.[1]
He is now an adjunct professor of anthropology at Johnson State College in Vermont and is Education Director for the Coyote Institute for Studies of Change and Transformation. He was on the core faculty of the former PsyD program at Union Institute & University.[2][3][4] He writes a regular column for Futurehealth.org,[5] in which he contributes his insights to modern psychiatry, the frustrations of health care and alternative ways of seeing mental illness, including an article about the January, 2011 tragedy in Tucson, Arizona.[6]
He has been on the faculties of several medical schools, most recently as associate professor of family medicine at the University of New England. He continues to work with aboriginal communities to develop uniquely aboriginal styles of healing and health care for use in those communities. He is interested in the relation of healing through dialogue in community and psychosis. He has also written Narrative Medicine, Healing the Mind through the Power of Story: the Promise of Narrative Psychiatry, and, his most recent book with Barbara Mainguy, Remapping Your Mind: the Neuroscience of Self-Transformation through Story.
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Elder Brother Les Malbon
My name is Les Malbon. I am of Scottish, English, Irish, and Scandinavian descent. I am of the Patterson clan. I live, work and play in the Snuneymuxw First Nations territory. I am a professor in the Kinesiology department at Vancouver Island University. My core teaching concentrations are Human Wellness, Health of the Human Spirit, Nature and Health, and Nutrition and Local Food Systems.
At the heart of my practice is the realization that everything is interconnected and that deep learning must be holistic and reflective. When we care for our own health and well-being we create healing in the world. One of the foundational frameworks that informs my life is from the Earth Charter; it suggests that we must join together to create a sustainable global community based on the principles of: Respect for Nature, Universal Human Rights, Social and Economic Justice, and a Culture of Peace.
In 2020 I received the Provost teaching award for excellence in (Indigenous Ways of Being and Knowing). I recently completed a United Nations diploma at the University of Peace (Earth Charter Institute in Costa Rica) in Sustainability and Peace Studies. I am a permaculturist and a trained herbalist from both a Western and Indigenous perspective. I have been engaged in Indigenous ceremony for over 30 years and it has become a way of life for me and my family. It has been a great joy to spend time with Elders that have shared their wisdom teachings. I am dedicated to the truth of oneness and the unity that exists between all things. The earth is but one country and we are all related as one human family.
Email: les.malbon@viu.ca
Dr. Kū Kahakalau
Dr. Kū Kahakalau is an award-winning Native Hawaiian educator, researcher, cultural practitioner, grassroots activist, visionary, community leader, entrepreneur, traditional songwriter, and expert in Hawaiian language and culture. The first person in the world to earn a Ph.D. in Indigenous Education, Dr. Kahakalau has been a leader in the Hawaiian culture-based education movement for over three decades and founded and directed a number of highly successful, culturally-driven educational programs. Since 2017, Dr. Kahakalau has led Kū-A-Kanaka, a native Hawaiian social enterprise, specializing in culture-based consulting and online education, targeting especially young Hawaiians ages 15-30 enrolled in EA Ecoversity, a culture-based higher education and career training program founded by Dr. Kahakalau in 2020.
EA stands for Education with Aloha, since Dr. Kahakalau’s research confirms that love, compassion, respect and kindness are the most important ingredients in 21st century education, just like they were in ancient times.
Dr. Kahakalau, her husband Nālei and their daughters ‘I‘inimaikalani and Pōlanimakamae, reside in Kukuihaele, Hāmākua, Hawai‘i. For the past 20 years, Kū and her family have planted taro and other utilitarian plants in Waipi‘o Valley, teaching young men and women their roles and responsibilities as 21st century Hawaiians, and sharing with thousands of learners from around the world, the value and the importance of aloha ‘āina.
Zahir Khan
Spiritual Teacher Zahir Khan is seen as a contemporary mystic in the tradition of Sufism. Having spent eight years studying at the feet of a master of the Qadriyya school of sufism and then further studying and meeting teachers from the Nondual, Advaita and Buddhist traditions.
Now Zahir sees he always was what he sought, even when he was looking for it, and so are you. If you feel you need to know that, then fine, and if there is no need to know, that’s fine too. Different colours, same rainbow.
Grandmother Paulienne Elizabeth Voll
I am Paulienne Elizabeth Voll. I am the only daughter of Amina Sitti and Nappie Voll. I have one daughter. I live in the southern part of the Netherlands. I was born in 1957 in Makassar Indonesia. My ancestors from my Father's side were European, German., with ancestors related to Scandinavia The ancestors of my Mother's side are related to the Philippines, New Zealand, China and Portugal. My parents moved to the Netherlands immediately following my birth. For almost three decades I worked as a Social Counselor and Case Manager in an Organization for Refugee Asylum Seekers. Before that, I worked as a Teacher of History and Geography. l also worked in a Biological Food Store. I have always been passionate about addressing the subjects of injustice and inequality in the world. I am deeply concerned about Climate Health , Nature and Refugees. I am so grateful to be part of the Indigenous Grandmothers Circle of The Low Lands.
I feel connected with both the Old World in Europe and Indonesia, where ancestral lineage plays an important role in the culture.
I honor and worship the Ancestors who teach me the spiritual wisdom of Mother Earth, the Divine Feminine, the Womb, Nature, the Four Directions and all of the Elements.
Mario Blackwolf
Author, 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. Author of "Me Native, You American" (Barnes and Nobel)
Grandmother / Elder, Mari Fix McEwen
Mari Fix McEwen is the daughter of Carolyn & granddaughter of Beatrice Ewing, from lineage Clan Ewing of hamlet Kilfinan in Alba (Scotland). Clan Ewing is of the Yew Tree Clan. Her Grandfather is Henry Young. Her patralineal line is Clan Wasson (Beatrice) and Fix, father Jack, son of Jake. She has traced her roots formally to 106 generations back in Scotland so far in her Scottish / Pictish Line.
Currently residing in Los Angeles in the Kich, Kavitian, Chumash and Topanga tribal areas, she was recognized as an Elder by Peruvian Elder and Maestro Hermano Vidal and his counsel of Peruvian Elders in 2015 and was given the task to bring her People back to their indigenous roots. She has spent years studying with 3 indigenous medicine lineages and was an active dancer with an indigenous Danza group from Mexico. She is also a direct apprentice of Taoist Master Ching Fung Dao Shr and a Tai Chi Student in the lineage of Grand Master Kai Ying Tung.
A Ceremonialist, Ordained Minister, Adjunct Professor and Alternative Medicine Practitioner of various energetic modalities since 1998, she has been facilitating Sound Healing journeys since 1991 & spiritual workshops since 2015. She holds Certifications in Therapeutic Arts, Sound Healing, Mindfulness, Irish Mythology, Celtic and Scottish Studies, Archeoastronomy, Ancient Architecture and Archeology.
As a sitting Grandmother, circle co-facilitator and Counsel member with the Indigenous Grandmothers of Europe, she is representing Scottish Lineage as well as supporting Indigenous Women of Europe Overseas, to revive their roots, connect to nature and honor the ways of Source. She is dedicated to unify with our indigenous relatives to create healing, understanding, solidarity, de-colonization, balance and connection.
Grandmother Mari is also the Founder of "A4D," as well as a member of OBOD, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and Co-Director / organizer of Order of the Oak, a Druid organization that supports environmental action in the world that runs educational online summits.
A member of the Tiyoshape clan with *Chief Rueben George, FWE & FWI and the Circle of Friends. She is a facilitator with associate Choctaw-Navajo/Chahta-Dineh Elder Patricia Anne Davis of the “Indigenous Change Process, ” and dedicated to extricating the out of balance condition within herself and humanity for the good of all.
Elder Brother, Ukumbwa Sauti
Ukumbwa is an initiated Elder in the Dagara tradition (Burkina Faso in west Africa), presenter, facilitator and consultant and has worked in and for community organizations and programs and higher education. He specializes in social justice, anti-oppression, cultural studies, media and spirituality. Ukumbwa Sauti has been teaching Cultural Media Studies and Video Production for 14 years. His educational focus, research and activism has centered around the social implications of televisual, cinematic and advertising narratives, looking deeply into issues of culture (indigenous and modern), race and nation, gender, sexual orientation, politics, the environment and climate change. Ukumbwa has authored and contributed to a number of blogs. He holds a Master’s Degree in Education and teaches Racial Justice and Cultural Oppression for the School of Social Work. He also is a diviner, numerologist and spiritual counselor. He has presented at spiritual conferences and events in the New England region and California and has been active in organizing ritual work in the Boston, New York and Toronto, Canada. Ukumbwa can be reached on Facebook (personal profile, World Ancestor Concert and Conscious Consent Education pages, Men's Work Initiative and Conscious Consent Community groups) and email at ukumbwa@gmail.com.
Diemut Tall M.D.
Artist - Healer
Diemut Tall is our German Grandmother, a Medical Doctor, an Artist, a seer and healer. She has an extensive background in Sociology and Psychology. Currently teaching Art and Healing / Meditation and Sound with an Arts Institute for children in Germany, she has spent 16 years watching and seeing what brings children alive. Modern Education seems to be crushing their spirits. Diemut brings this conversation and others to the Ancestors of the 4 Directions for the healing of the Hoop. (written by Mari Fix McEwen)
Elder and Olorisha Tchise Aje
Traditional Healer
Olorisha Tchise Aje is a Mother, teacher, Ifa Initiate, and licensed massage therapist. One of the original members of the Anansi writers workshop in Leimert Park, she is an acclaimed spoken word artist, award winning poet and natural healer. She was one of the inaugural recipients of the P.E.N. West Emerging Voices fellowship.
She began college as a student in the resident honors program at USC, studied theater Arts at Cal Arts and Graduated with a degree from Cal State Long beach. She has taught all grades from kindergarten through college, and last served as an Adjunct professor teaching Revolutionary Literature at Otis College of Art and Design. She comes from a family deeply rooted in West African Mysticism and Southern Root Work.
Michael Dunning
Western Mystery Traditions, and Bio-dynamics
During the late 1980’s Michael became extremely ill as a result of an encounter in the far north of Scotland. Several years later and close to death, he was led to an ancient female yew tree in the south of Scotland. Michael spent over nine years under this yew where he was healed and where he was given the template for a spiritual teaching and the healing practice that he refers to collectively as the Yew Mysteries. Michael emigrated to the USA in 2003.
While living in Scotland Michael studied Craniosacral Therapy with Donald Howitt D.O. and now offers a two-year foundation training in a unique form of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy in Western Massachusetts.
Michael currently teaches the Yew Mysteries in USA, Canada and in UK. He has written about his experiences with the yew in the book "Soul Companions" and in many other publications including Sacred Hoop and the Journal of Contemporary Shamanism.
Mika Maniwa
As a second-generation Japanese Canadian impacted by war-generated trauma, I practice compassionate inquiry about emotionally reactive behaviours and explore what is needed to increase our capacity for wellbeing, dialogue and collaboration.
As a settler on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples, I work to understand the scope of my privilege under this colonial system. My experience and work integrates my longstanding commitments to working with people impacted by colonization, classism, racism, and intergenerational trauma.
I am a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Based in Vancouver, Canada I’ve been offering NVC training for individuals and organizations for over 15 years.
https://www.mikamaniwa.com/
Chief Reuben George *
Sundance Chief Rueben George is a member of the Tsleil-
Waututh Nation (TWN). A Family Counsellor who has 25 years of
experience in the healing field. Rueben has many years of
experience in working with First Nations/Tribes in wellness,
Correctional Centres, Addiction Treatment Centres, School
Districts, Canada/USA Social Services, and Colleges/Universities
Rueben Continues to volunteer at a men’s Treatment Centre and
Correctional Centres.
After serving his Nation as Director of Community Development,
he shifted his focus in 2010 to be Manager of Sacred Trust TWN’s
initiative to protecting Burrard Inlet, the traditional Tsleil-Waututh
territory, from the proposed Kinder-Morgan/TMX pipeline. Rueben
has traveled the world creating allies with Indigenous people who
stand for water, land, and human rights. Rueben has become one
of the best-known voices in the media locally and internationally in
the conversation about the proposed Kinder/Morgan TMX pipeline
and other related issues.
Rueben is a consultant to multiple businesses primarily All
Nations Cannabis.
Rueben George is a spiritual leader, who was adopted and made
a Sun Dance Chief by 2 Lakota families. Rueben is involved in his
Coast Salish culture and ceremonies.
In all aspects of Rueben’s life and work, he incorporates his
cultural and spiritual teachings.
Zarna Joshi
Zarna Joshi is a well-known community organizer based the Pacific Northwest region. She is of Indian Hindu descent and has been a climate and social justice activist since she was a teenager, witnessing and feeling deeply environmental and social problems around the world. As an eighteen-year-old student climate activist in 2000, she protested at The Hague during the COP6 when President George W. Bush’s delegates walked out and the talks collapsed. She realized then that we couldn’t wait for elected officials to fix the climate crisis. In the years since, she has worked as a writer and activist to inspire a change of values within the people.
In 2013 she signed the Pledge of Resistance against the Keystone XL Pipeline and became involved in housing justice, campaigning to highlight the corruption of the banking system. She took part in blockades against oil and coal trains and was an organizer in the ShellNo campaign to defend the Arctic from Royal Dutch Shell’s oil drilling. Watch her 2015 interview on Democracy Now! Her Zarna Responds youtube video series about sexual harassment went viral in October 2016. She campaigns against patriarchy because she identifies it as the root cause of systems of oppression and mentors male collectives on how to dismantle their own patriarchy and toxic masculinity. She was the keynote speaker at the Engaging Men conference in Portland in 2017, the first conference of it’s kind in the region. She was also the lead adult mentor for the Zero Hour youth platform team as they built a youth climate justice movement for the worldwide youth climate march in July 2018. Read their platform here. Zarna dismantles colonial harm to the Hindu community by confronting anti-Hinduism and working to dismantle the cultural appropriation of yoga. Her efforts have led to the creation of Healing from White Yoga, a collective of allies who work to heal the harm caused to impacted communities through education, community organizing, and financial assistance. Read their article on how western yoga harms Hindu people
A4D Ceremonialists - those not already listed above
Cynthia Klatte Cunningham
ANCESTORS of the 4 Directions & OWS
Presenter / Speaker, A4D Organizer, Ceremonialist & 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, OBOD and Order of the Oak. I am additionally a Talking Circle Facilitator with Four Worlds Foundation.
Ává Niamh
Purification & Fire Keeper / Representative for the "Ancestors of the 4 Directions" and Four Worlds Europe
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 xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (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.
Ava has served with the Sacred Circle of Indigenous Women of Europe as a Sister on the Meeting Organizing Team with Sister Cynthia Klatte Cunningham and Grandmother Mari Fix McEwen and is serving as a Representative of the ANCESTORS of the 4 DIRECTIONS & FOUR WORLDS EUROPE at the upcoming UNION OF THE CONDOR, HUMMINGBIRD, QUETZAL AND EAGLE (Sacred CHQE Covenant, Union, Equinox, and Election Ceremonies) in Palenque Mexico, March 17 - 22..
