Medicine Wheel

02/02/2026

Tonight’s Full Moon is Makwa Giizis - The Bear Moon 🐻 🌕

Bear as a Healer
An Anishinaabe Teaching

For the Anishinaabeg, makwag (black bears) symbolize ziigwan, the spring season. The Anishinaabeg have long seen themselves reflected in the bear's annual cycle of hibernation, solitude, and reemergence with new life after winter ends.

Consequently, even today, certain initiation rituals, puberty rites, and ceremonies of the Midewiwin – one of the Medicine Societies of the Anishinaabeg Peoples, emulate this cycle and call upon the bear's power of renewal. We believe that anishinaabeg (humans) and makwag are almost identical.

Numerous stories, rituals, songs, and illustrations on birchbark and other items portray bears as "contraries," symbolizing the paradoxical nature of life.

Bears are viewed as bush doctors and healers who revitalize and transform life, frequently shifting between bear and human forms. Often, the bear is referred to as "Anishinaabe": A human being.

Painting by: Jim Oskineegish
Artist Link: https://nativecanadianarts.com/artist/jim-oskineegish-3/

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Abenaki Teaching;
Piaodagos - Makes Branches Fall in Pieces Moon

Assiniboine Teaching;
Amhanska - Long Dry Moon

Blackfoot Teaching;
Piitaiki'soom - Eagle Moon

Cherokee Teaching;
Kagali - Bony Moon

Choctaw Teaching;
Hash Chaf Chito - Moon of Big Famine

Comanche Teaching;
Positsu Mua - Sleet Moon

Cree Teaching;
Mikisowipîsim / Mikisiwipîsim - Eagle Moon

Creek (Muskogee) Teaching;
Hotvlee-Hv'see - Wind Moon

Dene Teaching;
Dët Anichogh Zaghë - Big Bird / Eagle Moon

Haida Teaching;
Hlgit'un Kungáay - Goose Moon

Hopi Teaching;
Powamuya - Purification / Renewal Moon

Kalapuya Teaching;
Atchiulartadsh - Out of Food Moon

Lakota / Dakota / Nakota Teaching;
Cannapopa Wi - Trees Cracking Moon

Mi’kmaw Teaching;
Apuknajit - Snow Blinding Moon

Mohawk Teaching;
Enniska - Lateness Moon

Oneida Teaching;
Teŵhnislyaks - Half Days Moon

Passamaquoddy Teaching;
Piyatokonis - Spruce Tips Falling Moon

Shawnee Teaching;
Haatawi Kiishthwa - Crow Moon

Shoshone Teaching;
Isha-Mea' - Coyote Moon

Tlingit Teaching;
S'eek Dis - Black Bear Moon

Wsanec (Salish) Teaching;
Wexws - Moon of the Frog

Zuni Teaching;
Onon U'la'ukwamme - No Snow in Trails Moon

01/29/2026

01/24/2026

“I believe that education, and only education is the key which can open the dungeon of ignorance and allow our youth to share in the glory of a life lived joyously.” - MayaAngelou

Today, on International Day of Education, we celebrate education as a fundamental human right and a powerful pathway to peace, dignity, and possibility for every child and every community. With millions of young people still out of school worldwide, this day serves as both a reminder and a call to action: education must be inclusive, equitable, and accessible for all.

Dr. Maya Angelou understood this deeply. Her work reminds us that education is not just about information; it is about liberation, empathy, and the courage to rise.

In her iconic poem "Still I Rise," Dr. Angelou demonstrates how knowledge and self-understanding empower us to transcend adversity. And through her timeless guidance, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give,” she offers a blueprint for how education becomes a collective act of uplift and responsibility.

As we honor this global day, may we recommit to ensuring that every learner, regardless of background, geography, or circumstance, has the opportunity to rise, to imagine, and to shape a future worthy of their brilliance.

01/24/2026

The Silent Riders

Under the hush of the star-cloaked sky,
they ride
not as men of war,
but as echoes of the ancestors’ breath.

Feathers dance with the wind,
moonlight painting their backs in silver,
each hoofbeat a memory
etched deep in the bones of the Earth.

No song is sung,
but the land knows their names.
The stars remember
what history tried to forget.

They ride in honor,
not in anger.
For every mile forward
is a journey home.

(Art by Serin Alar)

🖊️Poem: Piahn

01/23/2026

Jesus teachings emphasize love and forgiveness. White Buffalo Calf Woman teaches us about love, healing and the sacred connection between human and nature. The prophet Muhammad teaches that justice, compassion and moral living are most important. Their teachings are very similar. We should learn from all of them and accept love toward our brothers and sisters as the main lesson

12/01/2025

Set beneath towering limestone cliffs near Hyattville, the Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site is one of Wyoming’s most significant places of continuous human history. More than 10,000 years of Indigenous presence are recorded here through rock art panels, ancient campsites, and layered deposits that reveal hunting traditions, storytelling, artistry, and everyday life. Today, the site is stewarded by Wyoming State Parks, which protects its cultural resources while welcoming visitors to explore its trails, rock art, and interpretive areas.

Thank you for joining us throughout this five-part series celebrating Wyoming’s Indigenous cultural sites. Recognizing and preserving these places honors the deep histories, living traditions, and enduring relationships between Native peoples and this land: an essential part of protecting Wyoming’s past, present, and future.

11/29/2025

11/26/2025

This week, we are celebrating the historic sites across Wyoming that tell the story of the Indigenous Peoples who call the region home.

High atop the Bighorn Mountains sits the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, one of the most significant Indigenous sacred sites in North America. Estimated to be over 10,000 years old, it has 28 spokes and surrounding cairns that reflect deep astronomical knowledge and ceremonial traditions still honored by many Tribal Nations today. The site is cared for collaboratively by the U.S. Forest Service and representatives from regional Tribes, who work together to ensure its protection, cultural integrity, and respectful visitor access. In summer months, visitors can walk the quiet, mile-long trail to the wheel and experience the place on foot, guided by posted information and longstanding etiquette. Preserving the Medicine Wheel, and all Indigenous heritage sites, is vital to protecting the cultural traditions, stories, and sacred landscapes that continue to shape Wyoming.

11/21/2025

Language is more than words, it’s a way of seeing the world. ✋

Through our Plains Indian Sign Language (Hand Talk) project, Wyoming Humanities works to preserve an endangered yet powerful form of communication that once connected tribes across the Great Plains.

We honor the work of Eastern Shoshone elder Willie LeClair, whose vision and voice continue to inspire this preservation effort. His legacy reminds us that the humanities help keep culture, and connection alive.

🎥 Watch the video series: YouTube Playlist

🔗 Learn more: https://bit.ly/4qoDqS6

11/11/2025

Our hearts ache as we announce the passing of John Kinsel Sr., a cherished elder and one of the immortal Navajo Code Talkers. At 107, he leaves behind a legacy of unbreakable bravery forged in the fires of Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. From 1942 to 1946, as a U.S. Marine, he wielded his sacred language, the uncrackable code, to weave the vital communications that defied the enemy and tipped the scales of World War II. 🕊️🇺🇸

11/09/2025

With each generation we evolve, let go of destructive habits, and become more loving. The value of good parenting is priceless in our world!

10/23/2025

More than 100 circular stone monuments have been found throughout the Rocky Mountains, but the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming is the best preserved and among the largest. Since the site was first described, archaeologists have sought to discover when and why the wheel was built. Oral histories from the Shoshone and Crow are helping answer these questions!

archaeology.org/issues/november-december-2025/off-the-grid/bighorn-medicine-wheel-wyoming/

(📸 Lee Rentz/Alamy)