In this series of three videos, we meet Kathie Murtey, Lorraine Norrgard, Shelly Jurmain, and Yolanda Ronquillo, who circle up to reflect on some of the women and grandmother circles that have touched their lives.

Part One’s video is a check-in and hearing about their personal experience with circle. A transcript of the video is included below.

Looking for Part Two’s video? You can access it here. Stay tuned for Part Three’s video, coming in June 2021.

Shelly Jurmain:

Yolanda, will you ring us in?

Shelly Jurmain:

Hi. So today, we're here to talk about elder women's circles, and some of the grandmothers and women's circles that have touched our lives. When we use the word grandmother, we're not necessarily referring to a woman who has born children and has grandchildren, though many of us are that. We're referring to grandmothers as elders.

Shelly Jurmain:

Each of us has been involved with calling women together, either for a few days per year or meeting monthly. When the pandemic hit, each of us realized meeting together in the same space and time was not possible, and moved our circles and gatherings to a virtual format. It was an organic move as each of us wanted to maintain our connections with other women. We're here to share some of what it means for us to sit in circle together, with other women. And to share our experience in moving in-person circles and gatherings to a virtual platform.

Shelly Jurmain:

So, we'll start with a check-in round and I'm going to ask each of us to place our name in the center of the circle, where you are from, and some of your experiences with calling women's circles. And I'll start, and I'll pick up my talking piece, which is a little cat. Oh, you want to ring the bell Yoli?

Yolanda Ronquillo:

Yeah.

Shelly Jurmain:

So, my name is Shelley Jurmain. My talking piece today is a colorful cat from Bali, given to me by a sage and healer there. I live in Tucson, Arizona. And I have been involved with the Arizona Council of Grandmothers... Gosh, for probably off and on for 12 years. And the Arizona Council of Grandmothers is a group of women, elder women, that have come together once a year. We also invite younger women to come and be with us, fondly calling them grandmothers in training. And, yeah. And we use the circle format as our primary way of being while we're together. So with that, I'll put my cat down. And Kathie, would you introduce yourself?

Kathie Murtey:

Yes. I'm Kathie Murtey, I live in Davenport, Iowa. And as you were speaking, I was thinking, "Wow." I started circles... A circle was called by an elder woman in the 70s. And we met in her home once a week for maybe 20 years. And then as she passed on, I started calling circles. And I met once a month with my Women's Circles and I was the elder in that circle. And we probably met for 25 years, once a month. During that time, I got an invitation to the Arizona Council Grandmothers in 1995. I remember, because I had just come back from the fourth United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing, China. And it was so wonderful to step into the Arizona Council of Grandmothers. I felt at home and loved. And even though, at that time, lived in Southern California, I made the trips a year after year after year to those meetings because they were so rich. And I was one of the younger elders at that group when it started. And that's enough for now and I'll call on Lorraine.

Lorraine Norrgard:

Oh, my name is Lorraine Norrgard and I have my talking pieces, a little transparent stone heart that's golden in color from Lake Superior. And I live on the Bayfield Peninsula in Lake Superior, that sticks out into Lake Superior, where there are 22 islands. And it's in the State of Wisconsin, Northern Wisconsin. I feel that I've been somehow involved in circles forever. I don't know exact feeling, maybe I can't put a date on it, but I worked for many years in Asia for United Nations and observed or participated in circles there, many kinds.

Lorraine Norrgard:

And more so as a foreign observer. But then I lived with Indigenous communities of the Anishinaabe Ojibwe in Minnesota and Wisconsin. And talking circle is a very normal way to connect, to me, to process, to make decisions. And when we would participate in water walks or other things, we would stop and have a talking circle every evening about your experiences for the day. So, I think that was some of my first exposure. And I met two of the original grandmothers from the Arizona Grandmother Gathering, Shirley, Tess and [inaudible], in Minnesota.

Lorraine Norrgard:

And they said, "You have to come to Arizona." So, I made the journey and I was only 50 and most of the grandmothers were a lot older than I was. And I found the role models, the encouragement, just an exciting group of women and the way they use circle process, the circle way, then called PeerSpirit circle process. It was something exciting. So, participating in the Arizona Council Grandmother's gatherings and the Gulf Shores Grandmother gatherings, which is a later evolution, a group that started their own gatherings in this in Alabama in Gulf Shores, Alabama. So, that was very interesting. And then I hosted a gathering here called the Grandmother's Gathering for Gichigamiing. Gichigamiing is Lake Superior. We focused on appreciating and the concerns and love envisioning for Lake Superior, which is 10% of the world's surface, fresh water in one lake.

Lorraine Norrgard:

And that gathering was, for me, a very important experience in hosting, and working with Indigenous women to bring us together because we are water, and we share this incredible location of Bayfield Peninsulas between two major Anishinaabe reservations, two Tribal bands live here. And Madeline Island where our gathering was, is the sacred center for the Anishinaabe Ojibwe people in this country. And so, it was an important experience that I had for eight years with that gathering. And then most recently I've been involved with... We've got a local soul sisters gathering with the COVID coming on. We wanted to find a way to meet virtually. So, we've continued a small circle locally, but also we started the Iona circle, which is an international circle of women who all share a common bond with Iona and experienced there that has been life changing and life affirming.

Lorraine Norrgard:

And so, that group is from England, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Canada, United States. So, an international group and we're meeting virtually, so it's been a very interesting experience with that one also. And then, most recently the Arizona Grandmother Gathering has gone to a virtual circle and I was very involved in the planning of that. So, I feel so blessed on the circles and it's a part of my life now, something I really can't live without. Thank you.

Lorraine Norrgard:

Oh, and I call on someone, I will call on Yolanda Ronquillo.

Yolanda Ronquillo:

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. When I asked myself the question about circle, what comes to me is my family. And this table I'm sitting at, which is the table from my parents' dining room and sitting in circle is the way I grew up, in terms of family meals, and family discussions, and meeting in circle has also been a part of my life in terms of the Chicano Movement, the civil rights movement, and taking back Indigenous ways that many of us, I'm from Mexican immigrant parents, many of us have lost. And when I did, my ancestry DNA, I'm 45% Indigenous. So, but you know, that wisdom wasn't given to me, I had to find it. And one way to do that is to be in circle and to listen to one another and to try and create a sense of what we could do to make the world a better place.

Yolanda Ronquillo:

So always, for me, circle has been a way of coming together and listening to each other. The Papago say that knowledge is when you hold something in the light for everyone to see together. And I think that's what circle is, when we sit in circle and we hold something in the light, and we all look at it together, and we all share what we see, what we know, that, I think, is the power of circle. I have been part of a lunada or lunettas, luna is Spanish word for moon. We've had a... The moon circle. I think we're coming into our 13th year now, every full moon we've met. And that was a call from women in Union City. And I guess, I also want to address something that Shelly said that our circles are multi-generational. And when we first started this, the lunetta or lunada circle, our elder was Elena and she was 90, and which I thought was terribly old then, but you know, I'm 78 now.

Yolanda Ronquillo:

So, it doesn't look so old to me. I... Our... My circle experience and love of circle is the power of being together. And my talking piece is, is this pair of hands holding a crystal that was given to me by my roommate, who's 31, Erindina. So, I think for me, the power of circle is being able to hear each other in ways that are... Is honoring and sacred. I think circles are sacred ways of meeting, certainly in this pandemic, we have held each other, as people have gotten ill, one of our lunettas, Lorena. It's a way of praying together also, I think, that's very, very powerful and very supportive.

Yolanda Ronquillo:

And we know... We know that as humans, we are societal creatures. I mean, we're meant to be together, but to be together in a way that honors everyone's wisdom. Oh, dear. Sorry, I didn't turn off the phone. So, to be together in a way that honors each of our wisdom. Even wisdom we don't know we had, or have, it's taking that time to go deep, and that's why all of our circles include a beginning, really meditation or some way to help us go inside, so that when we're meeting and we're talking, it's both to what's out here, but also from a deep place inside. So, I'll stop talking now. I can talk a lot. I'm sorry.

Shelly Jurmain:

Would you ring the bell Yolanda?

Yolanda Ronquillo:

Sure.

Shelly Jurmain:

So, many... Yes, Kathie?

Kathie Murtey:

I failed to hold up my talking piece when it was my turn and I failed to mention, Gather the Women. And I currently host one of their... They have daily calls internationally, and I host one of the days. Thanks.

Kathie Murtey is a retired and life long, teacher, civil servant, social justice activist, peacemaker, mother, grandmother, storyteller and facilitator.  She is currently living in Iowa.  She returned to the Midwest, the land of her birth, after spending 50 years in Southern California.  Kathie is committed to a world where women are equally valued decision makers all around the world in partnership with men.   

Lorraine Norrgard lives in Washburn, Wisconsin by Lake Superior, near the "Apostle Islands" (22 islands in Lake Superior). Madeline Island (Moningwanekaaning-minis in Ojibwe language) is the most sacred place to the 19 Bands of Lake Superior Ojibwe (Anishinaabeg) who are the second largest Indigenous Nation in North America. Lorraine’s husband was the Director of Health and Human services for the Tribe and Lorraine was a producer/director of historical documentaries for PBS focusing on Indigenous topics and created a six-part series on the history of the Anishinaabe/Ojibwe people. Previously, Lorraine worked for the United Nations Development Program as a Communication Program Officer for the Asia Region based in Bangkok. Lorraine has organized women’s circles for years and has been a facilitator at the Arizona Council of Grandmothers Gatherings, and the Gulf Shores Grandmothers Gathering. She established the Grandmothers Gathering for Gitchigaaming (Lake Superior) with a group of local women that focused on the vitality of Lake Superior and they created the website www.grandmothersgathering.org. Lorraine presently facilitates the Iona Circle of women internationally via Zoom and two other women’s circles near her home, and has a small retreat cottage on Lake Superior. Lorraine’s education was a B.A. in Art and an M.A. in Communications, and worked for the United Nations and PBS, Duluth, MN. Most recently Lorraine has been an independent producer with her own company until she retired in 2010. 

Shelly Jurmain is a retired accountant, living in Tucson Arizona. She came to the Arizona Council of Grandmothers in 2008, and fell in love with women gathering and being in circle. Invited to the First Fire Gathering (US), she helped move the body of work called The Circle Way held by Ann Linnea and Christina Baldwin from founder-held to community-held. An outgrowth of this was her service on the board for The Circle Way from 2015 to 2020. 

Active in the Arizona Council of Grandmothers on and off through her final working years, Shelly become more involved on the Council in the last few years. When the pandemic hit, many grandmother in-person circles were moved to a virtual environment, and the Arizona Council began exploring the possibilities of holding a virtual gathering. In September – October 2020, “Grandmother Visions: The Ripple Effect of Love and Appreciation!” was held in a series of four weekly virtual circles and inspired a follow up monthly circle for those who wished to continue. A group of dedicated grandmothers continue to meet and plan for the 2021 Arizona Council Gathering, which will also be held virtually. Theme and timing have yet to be revealed!

Yolanda Ronquillo is a bilingual, bicultural social justice activist, writer and artist who was born to Mexican immigrant parents in Oakland California where she continues to live and thrive. Her two sons, Ramón and Tim, have graced and inspired her life. Yolanda's work, Cultural Paths to Knowledge, is an adult learning practice and framework she developed to forge empowered action communities.  Yolanda has focused her passion and skills of bridging differences in culture, language and role status with school systems and with women in circles.  And for the past twelve years has offered SoulSpeak retreats for women in California and Costa Rica.

Video Producer: Aurora Meneghello

Aurora Meneghello is a Transformative Coach and works with individuals from all over the world who want to grow their careers and businesses while living a life of fulfillment and purpose. Aurora is also the Founder of Repurpose Your Purpose, a program to help people change careers by using what they already know to do something new. When not coaching individuals, Aurora hosts events, coaches groups, and spends as much time as she can in nature.