COUNCIL OF ELDERS BIOS

BENKI PIYÃKO

Ashaninka - Brazil & Peru

Benki has been referred to as the Dalai Lama of the Amazon, he's considered an 'Antaviari' in his culture, which means a direct messenger of God. Healing people since he was 10 years old, Benki championed the rights of his community at the age of 12, from 2005 to 2007 he was also the environmental administrator of Acre, Brazil.

In 2007 he created training center Yorenka Antame. Benki rehabilitates drug and alcohol addicted youth by teaching them to work with the land, he has repopulated numerous endangered animal species in the area where he lives, Benki has also helped many indigenous tribes recover their cultures.

He won UN's Equator Prize alongside his tribal community Apiwtxa for their remarkable environmental work. Benki has planted over 2 million trees in the past 28 years and created the world's first eco-market which exchanges plastic for food in Amazonian town Marechal Thaumaturgo.

NABA IRITAH SHENMIRA

Dogon - Mali, Africa

Son of legendary Dogon prophet Neb Naba Lamoussa, IriTah is a teacher, lecturer, spiritual activist, priest, and healer of the Dogon bloodline of Meritah. He is the “Head Merr” (Leader) of The Earth Center. IriTah was born and raised among the Tem people in Togo. As a young boy, he entered various initiations and apprenticeships with priests and healers, enduring the rites of passage of becoming a mana group of bloodlines, the keepers of knowledge from the upper echelon of the Pharaonic society.

The Dogon culture has remained uninterrupted since the time of the Pharaohs. Nabas specialize in spiritual knowledge including geomancy, astronomy, etc. Their mission is dictated by the Divinities and Ancestors of the shrines they maintain.

KUMU RAMSAY – RAMSAY TAUMRamsayu

Hawaiian - USA

Mentored and trained by respected kūpuna (elders),

Ramsay is a practitioner and instructor of several Native Hawaiian practices: Hoʻoponopono (stress release and mediation), lomi haha (body alignment), and Kaihewalu Lua (Hawaiian combat/battle art). 

Kumu Taum in 2009 was recognized and honored by the University of Hawaii as a Star of Oceania, an honor presented every three years to extraordinary individuals of Oceania for their work and service-related contributions to raising greater awareness of Oceania and its people to the nation, region, and world.

Kumu Ramsay is recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for transformational leadership in sustainability, cultural, and place-based values integration into contemporary business models, Ramsay Taum advocates team building, strategic partnerships, community brilliance, and creative thinking. He is a recognized cultural resource, sought after keynote speaker, lecturer, trainer, and facilitator. He is especially effective working with Hawai‘i’s  industries where he integrates Native Hawaiian cultural values and principles into contemporary business.

MONA POLACCA

Hopi / Havasupai / Tewa - USA

Mona is a Hopi Native American spiritual elder from Arizona. She has worked to further social justice for indigenous people from an early age. She is an author in the field of social sciences, has held posts of responsibility as Treasurer for her tribe, served on several committees for Indigenous Peoples within the United Nations, and is widely known for her "leadership in the Native American revitalization movement. In recent years, Mona has gained international recognition for her work as one of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers - a group of spiritual elders, medicine women, and wisdom keepers founded in 2004.

TATA MARIO SIMON OVALLE CHAVEZ

Maya K’iche - Guatemala

Tata Mario is a renowned spiritual leader, naturopath, painter and talented traditional musician, he plays the marimba, drums, caracol, and flute.

Founder of the council of Ajq’ijab’(spiritual guide) Iq’ B’alam and Accessor of Indigenous Townhall of Santa Lucia, Utatlan, Solola. He gives conferences about medicinal plants, Maya cosmology, and history, identity and rights of indigenous people, he’s also a primary school teacher.

Tata Mario works alongside his wife Nana Amalia on healing, purification, and spiritual balancing ceremonies, Mayan astrology readings amongst other traditional rituals.

NANA AMALIA TUM XINICO

Maya Kaqchiquel - Guatemala

Amalia is a gifted healer, naturopath, and renowned spiritual leader and teacher, member of the commission of the sacred sites in Guatemala – COLUSAG, founder of the elder council Iq’B’alm, member of the council of elders and political association of Mayan women MOLOJ, spiritual assessor of association of women KAKLA.

Nana Amalia works alongside her husband Tata Mario on healing, purification, and spiritual balancing ceremonies, Mayan astrology readings amongst other traditional rituals.

Chief Clara Soaring Hawk

Ramapough Lenape - USA

Chief Clara is Deer Clan Chief in the Ramapough Lenape Nation. An Elder whose inspiration (in spirit) for her life’s work begins and ends with her family, both biological and spiritual. She has been called by her Creator to work with the young humans of the planet.

Chief Clara has been facilitating ceremonies, both nationally and internationally, since 2016. She has been asked to present Ceremony at a multitude of events and religious/spiritual gatherings.

Chief Clara defines herself as a “Spiritual Ecologist”. “In this time of global turmoil, we must all be open to a new level of consciousness. We stand for the Water. We stand for the Land. We stand for the People.

We are the Sweet Water Protectors! A’ho!”

Kiiloona Lunaapeewak ~ We are all One People

LánéSAán Moonwalker

Yoreme / Apache - USA

LánéSaán Moonwalker has been an oracle, healer, spiritual teacher, and environmental guardian for more than 45 years.

Láné began her training in the healing arts at the age of 12 from members of her family who were highly skilled curanderas (traditional healers who combine Native and Catholic spiritual beliefs and practices). From her mother, she learned to work with creative expression as a doorway to spirit.

Láné is an accomplished artist, a weaver, and a painter, as well as a dancer and singer, and holds a degree in humanities and the visual arts from the University of Colorado. She has been a licensed minister for more than 32 years and is a Canon in the Brigade of Light.

Láné has studied with many spiritual teachers, including artist, writer, and visionary Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow), Eric Tao, and Marian Starnes.

In 1987, she met her main teacher Tu Moonwalker, an Apache, the great great granddaughter of Cochise. Tu was the holder of this unbroken Moonwalker lineage and Láné is an acknowledged part of that it, in addition to being from an unbroken lineage herself through her Yaqui grandmother. Together Tu and Láné founded the Philosophy of Universal Beingness within the Whole. The foundation of this system is about working with nature in a sacred way.