Kayumari birthday! — A story of remembering, honoring and celebrating our walk together…

A story of remembering, honoring and celebrating our walk together….

25 years ago, in June of 1995, after several years of meeting as a community, we arrived on top of a crystal mountain. Our new homeplace was 160 acres surrounded by national forests in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. It is located near Yosemite National Park and is the traditional territory of the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians.

We came together, guided by our Spiritual Elders and Founders, Jyoti & Russell Park, bringing our individual stories and histories to live consciously in community, to have a safe place to pray, raise our children and grow our food. We came to weave a new story together about healing, nurturing our relation to the Divine and to serve this wondrous creation of life. We arrived in our innocence, following dreams and visions, and the prophecies were given by Mother Earth herself.

Our name, Kayumari, is known to the Huichol Peoples as a blue deer that brings messages to the People from Spirit. It is said that where the Blue Deer walks, medicines grow bringing healing to the communities. Kayumari became the grounds for our learning, our growing, and our waking up.

And we grew… From there Kayumari went on to develop communities on the East Coast, Washington, Canada, Switzerland, and a center just outside of Prague that is 21 years old! We founded a home in the Brazilian Amazon, which we took care of for 20+ years. It has now been given to Grandmother Clara’s Santa Casa Healing Center. Kayumari has received thousands of people in all its locations around the world and we are blessed with Elders from many traditions that share their wisdom, helping us return to ourselves and Mother Earth.

And we grew… In 1998, in ceremony, the Mother gave us a basket. She said, “I’m going to give you one of my most precious baskets. Inside this basket are some of my most treasured jewels. Those jewels represent sacred lines of prayer that go back to the Original times. Do not mix them. Do not change them. Keep them safe and protect them. Walk them through the doorway of the millennia. Pass them back to me. I have something we are going to do.”

We did not know what this meant at the time, but up our 14-mile logger road came elders to initiate us into these lines of prayer. Each line of prayer brought more knowledge to us of the Sacred Earth-Based ways of life.

And we continued to grow… In 2001, we developed a global initiative that would protect and keep safe these ways of prayer. It is expressed through our non-profit church, the Center for Sacred Studies. This created a collaboration with the global community to serve our Earth-Based Initiatives; to honor our ceremonies in our Sanctuary, and to inspire with our Global University through our Ministry and Educational programs. All this continues to be offered in our communities today. There are over 250 Ministers of Walking Prayer all around the world, with another Ministry class beginning in September. We have a Center & Store located in Guerneville, California.

And we continued to grow… In 2004, we followed the prophecies and visions that spoke of Grandmothers Wisdom. Many in the community were receiving visions that it was time to bring a Grandmothers Council together. In following this direction, our community came together and planted seeds for Peace and Unity by convening the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. We came to learn that many tribal nations around the world held prophecies that spoke of a time when the 13 Grandmothers would come to shake the world awake. The Grandmothers that answered the call to sit on this council were the lineage holders of the basket that had been given to us to caretake in 1998! Through their Council, the Grandmothers traveled to each other’s homelands and to many places around the world to pray; to develop solidarity and cultural exchange; education and community outreach; and sustainable community development. They did indeed shake the world awake!

And we continued to grow… In 2012 ‘The Fountain, for the natural order of our existence’ was formed, forging a path forward to restore a global economy of reciprocity and collaboration inspired by nature and the sacred. Sacred Lands / Sacred Culture / Sacred Economics - creating a multi-disciplinary, intercultural exchange united in service to the Earth and future generations.

With this mission carried in our hearts, from 2014 to 2017, the Unity Concert was held in South Dakota to honor the Black Hills, the ‘Heart of Everything That Is’. The global work to restore and protect sacred sites had begun.

Growing still… In 2019, through the work and mission of the Fountain, the Mother Earth Delegation of United Indigenous Nations took form at the Flourishing Diversity Summit in London. This Summit had been called to convene 30 Indigenous Delegates and possible collaborative partners from many different walks of life. They came with the understanding that such direction and knowledge would help us walk with care for the earth and the whole of life. They came with the understanding that it is imperative to restore a way of life that can benefit current and future generations. The last day of the Summit on September 11th, with the news that more fires had been started in the Amazon and that 1 1/2 tons of radioactive waters from Fukushima had been dumped into the ocean, a lightning bolt from heaven was thrown down into the auditorium. Erena Rose, a Maori Grandmother, was filled with a fire that brought her to stand and make a traditional call to action. A call that reclaimed the intrinsic sovereignty of the Original Peoples globally. A call to restore their Original Caretaker roles for their territories. The Mother Earth Delegation has continued to grow, and now during this pandemic, it has been brought as a voice to the world stage.

Growing still… In 2020, our vision is clear as we look to the future to focus on what is breaking through – we see a world where our values of Respect, Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Relationship guide us. We are committed to weaving a new story where Black Lives Matter, where minorities matter. A new story for our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, for the Next 7 Generations and beyond. In this weaving, our Elders share, we heal the generational lines backward and forward - building a world that honors and celebrates the Sacredness of Life.

In honoring… We honor you for listening to your heart’s intelligence in answering the call of this prayer. Through your dedication and service, Kayumari’s roots have grown deep into Mother Earth, with the Tree growing tall and strong, branching out in ways we never imagined 25 years ago - through the work of our Community, The Center for Sacred Studies and The Fountain. We are blessed to still be on this amazing journey together; to continue to grow in consciousness as we look deep within and make good medicine from what we find there; to stay close to the Sacred in order to navigate these times we are in.

In celebration… We celebrate each and every one of you for the gift of who you are and the unique and special herb that you are in this very rich garden of life that has grown us all. We celebrate all life and the many generations in our community; the initiations for our children, our elders, and ourselves; our ceremonies and prayers; supporting each other through life’s transitions; the tears and laughter; the amazing stories; the miracles we have witnessed; our experiences with our Ancestors and Star Nation; and so much more. Such a rich tapestry of life!

In gratitude… For Jyoti and Russell, the Spiritual Founders; for the land and the Spirit of the Mountain; for my children that came up the mountain and were raised there; for the children that were born there and those that came up to live with their families; for the extended community that came up for prayer and ceremony; for work weekends and yurt raisings; for donations and organization; for those that supported from near and far; for those that took the seed and planted it to grow more conscious communities; for those that know the spirit of Kayumari through the telling of stories who are showing up in dedication right now to be a Walking Prayer; and for all those that bravely took that leap of faith 25 year ago – blessings to you! We give great thanks!

This has been, and continues to be, an amazing adventure!

Looking forward to the magic and mystery yet to come!

With Love and Gratitude, from my family to yours,

Darlene Hunter, Founder and a voice for the many

that walk the dream we prayed for!