Profiles in History Speaker
”I try to be as traditional as my elders have taught me to be. My father told me that my best teachers in life will be people that you don't want to be, that their mistakes will be your guide not to follow in their footsteps! So, I do my best to be nice to everyone, life is short...life is good, today is a good day to be alive and healthy : )
Mary LyonsOjibwe Great-grandmother
Great-Grandmother Ojibwe Elder
Great-Grandmother Mary Lyons, Ojibwe Elder from Minnesota, Nish-Hibi-ikwe “Second Water Woman”, Elder of Mitigwakk-Daywaygus-Giwstashskad “Water Drum Circle”, Senior Member of the “Top Hat Medicine Dress/Long Skirt Society”, spiritual advisor, storyteller, and wisdom keeper. She travels and teaches internationally sometimes in collaboration with the Indigenous Grandmothers of the Sacred We, a pan-indigenous group led by Sufi teacher Devi Tide. She is the founder of the Minnesota Coalition on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, an Indian Child Welfare Act Expert Witness and a Native American Family and Child Advocate.
She was a keynote speaker at the Parliament of World Religions in Utah and at the People’s Climate March in New York City in 2014. She is a winner of the Congressional Angels in Adoption Award, nominated by Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. She currently serves as a counselor for the women’s sobriety group Women of Wellbriety International, which she co-found. She is an active United Nations Observer on Women/Indigenous Issues.
Her latest accomplishment is the publishing of WISDOM LESSONS, a culmination of a lifetime steeped in indigenous spiritual traditions, as well as the proverbial school of hard knocks. Great-Grandmother Mary offers invaluable lessons for anyone interested in living in alignment with their higher self.
Great-Grandmother Mary carries an intense professional portfolio, her contribution to the wellness of women and families stands at the forefront of her commitments in the areas of “talking circles, ceremonies, Vision interpretations, one on one Spiritual Guidance.”
“Creation has provided us with a spirit wrapped in this blanket we call a body, so, we walk in this world with speaking of two, the “We” factor. Our love for the circle of life is taught to our children as we live our ancestors’ teachings daily. We are all leaders and when we come to the end of our earthly pathways of life, we turn around and see what we have taught our children…we will either smile or we will weep…our pathways, our imprints, our history will live through the ones we leave behind.”