40th Annual Native American
Elders and Youth Gathering
July 26th – 28th, 2024
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 / Ani Yun Wiwa 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 Wiwa. 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Chief Lee Plenty Wolf, is Lakota medicine man from the Oglala tribe, one of the seven tribes composing the Sioux Nation & is a very influential and well-established leader of the movement of water protection at Standing Rock.
Chief Lee is the founder & Spiritual Advisor for non-profit organization, White Horse Creek Council, who provides for the continuance and practice of native spiritual, ceremonial, cultural, and indigenous permaculture practices of first nation peoples and provides financial and promotional assistance for ceremony and its spiritual leaders.
He also the Spiritual Advisor for the organizing committee of the Boulder Valley Indigenous people day Pow Wow & parade in Boulder, Co, serves as Board of directors for ‘Love Wild Horses/ Wild Horse Protection Act & is an award winning Prayer Singer.
Chief Lee has offered spiritual support in the form of Inipi, Sundance, Chanupa & other ceremonies for over 30 years and speaks regularly on climate change and life principals outlined in his book, Plenty Wolf Medicine: 7 Lakota Values.
Sky Road Webb is a descendant of the Tamal’ko – Tomales Bay Band of Miwok of the Coast Miwok Tribe of Marin County, California. Sky Road is a councilman on the Coast Miwok Tribal Council of Marin, the tribally self-determined governance of the Coast Miwok of Marin. He also sits on the Board of Directors for Hukukio Inc., (which is the original, traditional name of the Coast Miwok and means: The People Who Stand in Front – perhaps a reference to the Point Reyes Peninsula which juts out into the Pacific Ocean), which is the Tribal non-profit the Coast Miwok Tribe of Marin. He is the President of the Marin American Indian Alliance (MAIA), based in San Rafael, CA — a 501c3 non-profit formed in 1968 to support all Native Americans in Marin County and the North Bay area. He sits on the Board of Directors for MAPOM (Marin Archeological Preserve of Marin), a 501c3 dedicated to preserving Coast Miwok archeological sites and cultural heritage.
Sky Road is a 12-year veteran of the US Navy, and a graduate of the US Naval Academy, Annapolis MD. Currently, he is employed as the chief of operations for Inter-Tribal Council of California, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit that provides federally funded social services for over 50 California Tribes and Tribal organizations. As a certified FEMA CERT instructor, Sky Road instructs and helps build Tribal Community Emergency Response Teams (T-CERT) at Rancherias and Reservations throughout California. He provides cultural presentations and native skills classes to K-12 school children through the American Indian Education Program.
Sky Road appeared in the award winning 2014 independent documentary, The Invisible Peak, by Gary Yost, about the restoration project of Mount Tamalpais, the sacred mountain in the center of Marin County. In an effort to learn, revive and teach his own indigenous language of the Tamal’ko, Sky Road composes and performs original songs in Coast Miwok. Sky Road integrates Native language and songs in the telling of traditional “First-People” stories of the adventures of Old Man Coyote, Deer, Bear, Raven and the other First Peoples who lived on the back of Mele-ya, The Great Turtle, in the time before Humans.
Grandfather Kodata & Britton Family
“In these most challenging times, with each breath we breathe, we are reminded that in each of us is a Place Of Peace”, Grandfather Kodata shares.
“The kingdom of God/Creator is within you. In knowing we are all connected to the One Infinite Creator, this family has overcome great challenges. We have welcomed the lessons learned. When two or more people come together in prayer, Creator is present on our behalf. Being aware, we share the Oneness of all things created. We hold steadfast in our faith and overcome the obstacles we willingly accepted as our mission or assignment prior to our walk on this Earth. With every challenge on this path of life, we have the opportunity to be of service to self, or of service to others.
Living in each moment and trusting with each breath that love, compassion, and understanding is the spark that keeps our love/light, our heart/ mind connection available helps guide our future generations and all of humanity. Trust in your Place Of Peace, Trust in your Holy magnificent intuition, and recall your mission to help humanity and all things created. Have faith in knowing the Oneness of all things created. It is good.”
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.
Larry McDermott is an Algonquin Elder of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, and he and his wife Nancy live in a 170 year-old log home on 500 acres of biologically-diverse Algonquin land along the Mississippi River. Elder Larry is the Executive Director of Plenty Canada, Lanark, Ontario, an Indigenous charity working to share Indigenous knowledge with western science. He is a member of numerous organizations, including the International Indigenous Forum for Biodiversity, the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP), Ontario Biodiversity Council, the Ontario Professional Foresters Association, the Healing Place partnership, the Indigenous Circle of the Canadian Biosphere Association, and is a co-chair of the Lanark County Safety and Well-Being Plan. He was a Commissioner for the Ontario Human Rights Commission and served on Ontario ‘s Species at Risk Public Advisory Committee. Elder Larry was a humble student of the late Algonquin Elder, Grandfather William Commanda.
Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin is a group dedicated to indigenous Mexika tradition, revitalizing the culture, dances, and ceremonies that are carried out depending on the various seasons. Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin strive to continue and share indigenous values, medicine, and traditions to preserve their indigenous cultural inheritance.
Abuela Maria Theresa (Grandmother Elena Ixcot) is a Maya Spiritual elder (Ajq’ij) of the Maya Mam Nation. In the 1980s during the height of the internal armed conflict and genocide against the Maya people, she and her family were persecuted for their work demanding justice and equal rights for the Maya people. Grandmother Elena, her children and husband were forced to flee to Chiapas, Mexico and ultimately were provided sanctuary as political refugees in the United States. Throughout her life, she has advocated for the rights of the Maya people, other Native Nations, and the care and protection of Mother Earth. She now lives in Guatemala and is former K’amalb’e of the Regional Council of Ancestral Maya Authorities of Guatemala; is current member of the National Council of Ancestral Authorities of the Maya, Garifuna and Xinka peoples of Ixim Ulew (Land of the Corn); member of the leadership council of the Maya Mam Council of Quetzaltenango; member of Aj Q´ij, Oxlajuj B´e of 8 municipalities of the Mam people in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; member of the Consultative Group of the Maya Program of the United Nations, Guatemala; and a Founder and current Board Member of the International Mayan League.
Chonyi Richard Allen, Teaching, healing, and ministry. Psycho-spiritual therapist/ multi-dimensional energy healing and facilitator of inner journeys and co–creator of sacred spaces.
Traveler of many worlds.
An ‘Elder minister’, lineage carrier in the priestcraft of Ywahoo lineage, Ani Yun Wiwa.
A senior teacher with Sunray Meditation Society.
Has served on faculty of colleges and universities.
Immersed in Tibetan Buddhist Dharma since childhood.
Throughout this lifetime dedicated to catalyzing personal & collective transformation and awakening throughout Planet Earth and amongst all Beings.
The Reverend Co’Relous C. Bryant is currently the Senior Pastor of the United Church of Lincoln in Lincoln, Vermont. Co’Relous obtained his bachelor’s degree from NYU in New York City and his Master of Divinity degree from Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Co’Relous is a sought after preacher having been invited into the pulpits of The Riverside Church in the City of New York, Union Chapel on Martha’s Vineyard and Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY. Co’Relous has been interviewed by Vermont Public Radio and the Addison Independent about his new ministry in Vermont. Rev. Bryant is thrilled to join this wonderful community of seekers and mystics to help detect the Divine in this Green Mountain paradise and deeply honored to join the Sunray family!
Tatjana Cady is of the Abenaki Turtle Clan, and also has Abenaki, Mohawk, Huron, French and German ancestors in her lineage.
Earlier in her life, she was adopted as first daughter by Grandmother Nanatasis in traditional Abenaki family ceremony. She spent 17 years with her learning and participating in ceremony and the sharing of Abenaki Women’s Sacred Wisdom Teachings & Practices and Medicine Wheel Teachings. She has been actively continuing with these ceremonies and sharing of teachings for the past 26 years. She is a member of communities locally and in Europe, where she shares teachings and holds ceremony as called for.
Grandmother Hears Crow (Nootauau Kaukôntuah) lives and breathes the traditions of the Narragansett people. As a master storyteller, educator, published poet, and workshop leader, she weaves Longhouse Tales, Native American legends, and Transformational Stories.
“Stories are gateways that can link diverse cultures, transform our spirits, and open our hearts to one another,” she says.
A twice-published poet and author of an upcoming Native children’s novel, Hears Crow served as the Vermont State Liaison to the National Storytelling Network and mentored youth storytellers through Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST). She is on the faculty alumni at the Transformation Storytelling School. With over 35 years of storytelling experience, she brings Indigenous oral traditions and other cultural stories to life at libraries, schools, community centers, museums, and Indigenous gatherings.
Formerly the Director of Strategic Sourcing at Deloitte & Touche, she now dedicates herself full-time to storytelling, blending her business expertise with Indigenous traditions to foster communication, engage communities, and educate through stories.
Grandfather Doug Harris was a tribal historic preservationist for the Narragansett Nation. For the past 16 years, he was tribally-certified to seek and preserve indigenous ceremonial and sacred stone landscapes for the Narragansett Indian Preservation Office. After retiring from this role, he continues as Tribal Historic Preservation Consultant and Ceremonial Stone Landscape Preservationist, authorized by the National Park Service, in continuing to lecture and identify ceremonial stone structures in the northeast USA for earmarking as historic ceremonial landmarks.
Reverend Katherine Amtul Hannan, Lithuanian/Irish lineage, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Artist, Psychotherapist and Seeker, began study with Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo in October 1978. She was ordained with Louise Diamond in 1985, at the hand of Venerable Dhyani.
Rev. Amtul focalized Star Child Gathering with amazing teams of people, in Vermont 1988-1998 and in Germany 1992-2019.
Reverend Sandra Sheridan, Physical Therapist specializes in manual therapy and therapeutic exercise. A long time student of Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, she is the NGO representative of Sunray Meditation Society at the United Nations and has been for the past 25 years. Her focus has been on Indigenous Peoples rights and utilizing the Sunray Peacekeeping Principles within the UN system and internationally in support of Indigenous Peoples.
Carolyn DiCarlo’s approach to form, function and design is unique. She believes that we are profoundly affected by our surroundings. With that in mind, she makes environments that you feel, not just see.
DiCarlo combines her vast knowledge of ancient architecture and sense of style as she creates homes, work environments, and public spaces. Having designed over 500 residences in New York City and surrounding areas, DiCarlo brings her expertise in construction and fabrication, as well as her connections to resources, contractors, and artisans.
Having launched two design showrooms in the Flatiron district in NYC and worked on numerous commercial, hotel and restaurant projects around the world, including Chanel Headquarters NY and Rockefeller Group corporate offices, DiCarlo currently manages a successful architectural and interior design firm based in NYC. Her projects include residential design, commercial projects and her latest venture—designing sanctuary spaces.
DiCarlo has been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, the Associated Press, Mindbodygreen, Oprah Magazine, Elle Décor, and House Beautiful.
Lucie Marie Gabrielle LeBlanc, Interior designer, beauty maker, artist, and body/mind & biomagnetic pair therapist. World traveler.
Tashi Sky Burke-Tomaeno has grown up as a member of the Sunray family. He has always had a love of music. Before he could form full sentences, he was using the dining room table as a drum. Eventually, he progressed from the table to the Native American drum, djembes and then a drum kit.
At 3 years old he was invited to offer his drumming in the arbor for the first time. Now, at almost 20, he joins us virtually from his music college in California to inspire us with some vibrations, sounds, and rhythms.
Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz, Ph.D. is Chief leader of the Grand Council of the Eagle and the Condor. His mission is to ensure that the five Earth Mandates that were received in ceremony hosted by the Kogi, Arwak and Kankuamo in Sacred Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in May 2013, are implemented in 52 major bioregions in the world. Other responsibilities to Mother Earth include: Consultant with UNESCO on Sacred Sites and Biocultural issues, General Coordinator of the Otomi-Toltec Regional Council in Mexico and caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi-Toltec peoples, and Otomi-Toltec Ritual Ceremonial Officer since 1988.
Two most recent books by Dr. Mindahi Bastida are: Ancestors. Divine Remembrance of Lineage, Relations and Sacred Sites and Rooted in Ethics.
He has also written extensively on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Sacred Sites, intercultural
education, collective intellectual property rights and associated traditional knowledge, among
other topics. He was also chief editor of a book series on Culture, Gastronomy, and Biodiversity of the Wetlands of his original homeland in the highlands of Mexico.
He is an international speaker, having been invited to over fifty countries in every continents.
Currently there are two films being produced focusing on his message and legacy.
Jon Delson, Mohawk Firekeeper
Joan Henry, (Tsalagi/Nde’/Arawaka)
Dekanogisgi (Traditional Song-Carrier) & Elisi (Grandmother) Director, Fours Worlds Circles and the monthly global 22 Sacred Prayers of Women of Mother Earth
Indigenous Composer/Performer/Artist/Educator/Counsellor & Water Protector, it has been Chuchu Joan’s privilege to be a carrier of songs for elders among the Nde’ (Apachu), Coast Salish, Shoshone, Paiute, Hopi, Chippewa/Cree, Dakota and other nations, that these songs might be kept alive and heard when needed. Raised to listen deeply from an early age, she is best known as a singer and stage performer whose youth was filled with her grandmothers’ & elders’ stories, songs and healing plant-knowledge — and as a foremost proponent of Indigenous Talking Circles as a way to “change the heart of communications in the world.”
Grandmother Nan Claudia,
Originally from Seattle Washington, Spoken Word Poet/Emcee and Teaching Artist, Rajnii Eddins has been engaging diverse community audiences for over 30 years. He was the youngest member of the Afrikan American Writers Alliance at age 11 and has been actively sharing with youth and community in Vermont since 2010.
Rajnii’s diverse talents and passions allow him to offer a wide variety of powerful experiences that foster connection, learning, and mutual growth. He thrives at creating spaces that are educational, explorative, and celebratory, whether in a classroom, a conference hall, a community center, or online.