Cree Teachings with Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra

Sacred teachings and self-growth

A person pours water from a copper cup into the cupped hands of another person. — CMHR, Aaron Cohen

Join Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra to explore Inninewak (Cree) ways of being and thinking within the principles of wahkowtowin.

Wahkowtowin – which translates to kinship – highlights how relationships, communities and the natural world are all interconnected.

Participants will discover and reflect on their connections with each other, with balance and with human rights through teachings and a traditional tea.

These workshops are part of a monthly Wahkowtowin and Ways of Being series. Each month, we will explore a variety of moon, pole and tea teachings in the Cree tradition.

Upcoming sessions

What’s love got to do with it?

Date: Saturday, May 6, 2023
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
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Love thrives in all living beings, driving so many of our actions. But how do we learn to live with love in a soft way, like a frog on a lily pad? How do we learn to experience love when it becomes jagged like a mint leaf? How do we focus on all our relationships and not just the most passionate ones?

Come and learn how to grow your own sense of love through the teachings of Grandmother Moon and finish our experience together with a full moon ceremony for women and Two‐ Spirit people.

Faith

Date and time: Saturday, June 3, 2023,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
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Faith and relationships give us hope and protect us in life’s turbulence. Faith lives in each being. With this hope in us, we grow from mistakes, grow in relationships, and move forward in a better way.

We are small beings, or little eggs, on Mother Earth that are beginning a path of discovery and making a commitment to growing in faith. Each day, our Grandmother Moon rises and reminds us that we can continue, no matter how many clouds distort our sight. We clean our minds with sage, so that the clouds will clear just as our Grandmother does when she wanes.

So how do we grow faith? How can we move forward on this path of discovery? This session is not to change anyone’s faith, but rather give space to look at their own, understand the benefits and learn how to grow it. Come and enjoy a cup of sage tea while we look at these things and end our experience together with a full‐moon ceremony for women and Two‐Spirit people.

Kinship

Date and time: Saturday, September 23, 2023,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Cleanliness

Date and time: Saturday, October 21, 2023,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Thankfulness

Date and time: Saturday, November 25, 2023,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Sharing

Date and time: Saturday, December TBD, 2023,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Strength

Date and time: Saturday, January 20, 2024,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Good Child Rearing

Date and time: Saturday, February 17, 2024,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Hope

Date and time: Saturday, March 23, 2024,
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Description to come

Marilyn Dykstra is a status Bill C‑31 First Nations woman from northern Manitoba. She has been immersed in a working matriarchal system that practiced Indigenous ways of thinking and being since she was born. Alongside her family, she has participated in many peaceful social justice movements.

Marilyn uses her matriarchal knowledge as a foundation for her work in the Indigenous community, which has been ongoing for over thirty years. She still follows her matriarchal teachings, but she has also spent her life learning traditional knowledge and passing the teachings on.

She is a pow wow dancer, knowledge keeper, and she carries the responsibility of a bundle. She happily participates in naming ceremonies, sweats, pipe ceremonies, moon teachings and more.