As an artist and educator, I co-developed, designed, published, and implemented Ancient Ways: Children Learning Through the Experience of Ceremony, a 10-week summer workshop held at the Unitarian Universalist Church. This program was rooted in honoring the stories and wisdom of American Indian and other Indigenous traditions. Each week, children were invited into a sacred space of learning, where storytelling became the gateway to creativity, reverence, and transformation.

Guided by the richness of these narratives, we built a teepee together as a symbol of gathering and shelter. We crafted sacred talking sticks, sang songs of spring from the old world, planted seeds with intention, and created children’s drums, sistrums, medicine wheels, and medicine bundles—each activity a ceremonial act of connection with the Earth and each other.

What unfolded was far more than a series of workshops. There was a profound sense of awe in witnessing the children return each week, building upon what they had learned—not just in skill, but in spirit. They began to carry the stories forward in their own unique ways, expressing wonder, respect, and a blossoming understanding of the sacredness woven into the natural world.

This project reaffirmed my belief that art, ceremony, and story can awaken something ancient and essential within us all—especially in the hearts of children. It was a true privilege to walk alongside them on this path of remembering.

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