People

Elders Advisory Council

The past seven years has seen The Fountain build deep relationships with Elders and spiritual leaders from many nations, among them the Four Nations of the Sierra Nevada, Otomi-Toltec, Lakota, Ezza Peoples of Nigeria, and Mohawk.

Our People

Everything we do is based on right relationships, reciprocity, and partnership, operating in respect and collaboration with the original principles shared by elders and through ceremony.

Elders

The past seven years has seen The Fountain build deep relationships with Elders and spiritual leaders from many nations, among them the Four Nations of the Sierra Nevada, Otomi-Toltec, Lakota, Ezza Peoples of Nigeria, and Mohawk.

Partners

We have partnerships with many other groups called to work in these ways, among them the Center for Sacred Studies, International Council for Environmental and Economic Development, SourceCode4Life Consortium, ICV, LeCiel, and a wide variety of NGOs.

Council

Council members form an extensive network of supporters, collaborators and experts that have shaped The Fountain’s co-creative journey, and continue to inform, advise, and share on this sacred journey.

Operational Team

A dedicated team of nine helps support the different areas of endeavor The Fountain addresses day to day, bringing cross-disciplinary skills and decades of experience in service to the vision we collectively share and work towards.

Elders and Partners

Jyoti (Jeneane Prevatt, PhD)

Jyoti is the founder of The Fountain. An internationally renowned spiritual teacher, her background spans education in cross-cultural spiritual practices, program development and transpersonal psychology training at the Jung Institute in Switzerland. She has devoted her life to bringing unity to the planet by facilitating the development of alliances as well as collaborative relationships with organizations that are focused on spiritual, economic, social and environmental solutions.

We are beginning to redefine economics based on our understanding of “what is life-sustaining?” In ancient times, the Fountain, or well, was at the center of village life. As the new sacred economic model unfolds, Jyoti is keen to support the return to a localized, cultural system based on reciprocity and collaboration. At a certain point, the new model will manifest a positive alternative for service organizations and businesses bringing the ethical considerations of accountability and visibility while honoring the Earth.

Mamo Lorenzo

Lorenzo is leader of the Saisama community of the Arahuaco people, one of the Four Nations of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The Arhuacos are a deeply spiritual people, they believe in the existence of a creator and great father: Serankua, from whom came human beings and material beings; other parents like the sun and the snowy ones, and other mothers like the earth and the moon. Thus, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is considered the heart of the world and the house where the creative father lives.

Following 90 days of spiritual trance, Mamo Lorenzo was named ‘Summumpawiun’, meaning ‘Messenger of the gods on Earth’. He has a deep understanding about the ancestral wisdom and cosmogony of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta cultures, and as such he has guided retreats of cleaning, healing, payment and spiritual offering to nature.

On the 20th January 1992, Lorenzo received a mission from his spiritual guides to strengthen the 115 native groups of Colombia. His primary objective is to enhance the trust between them, creating brotherhood; then, indigenous groups can show the readings of each territory from their government and in this way, resume the path of spiritual medicine (“eysa’riunhawi”).

Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook

Loretta, a Lakota Elder, is committed to ensuring the world is a better place for her grandchildren. She is a keeper of her culture and the female Sundance Leader for the Afraid of Bear/American Horse Sundance. Fluent in Lakota, Loretta serves as cultural specialist for The Fountain, and is the only representative who speaks both languages perfectly on the board of the Paha Sapa Unity Alliance Black Hills Reparation, another organization with which she is affiliated.

Loretta carries an enormous mission: gathering and presenting to the Obama White House a consensus for the return of the stewardship of the Black Hills to the peoples of The Great Sioux Nation. Loretta holds that consensus: “The Black Hills are not for sale. We want all the unseated lands in the Black Hills returned to the nine tribes of The Great Sioux Nation.” She also sits on a number of international boards including the Running Strong Foundation, The Sacred Healing Circle and the Black Hills Unity Alliance.

Ken Kitatani

Ken Kitatani currently serves as the Executive Director of the Forum 21 Institute. He is an ordained minister of Sukyo Mahikari Centers for Spiritual Development and is the Chief Administration Officer of their UN NGO (with special consultative status with UN ECOSOC). He also Co-chairs the Advisory Board of the Center for Earth Ethics of Union Theological Seminary and is on the Executive Board of the United Nations Committee for Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns and the Committee for Religious NGOs. Ken graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies.

Mamo Evangelista

Mamo Evangelista is part of the Wiwa tribe. He lives in the mountains of the La Sierra Nevada in Colombia, where the Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo guard the land and balance the planet through the spiritual work of the Mamos. This is a man rooted in nature, who learns from his connection to the Earth, the stars and the information they share with him- knowledge that we can’t find in books.

Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz

Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz is the Sacred Sites Ceremonialist for the Center for Sacred Studies and the Director of the Original Nations Program of the Fountain and until July 2020 has been the Director of the Original Caretakers Program, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (2017- ) and General Coordinator of the Otomi-Toltec Regional Council in Mexico, a caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi-Toltec peoples, and has been an Otomi-Toltec Ritual Ceremony Officer since 1988. Born in Tultepec, Lerma, Mexico, he holds a Doctorate of Rural Development from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana – Mexico. He has written on the relationship between the State and Indigenous Peoples, intercultural education, collective intellectual property rights and associated traditional knowledge, among other topics.

Mindahi holds a doctorate in Rural Development from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM, 2010), University Medal of Merit; M.A. Political Science, Carleton University, Canada, 1996, Pass with Distinction; Bachelor: Tourism, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Mexico (UAEMEX, 1991).

Mamo Alejandro

Mamo Alejandro is part of the Kogi tribe. He lives in the mountains of the La Sierra Nevada in Colombia, where the Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo guard the land and balance the planet through the spiritual work of the Mamos. Mamo Alejandro is an elder rooted in nature, who learns from his connection to the Earth, the stars and the information they share with him- knowledge that we can’t find in books.

Council

Chief Kate Onwe

Nikki Kilmer Barber

Christiane Pedros

Molly Harvey

Elders of the Four Nations of La Sierra Nevada, Columbia

Susan Davis and Walter Moora

Lawrence Ford

Bethany Yarrow

Roberto Arcila Restrepo

Tracey Osborne

Dave Room

Bill Anderson

Princess Irene of The Hague

Mary Beth Yarrow

Darlene Hunter

Virginia Lyons

Margin Broux

Ben Christie

Andrea Langlois

Katy Molloy

Brandon Barber

Nicole Tostevin

The Fountain Team

Jyoti Ma

Founder and Spiritual Elder

Founder of The Fountain, Spiritual Elder of the Center for Sacred Studies, convened The Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology C.J. Jung Institute

Christiane Pedros

Executive Director

Is the Executive Director of the Fountain, with a background in consulting social enterprise and entrepreneurial start-ups in through her Changemakers Business Academy.

Amelia Barlow

Director Sacred Economics

Climate solutions and ecological rights consultant, for such organizations as Google, Intel, The Council on Foreign Relations, Obama Presidential Campaign, The Lakota Nation, and The Climate Emergency Fund.

Mindahi Bastida

Director of Indigenous Initiatives

Director of Original Nations Program and the Four Earth Mandates Program. Coordinator of the Otomi-Hñahñu Regional Council in Mexico and President of the Mexico Council of Sustainable Development.

Trish Noble

Administrator and Finance Director

Trish Noble is the Administrator and Finance Director for The Fountain, applying more than 25 years of non-profit experience. Trish is a bridge between our modern western culture and ancient spiritual traditions shared with her from Elders all around the world. The Fountain’s vision and mission are in complete alignment with her purpose to serve, restoring sacred economics based on reciprocity and the original principals of the natural order. Previous to her work with the Fountain, Trish held the position of Administrator and Operations Director, as well as Co-Facilitator of Educational Programs for The Center for Sacred Studies and continues to serve on the Board of Directors.

Steven Lovink

Strategic Advisor

A strategic advisor, systems transformation thinker, and out-of-the-box change agent with an extensive network of relations serving whole-system enterprises, initiatives, projects, and entrepreneurs dedicated to visions, missions, and values advancing a new source code for creative human enterprise in harmonic resonance with nature’s wisdom, the universe of life, and the internationally agreed upon UN SDGs.

People

Elders Advisory Council

Our People

Elders

Partners

Council

Operational Team