36th Annual Native American Elders Gathering
July 24 – 25th, 2020
41st Annual Native American
Elders and Youth Gathering
July 25th – 27th, 2025
Presenters
Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Sunray Meditation Society. She is the 27th generation lineage holder of the ancestral Ywahoo lineage in the Tsalagi / Cherokee tradition. She is unique as a teacher, carrying three intact streams of ancient spiritual wisdom. Venerable Dhyani is the Chief of the Green Mountain Band of the Ani Yun Wi Wa. She is the author of Voices of Our Ancestors, Learning Cherokee ways: The Ywahoo Path, and 108 Quotations: A Treasury of Mystical Wisdom. She has also contributed to many books over the years and has written various curriculums that have been utilized for peacemaking around the world.
Venerable Lama Konchok Sonam is the Spiritual Director of the Drikung Meditation Center (DMC) in Arlington, MA. Born in Lhasa, Tibet, Lama Sonam is expert in both the theoretical and practical aspects of training the mind through meditation and Vajrayana methods for awakening our Buddha Nature.
Grandfather Clifford Mahooty is a member of the Sun Clan within the Zuni Pueblo Nation of New Mexico. He is active in the sacred Zuni Orders of the Kachina and Galaxy Medicine Society, and he is a wisdom keeper of the Zuni History.
Grandfather Mahooty has shared extensively the teachings of the Star people in lectures and retreats, and many of his talks can be found on media channels such as Gaia.com and YouTube.
He is a retired civil environmental engineer, having worked specifically on environmental justice for Native American tribes and with federal EPA enforcement in environmental compliance.
Grandmother Abuela Margarita Nunes Garcia comes from the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico. With her joyous stories and songs, she loves remembering together with the People, how we ARE the House of God, that Great Spirit lives in each one of us.
Tehoronio Joey David is a member of the Mohawk nation (Wolf Clan). He works at the Tekanikonrahwa:kon Wholistic Health and Wellness Program in Akwesasne, NY. He utilizes the Onkwehonwehnéha Ohkakowenta, or “original person wheel” to help clients and community members connect with their hearts and develop spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Grandfather Michael Bastine is a member of the Algonquin Nation, and he is a healer, elder, and former student of famous Tuscarora medicine man Wallace “Mad Bear” Anderson and Tuscarora healer Ted Williams. He lives in South Wales, New York. He is the co-author of the book, Iroquois and Supernatural: Talking Animals and Medicine People.
Grandmother Patricia Downing DeAsis, BS MS, is Tsalagi, and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She has worked with The Medicine for many years, working with medicine people of other tribes in response to tribal prophecies that it was now time to share traditional medicine with all people. Grandmother Patricia is a private consultant and also is working to establish a health and healing center which creates a balanced partnership among traditional Indian medicine, Western allopathic medicine, and the patient. Since the 1990s, she has shared teachings during the Elders’ Gathering at the Peace Village.
Doug Harris is a Native American tribal historic preservationist and is a member of the Narrangansett Nation. For the past 16 years, he has been tribally-certified to seek and preserve indigenous ceremonial and sacred stone landscapes in his position as the Deputy Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Narrangansett Indian Preservation Office. He travels and lectures extensively in the northeast USA in seeking to identify ceremonial stone structures for earmarking as historic ceremonial landmarks.
Rudy Schild, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of FREE: Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters. He is a Professor Emeritus research astrophysicist at the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, following an extensive career studying dark matter, black holes, and the fluid mechanical origins of cosmic structure. He has become deeply interested in the formulation of a coherent understanding of the nature of space-time in the Universe. As an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cosmology, he is seeking to broaden the scope of scientific inquiry to include the nature of consciousness and the Universe. He is a co-author of the book, Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness & Contact with Non-Human Intelligence.
John Carlton-Foss, S.M., Ph.D., is president & chief executive officer of Strategic Energy Systems Incorporated, and a member of Everwalk, Inc. He is a psychologist-engineer who co-founded the Alternative Technology Study Group at MIT, and he was founder and CEO of Human-Technical Systems Inc., which provided expertise in the areas of human factors, energy engineering, architectural engineering, and implementation of computer systems in organizations. He was one of the key figures in the early developments that led to environmental standards, LEED, for creating healthy, productive and life-forcing enhancing buildings and architectural structures.
Tatjana Cady, Abenaki, Women’s Wisdom Keeper, was trained by her mother in the sacred teachings and practices of women’s moon cycle of the Abenaki Nation.
Nootauau Kaukontuoh, “she hears the crow,” is a woman of the Eastern Woodlands. She lives her life in the tradition of the Nanhigganêuck, the people known today as the Narragansett. A Storyteller of Longhouse Tales, told in different styles including Native Sign Language, call and response and other traditional styles. She has twice been awarded publishing contracts for her book of poetry and is currently completing a Native mid-grade novel. She brings to life the oral tradition at schools, community centers, Indigenous gatherings and wherever the stories lead her.
As a ‘kuhkootomwehteâen’ (one who shares knowledge), a ceremonial leader, and thirty-five plus years of telling, she brings forth the culture of the Longhouse People, through their stories.
Lei’ohu Ryder and Maydeen Ku’uipo ʻĪao are visionaries, ceremonialists, musicians and kahu/caretakers of a sacred temple on Maui. They celebrate life by embracing the spirit of aloha within the one ocean of our collective hearts.
Bear Fox is a songwriter and singer of the Mohawk nation. On her website she greets visitors in her native language by saying: “Shekon Sewakwekon, Kenkiohkoktha ionkia’ts wakathahionni, Akwesasne nikiteron”, (hello everyone, my name is Kenkiohkoktha, this name means I am standing at the back of a crowd of people, or at the end of a long line. I was named after my Grandmother. I live in Akwesasne.) www.bearfoxmusic.com
At the age of 29, she realized that she had a gift for songwriting. She first began writing songs in Mohawk for the Traditional Women’s singing group called, ‘Kontiwennenhawi’, (Carriers of the Words). In 2001, she began writing songs in English as well, and her first song was entitled, ‘Broken.’ She now shares her music widely in many forms and to many people.
Reverend Meli (aka Mary Kitchens), through her father, is part of the Western Cherokee diaspora that journeyed to California during the dust bowl of the 1930’s. She teaches high school and is the drumkeeper for Unole, a drum group that has been nominated for a Native American Music Award. She is a Sunray minister in the Ywahoo tradition.
Dr. Mark Edsel Johnson is long-time scholar, student and practitioner of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. He holds a Ph.D in Buddhist Studies from a joint program between the National University of Thailand (Mahachulalongkornvidyalai) and Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy (SIBA). Mark currently is on the staff of the postgraduate department of Buddhist Studies at SIBA, and is author of the book Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation.
Stay tuned for more presenters to be announced…