Medicine Wheel

03/29/2026

The Golden Child is not only a vision, it is a remembrance ... A remembrance that at our core, we are love ❤️

In the busyness of everyday life, it is easy to move away from this truth. But the Golden Child reminds us to return again & again ... To simplicity, to kindness, to presence.

In your everyday life, return to this truth:

You are Love. There is nothing but Love. Love is all there is.

Let this guide your words, your actions, & your way of being. Never forget that even the smallest act of love carries great power!🙏🏼

Thank you,
Grandmother Flordemayo 🌎

(original art by Diana Garcia)

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03/29/2026

WATCH THE KINDNESS WITHIN: A JOURNEY TO FREEDOMAvailable Now on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0DLX2QJKS/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_rLearn mor...

02/26/2026

When I read about those canoes resting beneath the waters of Lake Mendota, I don’t first think about archaeology.

I think about continuity.

Because Lake Mendota rests within Ho-Chunk homelands — and these waters have carried the ancestors of the Nations who are still here.

Sixteen canoes.
Some 1,200 years old.
Some 3,000.
One reaching back 5,200 years.

Five thousand years.

That is not an artifact.
That is a memory still breathing.

They were carved from cottonwood, elm, oak.
Red oak — porous, demanding skill to seal.
Meaning our ancestors understood water, wood, fire, and patience at a level that modern people rarely stop to imagine.

We are told history began when paper began.
But our history was traveling waterways long before ink.

These were not recreational vessels.
They were lifelines.
They crossed the lake for harvesting, hunting, fishing.
They carried food.
Stories.
Children.
Songs.

And the detail that moves me most?

They were not privately owned.

They were communal.

Think about that.
In a world obsessed with possession,
the canoe belonged to the people.

That tells you something about governance.
About worldview.
About relationship.

And when the archaeologist — Tamara Thomsen — recognized what she was seeing beneath 24 feet of water, she did something important.

She consulted first.
With the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Native Nations of Wisconsin.

Before lifting anything.
Before claiming discovery.
Before turning it into a headline.

That matters.

Because these are not “finds.”
They are relatives.

And I appreciate that the decision was made — together — to leave most of them where they rest.

That is maturity.

Not everything ancient needs to be removed.
Not everything needs to be displayed.
Some things are held in place by water, silt, and time — and that is where they remain strongest.

There is something poetic here.

Canoes — designed to travel —
now resting in stillness.

But even in stillness,
they speak.

They say:
We were here.
We knew how to move with water.
We understood engineering.
We understood cooperation.
We understood how to build something that would carry more than one life at a time.

And perhaps the deeper question is not:
Why are so many canoes in one place?

Perhaps the question is:
What gathering happened there?

What convergence?
What seasonal camp?
What ceremony?
What exchange of food and story and kinship?

Five thousand years ago,
people were meeting there.
Planning.
Traveling.
Living full lives.

Not primitive.
Not wandering.
Not lost.

Oriented.

And when Lawrence Plucinski said,
“Let our knowledge be told. Let our history be told of how we traveled.”

That landed.

Because travel is more than movement.
It is relationship.
It is trade.
It is diplomacy.
It is survival.
It is connection.

The waterways were our highways long before asphalt.

And here is the part that humbles me:

The lake preserved what the land might not have.

Sometimes water is not erasure.
It is protection.

The silt covered them gently.
Held them.
Kept them intact until a time when perhaps we needed to remember.

There is a teaching here.

The old ways are not gone.
They are submerged.

And when the time is right,
they rise.

Êkwa — and so it continues.

Walk gently.

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.

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!