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Envisioning the Medicine Planet: Our 11th Gathering in Uncertain Times
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An Online Gathering and Dialogue with special guest, elder teacher, and climate activist of the Anishinaabe people of Manitoba, Dr. Dave Courchene
On February 12th, we celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Iron Ox and set our sights on transitioning through the multi-dimensional crisis we face to a new way of being in a whole new world. Although conventional wisdom may say that COVID 19 is unrelated to the chronic pandemics it has laid bare—systemic racism, extreme inequity, and environmental crisis to name three—many have been waking up to the fact that these scourges have common roots in the deep structure of the West’s colonizing culture and way of life.
For this 11th Gathering in Uncertain Times, we welcome an internationally known Elder teacher and climate activist of the Anishinaabe people of Manitoba, Dr. Dave Courchene, who brings much-needed perspective on how the culture of the modern West has created the complex crisis we’re in and how indigenous cultures can help guide us towards the new way of life we need now.
From lighting the sacred flame at the first UN Earth Summit and giving the Keynote at the 2010 G8 Summit on World Religions to presenting multiple times on World Peace with the Dalai Lama, Elder Dave has been raising awareness of the spiritual wisdom traditions of the first peoples of Turtle Island (the Americas) for decades through his Turtle Lodge International Center for Indigenous Education and Wellness.
Please join us as Dr. Courchene shares his vision of a New Life of Care for Mother Earth, a vision resonant with the Tibetan Buddhist Kalachakra prophecy of earth as a Medicine Planet, and encourages us all to transform our way of being into one that is in harmony with our environment, with all peoples, and with all life on earth.
Please join us on February 12 with Dr. Dave Courchene!
Painting by Henry Guimond, ©Turtle Lodge
Elder Dr. Dave Courchene — Nii Gaani Aki Inini (Leading Earth Man) — is a respected Elder and Knowledge Keeper of the Anishinaabe Nation who has devoted his life to sharing Indigenous knowledge, carrying a message of hope, peace, and environmental stewardship.
From lighting the sacred fire at the United Nations Earth Summit in 1992 to sharing the stage with spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama, Elder Dr. Courchene’s leadership has had a global influence.
In 2002, he founded the Turtle Lodge International Centre for Indigenous Education and Wellness, a sacred lodge recognized internationally and by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers as well as the Assembly of First Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs as one of the most important gathering places for Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Elder Dr. Courchene is the Chair of the National Turtle Lodge Council of Knowledge Keepers.
Faculty: Dr. Joe Loizzo with Dr. Dave Courchene
Schedule: Friday, February 12 from 5:30–7:00pm ET
Tuition: Free.
If you feel called to support our work and are able, we welcome your tax-deductible contribution to support our efforts. Donations accepted here
Location: Online via Zoom
Registration: Register here