Sacred Activist, is a wife, mother, and grandmother. A traditional Yoruba priestess, Afin chief and member of the Egbe Moremi, National African Women’s Society in the Kingdom of Oyotunji African Village, located in Sheldon SC.. North America’s oldest, authentic African community, Sangoma met Oyotunji’s founder and Father of the Cultural Restoration movement in 1969 at the age of 12. A Sangoma speaks of a tribe of healers and diviners with indigenous gifts of ancestral medicine from South Africa. Sangoma graduated from Clark University, Worcester, Mass in 1977 with a BA in Theatre Arts, After a 20 year career in broadcast journalism , television, radio and cable…life presented the opportunity to explore shamanism, women’s history, movement, pan-Africanism and Wise woman Traditions. Sangoma has taught at numerous summer camps and Earthskills gatherings, including as Director and primary instructor for 180 “at risk” youth between 9-14 in the Camp Champion, summer program in Thomson, Ga. Sangoma has more than 30 years in her priesthood, female rites of passage programs, women’s wisdom councils and weekend empowerment retreats. An artist, facilitator, and cultural preservationist, we are honored to have Sangoma’s leadership.

Siri Gunnarson is a bridge person and pollinator, she has been nomadic for most of her adult life moving with purpose between projects with transformational vision including School of Lost Borders, Youth Passageways, Soma Source, Naropa University LEAPNOW Gap Year Program, Tamera, The Ojai Foundation, Ways of Council, and Beyond Boundaries: an intergenerational ‘response team for our times’. A council trainer and guide with the School of Lost Borders, they are currently anchoring the Young Adult and Nature of Council programs. Siri serves on the Youth Passageways Stewardship Council and the Education and Consulting Collective. A deep believer in ‘nature as teacher’ and self-study as ways of insight into the human being, Siri is passionate about love and community, liberation and equity, embodiment and movement, and permaculture and water.