In this session, Cree Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra invites participants who have completed the two years of Full Moon teachings to commit to a year‐long journey rooted in the New Moon cycle. Each month, participants will engage in the creation of their own smudging bundle, guided by Cree teachings and traditional practices.

Throughout the year, participants will be encouraged to deepen their own self‐growth through sharing circles and traditional ways of healing. They will also focus on promoting human and environmental rights for all within their Wahkowtowin family.

In this month’s journey, we will focus on our responsibilities and how we find our health through interconnection. Hope and ultimate protection are built within these teachings. As participants move through this journey, they will be supported in reconnecting with their own sacredness and personal connection to their ancestors.

Participants are asked to bring a piece of clean cardboard of the following dimensions:

Cardboard piece dimensions

• Width: 31 inches (78 cm)
• Height: 21 inches (54 cm)

Method of teaching

The method of teaching will utilize Indigenous pedagogy as well as incorporate a traditional tea.

Participants will discover their relatedness and interconnection with human rights and balance.

This workshop is part of a monthly Wahkowtowin and Ways of Being series led by Knowledge Keeper Marilyn Dykstra. Each month, we will explore a variety of moon, pole and tea teachings in the Inninewak (Cree) tradition.

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.

Traditional Helper Peyton will support the teachings while she continues her learning journey within Wahkowtowin.

Marilyn Dykstra is a status Bill C31 First Nations woman from northern Manitoba. She has been immersed in a working matriarchal system that practised 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.