It’s time to step out of our comfort zones with intention and courage. Although it’s tough to learn new challenging things, look hard within and connect with your ancestors like the sturgeon.
Growth demands a kind of commitment that is not always convenient. It asks us to embrace discomfort, to take calculated risks, and to trust that new life can lie on the other side. Like the geese who take flight despite storms and long journeys, we are called to move forward with purpose, guided by a deeper knowing. In choosing growth, we need to stop worrying about failing because failure is a state of mind. Like the partial solar eclipse we will see on August 12th, darkness is never complete when we are moving towards new horizons.
As the great Nelson Mandela once said, "I never lose. I either win or learn."
The first 30 registered people will be offered the opportunity to participate in a hands‐on activity.
Method of teaching
The method of teaching will utilize Indigenous pedagogy as well as incorporate traditional tea and burning of traditional medicines. 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
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 and knowledge keeper, and she carries the responsibility of a bundle. She happily participates in naming ceremonies, sweats, pipe ceremonies, moon teachings and more.
