A Call to Attend the 41st Elders & Youth Gathering
By: Brian Russo, Elders and Youth Gathering co-chair 2025
July 7, 2025
As our New Earth unfolds, we are called to embody the light that we are. One way to do this is to remember the wisdom of the sunflower! Just as the sunflower takes in the energy of the sun to sustain its life, we too draw on the light — the light of consciousness — within us and around us to grow, evolve, and illuminate our world!
We are each like mini-suns (sons of Source), radiant beings whose light is meant to be shared. This truth echoes the ancient knowing of the Tsalagi people — widely known as the Cherokee — who have long referred to themselves as the Principal People, or Ani Yunwiwa. Their guiding philosophy is rooted in sacred creation stories that speak of a divine responsibility: to instill light and manifest good for the benefit of all beings.
These words are at the beginning of Voices of Our Ancestors by Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, grounding the text in a powerful spiritual purpose. They remind us that as we receive the light, we are also meant to give it. This is the sacred law of reciprocity. Like the flame of love that only grows when shared, the light expands through our giving. to strengthen the circle of life and deepen our connection to one another.
In this spirit, we invite you to the Sunray Elders & Youth Gathering, held at the Peace Village in Lincoln, VT. It is a sacred space where you can receive the wisdom of the Tsalagi and Buddhist traditions and shine your own light in return. Learn more here! This year’s theme is “Light is Consciousness” — and this message speaks to this sacred truth.
The act of instilling light is not about force, but remembrance. To instill means to gently, yet firmly, place a truth in the heart — and the truth being placed is not foreign. It is the remembrance of our essence and the empowerment that flows from this knowing. The sunflower doesn’t strive to find the sun. It simply knows how to turn toward it based on its divine design. This is the phenomena of heliotropism — a living metaphor for our own nature. Our souls, too, naturally turn toward the Source. That turning does not need to be taught; it is encoded in us. We turn toward it around us in positive ways of living and seeking out the good and we also turn within to know it at our core.
The Tsalagi philosophy, the Elo, is medicine for our time. The Elders and Youth Gathering offers a living experience of it. We do not force the seed to sprout. We create the right conditions — rich soil, water, light, space. In this way, the gathering becomes a field of harmony, where you are nourished, supported, and invited into full bloom.
We sing the song of light not to change the seed, but to awaken it — a song of recognition, of attunement, so it remembers its own melody and begins to vibrate with life. Cultivating resonance is not control. It is communion. At the heart of the Peace Village stands the Sunray arbor — a sacred circle of cedar pylons covered in cedar boughs, with a fire glowing at its center. Here, the teachings are shared, songs are sung, dances offered. Within this space, we become aware of the unseen forces that nourish us: joy, clarity, peace, awareness. The fire ignites more than warmth — it awakens knowing. Like singers in a field, we don’t sing at the seed — we sing to where it is. This is the work and play of harmonic alignment.When light, water, space, and song align, the seed doesn’t just grow — it blooms, adding its own voice back to the great chorus of life.
So this is your invitation:
Come to the Gathering.
Turn toward the light.
Remember your song.
And shine bright —
because we shine brighter together!