Next 7 Generations (Rhoades)

“Next 7 Generations” Brings Wisdom from 13 Grandmothers
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Key West’s Gail Lima introduces Tropic audiences to an interesting film this week, a sacred journey in which 13 indigenous grandmothers have formed an alliance to impart their native wisdom to the world.
Gail tells the story of encountering an owl on her first date with her late husband Franko Richmond. She later witnessed an owl swooping down during a meeting attended by the wizen Grandmothers. “It was a sign,” she believes.

“I recently spent time with the Grandmothers at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York,” says Gail, “and want to share their message with all of you who are interested.”

How did this International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers come about? A spiritual teacher and researcher on native cultures named Jyoti had a vision telling her to invite women from various tribes to come together. This included elders from the Hopi, the Iroquois, the Inuit, India, African tribes, and Brazilian clans.

Of the 16 invited, 13 responded, all saying they had been anticipating such an invitation.
Rita Pika Blumenstein, the Grandmother from the Artic Circle, said she had been given 13 feathers as a child and told to wait for the calling. When the dozen-plus-one women convened, Rita handed each of them a feather as a token of their predestined gathering.

At the end of that 10-day gathering in 2004 they decided to form the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.

Award-winning producer-director Carole Hart has documented this in a film titled “For the Next 7 Generations: The Grandmothers Speak.” The film is narrated by Ashley Judd. It will be showing tomorrow night from 7:30 to 9:30 at the Tropic Cinema.

As these Grandmothers traveled together around the world – from Dharmasala, India, to the Amazon Rain forest, to mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico – Carole and her cameras accompanied them, documenting “their travels, their prayers, and how they have touched and changed the lives of those around them.”
The aim of these healers, shamans, and medicine women is to lay out visions and goals for 7 generations to come.

Hart explains, “The constitution of the United States was based on many of the premises stated in the Iroquois constitution. But they left out the great law of the Iroquois Confederacy, which states that ‘In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next 7 generations.’” The grandmothers hope to remedy this omission.

Think of them as a futurist Think Tank, but offering ancient knowledge combined with New Age insights.
Can they light the way for a peaceful and sustainable planet? They believe so, because they were told in prophecy that their ancestral ways of prayer, peace making, and healing are vitally needed in the world today.
Carole Hart elaborates, “The Grandmothers’ message is one of hope for the future. Their movie will help people experience a shift in consciousness that will lead to a new way for them to see their world and to be in it, a way simply stated, that will awaken their love for their Mother Earth, and all its inhabitants, us two-leggeds, our one-leggeds, our four-leggeds, Once their hearts are open, all else will flow. This love is the most powerful change agent in the world.”

How did this documentary come about? As Hart tells it, “I’m a filmmaker and I’ve had personal experience with Indigenous healing ways. I received a miraculous cure from a terminal cancer in 1994 through a Native American Church ceremony. After that I went through 3 years of Stargate, Jyoti’s mystery school, so I was there when the idea of this gathering came about. I saw what an historic event this was going to be and felt it needed to be documented on film.”

But ask her about it yourself. After the Tropic’s showing of “For the Next 7 Generations,” Carole Hart will entertain questions from the audience via Skype. And one of the 13 Grandmothers may be on hand via
satellite too.

Yes, visions come to us in many different ways.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]