The Sacred Connection

Mindahi Bastida, Founder and Convenor of The Earth Elders, was Director of the Original Nations Program of the Fountain 2020 through 2023 and, until July 2020, the Director of the Original Caretakers Program at the Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Mindahi is also General Coordinator of the Otomi-Toltec Regional Council in Mexico and caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi-Toltec peoples. He has been an Otomi-Toltec Ritual Ceremony Officer since 1988, and is a consultant with UNESCO around Sacred Sites and Biocultural issues. Born in San Pedro Tultepec, Lerma, Mexico, Mindahi holds a doctorate in Rural Development from the Universidad Autoěnoma Metropolitana, achieving the University Medal of Merit; a M.A. in Political Science from Carleton University, Canada; and a Bachelor of Tourism from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de 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.