Women’s Lakota Pilgrimage
August 5-12, 2006

Borderlands Education and Spiritual Center, Hill City, South Dakota

Borderlands welcomes Ms. Patricia Iron Cloud, Public Health Advisor and Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, DHHS in Washington, DC, and a Borderlands Board member, to lead the Women’s Lakota Pilgrimage along with the Rev. Linda Kramer, founder and director of Borderlands Education and Spiritual Center located at Borderlands Ranch, 23120 South Rochford Road, Hill City, South Dakota, in the heart of the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota.

At home both in Porcupine, SD, and in Washington, DC, Ms. Iron Cloud, a lifelong Episcopalian and a Pipe Carrier for thirty years, has particular concern for the health of women, young people and children having worked in Head Start as a Field Coordinator for the American Indian Head Start Quality Improvement Center, Director of a Region VIII Head Start Program and Nutrition Coordinator. Prior to that she was a Health Educator in South Central Los Angeles and was a Training Specialist at the National Women’s Resource Center. She served as Project Coordinator for Pathways Diabetes Project, worked in Substance Abuse and Treatment and was in the Tobacco Prevention field for eight years. Presently, at the Office of Minority Health, she is responsible for the Tribal College and University Initiative, the Tribal Consultation Executive Order and is a member of several DHHS task forces and work groups.

The Rev. Linda Kramer has been hosting pilgrimage groups at Borderlands for six years and was the Project Director of The Pilgrimage Project in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC. In 1998, she was granted a Louisville Seminary Institute Study Grant for her independent project, Dakota Pilgrimage. Prior to this she served the Eastern Christian Unity churches on the Pine Ridge as a mission priest and was Coordinator of Theological Education for the Diocese of South Dakota.

During the soft, warm days of late August, pilgrimage participants will come to a deeper understanding of sacred sites located in the Black Hills and those of the people of the Oglala Lakota Nation in Pine Ridge, including Wounded Knee, the site of the 1890 massacre. In the Lakota Holy Land, and on the sacred Pe Sla where Borderlands is located, we will consider how the basic tenets of Lakota spirituality speak to the world we live within and the environmental crises we are encountering. We will explore the balance of our lives by undergirding each day with a spiritual balance of work, study and prayer. As a community we will enjoy a traditional Lakota feast and explore women’s rituals. There will be plenty of time devoted to silence, walking the labyrinth, and soaking in the beauty and healing energy of the Hills. Walking, light hiking (each to their own ability), discussion of issues pertinent to our experiences, community meals and worship will provide time to tend to our souls and restore balance to our lives.
Pilgrimage participants may arrive at the ranch anytime on Saturday, August 5th, and our first meal together will be dinner at 6 pm. You may come early, hike the fields, walk the labyrinth, or rock on the deck. The atmosphere of the Pilgrimage will be relaxed and informal. Good walking shoes, a sun hat and sun block, sunglasses and a water bottle are musts! The ranch is located at 6000 ft. altitude so you must dress in layers to be warm at 40 degrees and cool at 90 degrees. The Pilgrimage will close after brunch and our final session on Saturday, August 12th.

Tuition is $475 and meals for the duration of the Pilgrimage are $175. Lodging at the ranch in shared rooms and baths and a comfortable homelike setting is $150. Bunkhouse lodging is available for $75. Hotels are available one half hour away in Hill City. (www.hillcitysd.com) Camping is also available at the ranch. Participants will fly into Rapid City Regional Airport on United, Northwest or Delta. Rental cars are available at the airport. Shuttle service is $35 one way (less for 2 or more riding together).
Register with a $100 deposit mailed to Borderlands, 23120 So. Rochford Road, Hill City, SD 57745.

For more information about Borderlands, please go to www.borderlandsranch.org or Linda@Borderlandsranch.org.

20% discount on tuition for 2 or more registering together prior to March 31, 2006.
10% discount on tuition for 2 or more registering together after March 31, 2006.
15% discount on tuition for those who support Borderlands financially or with in kind service
10% discount on tuition to former event participants. Only one discount may apply.

Click Here for printable registration form.