Greetings amazing women! I am Maria Owl Gutierrez. I will be attending the CSW with my beautiful partner Duane Vos. I have to say a word of appreciation to Duane. Without his financial support I would not be able to attend the CSW. And though he is getting a lot of strange looks from his male friends and colleagues for attending this gathering with me, he stands his ground and reminds them how important women's leadership and energy is to transform things on the planet. I feel blessed to be attending this year's CSW with him. And he and I both agree that attending will greatly inform and empower us in our work together with The Sacred Future Collective, creating community ritual space for healing between men and women.

I was born and raised in Marin County. My father is Mexican and my mother is English/Scottish/Dutch. I am very connected to my Ancestors and work with them intimately. My father was an abuser. I grew up enduring excruciating abuse sexually and psychologically by him, and smaller amounts from my brother. Both of my parents were alcoholics as well. My parents were finally separated and my father put in jail (for only 6 weeks) when I was 25 years old.

My Spiritual journey has always been at the forefront of my life. I spent 8 years in Catholic school then onto studying and working with Native American (adopted) family from age 20 onwards.

My focus has always been on the mystical, love and possibility. My modalities of getting my gifts out into the world have writing, group facilitation and ceremonial leadership.

I am a healer and medium from a long line (on both sides of the family) of healers. I work with people by phone and at my office in this way. I use many different tools from many modalities I've been trained in, including an MA in Counseling Psychology. My work with people helps them to "pop" out of density patterns and into the Present Presence of who they are. Most of my work with people includes working with spiritual helpers and Ancestors who come through to talk to them.

I also love wilderness rites of passage as a way to catalyze people into their greatest visions of themselves. I founded Ancient Path Vision Quests in 2003 and have guided over 60 people through this powerful process in the wilderness.

I have taught many classes on Plant Spirit Medicine, working with our Ancestors, Mediumship and Intuition Development, Indigenous Wisdom, and Earth Spirit Medicine, including as faculty at New College of California and guest teacher at Dominican and Naropa Universities. I have also written articles on many of these topics.

I am very passionate about women opening into their authentic expressions. My mother is one of my greatest sheroes and examples of this! I have watched her go from a submissive battered woman into a powerful, deeply compassionate, self-loving, adventurous woman. I have seen the resiliency in myself and my mother and I have a strong belief that women can choose themselves and free themselves from suffering.

From this passion I founded the 13 Moon Women's Initiation process in 2011, which is a 12 month process with one weekend ritual per month. Right now we are registering women for the next cycle of initiation, which begins on July 6.

I also founded The Sacred Future Collective in Dec. 2012, which came from a vision while I was in Guatemala over Winter Solstice 2012. I had a very amazing awakening while sitting with a traditional Mayan family of healers. They gave me and the women I was with, a transmission to bring back to the US, expressing that the time of men ruling is over and the time of the feminine leading the planet has begun. They acknowledged me as a bridge and a spiritual guide who would help to bring women into their voices. And so The Sacred Future Collective is dedicated to building the harmony between the feminine and masculine energies on the planet on all levels, inside and out. This includes community rituals focused on healing between women and men - for example: apology rituals and grief rituals. We believe in honesty, transparency, compassion and understanding. We believe in the power of unconditional love. It also includes women's visioning circles that I call, "Women Birthing the New Earth" - focused on women developing and building their Heart Power and directing it through meditation and channeling towards transforming energetic density patterns on the planet into harmonic patterns aligned with nature and cosmos.

To close my story, I will just add that in September 2012 I fell in love with an amazing man, Duane Vos, and I'm experiencing a love I never knew could exist. With Duane I feel the possibility of what can happen when men and women truly work together as compliments and equals. Alone - I was a powerhouse, but with him - I can soften and lean into someone and be even more effective. I am so grateful!

Blessings and Light, Maria Owl Gutierrez www.mariaowl.com www.sacredfuture.org