The Thunderers Have Returned;

A Praise song for Indigenous Cosmo-phenology and a Responsive Relational Spiritual Culture

My Mohawk name is Kanienten:hawi, which means “ She carries the snow".” My twin, who came second into the world, his name is Kanientiio which means “pure snow.” Our evening of birth came with the very first swirling snowstorm of the season in early October in 1979, and my Tota ( grandma) acknowledged this little birth ceremony by giving us our names in her first langauge of Kanien’ke:ha. The seasonal shifts from fall into winter are forever imprinted into my life path here, and my name signifies my relationship to snow, and how I am forever intertwined with these elemental sky beings.

I write in praise of the Thunderers, who have now returned, signaling another turning of the ceremonial seasonal wheel . Iethihsothokón:’a Ratiwé:ras. I also write in praise of carrying memory and descending from people who are intimately aware of the presence, influence, and interdependence of all beings as they relate to all life moving foward. In this way, there are no coincidences, simply overlapping natural phenomena that leave lasting imprints that impact the pathways ahead in the lifecyles we move through.

Wa’ka:wehre kwahshon:te. Ratiwe:ras visited last night. The phrase translates into “it thundered last night” and Ratiwe:ras translates to “they thunder, the thunderers”. Now we turn to the West where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers. The significance refers to the first thunderstorm of spring, which brings an end to sap tapping season, a reminder that spring is here and the awakening of new life.

As we spend our days following the reverberations of the Thunder beings in preparation for the coming planting season; our hands sinking into rainsoaked earth, gently singing the seeds awake as we plant them into fertile soil; I wanted to come and share some story about this concept of "cosmo-phenology" and how important it is for us to return to a way of living that is in direct response to the natural cycle of ecological expressions that are unfurling at any moment, across the seasons. We plant according to lunar cycles, celestial cycles, ecological signals and cycles, and that weaves us more intimately into the embodied interdependence of all beings as it relates to our capacity to be alive here on Earth.

Let me break down this word that I have come up with: Cosmo-Phenology:

Cosmo; as it relates to Cosmo-vision: Cosmovision is the sacred lens through which we perceive our place in the grand weaving of existence. It is not merely a belief system, but a living, breathing relationship with all that surrounds us—a way of knowing that emerges from generations of careful observation and deep listening to the rhythms of Earth and Sky. Cosmovision holds the intricate patterns of understanding that connect us to our ancestors, to the stars above, and to the soil beneath our feet. This is not wisdom created in isolation, but knowledge cultivated through millennia of tending to relationships with the more-than-human world. The beauty of Cosmovision lies in its wholeness—it doesn't separate spirit from matter, or humans from nature. Instead, it recognizes the sacred reciprocity that flows between all living beings. Through this lens, we come to understand ourselves not as separate from the cosmos, but as vital threads in its magnificent tapestry.

Phenology: Phenology is the scientific study of cyclical natural phenomena and their relationship to weather and climate. It focuses on recording and analyzing the timing of biological events in plants and animals, such as flowering, leaf emergence, migration, hibernation, and reproduction. These events are often triggered by seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation, and day length. Phenologists track these recurring life cycle events to understand how organisms respond to environmental changes. This field of study has become increasingly important for monitoring the effects of climate change, as shifts in the timing of seasonal events can indicate environmental changes and impact ecological relationships.

Traditional ecological knowledge often includes detailed phenological observations passed down through generations, which can complement modern scientific approaches to tracking seasonal changes in the natural world.

Phenology is the time-honored art of listening to the Earth's song through the turning of seasons. It is our ancestors' calendar—not marked by paper dates, but by the unfurling of buds, the return of songbirds, and the dance of frost across morning meadows.

When we attune ourselves to phenology, we enter into intimate conversation with the land, noting when the first maple trees weep their sweet sap, when the monarchs begin their great journey home, when the fireflies first illuminate summer evenings with their silent language of light. These are not random events, but a carefully orchestrated symphony that has kept time for millennia.

Our grandmothers and grandfathers knew that planting time wasn't determined by a date on a calendar, but by when the oak leaves were the size of a squirrel's ear, or when the peepers began their twilight chorus from the wetlands. This knowledge—this way of marking time through relationship—carries the wisdom of countless generations who understood that our survival depends on our ability to dance in rhythm with the Earth's own heartbeat.

In these times of climate chaos, phenology calls us back to the practice of patient observation, of noticing the subtle shifts in timing—the early blooming, the delayed migrations—that tell us stories about our changing world. By rekindling these relationships with the seasonal beings around us, we remember our place in the mycelial web of life and our responsibility to future generations who will read these same signs long after we have returned to soil.

Cosmo-phenology acknowledges a culture that engages in cultural, spiritual, and ceremonial ways in response to the natural ecological expressions and phenomena unfolding across the seasons.

Indigenous culture is a collective, ongoing practice that strengthens kinship. Ceremonies are the way we show renewed commitment to tending these reciprocal agreements, which are encoded in stories, cultural agreements and intergenerational embodied cultural memory.

Our agricultural calendar is woven intimately into our ceremonial cycles. Our ceremonial cycles are not pre-determined by dates in a calendar; they are acknowledged and catalyzed by natural phenomena. The beginning of our annual ceremonial cycles, which embody the full lifecycle of the seasonal year full of birth, growth, death, and rebirth, begins in the dark of winter.

As a Haudenosaunee woman, I have learned in my decades-long apprenticeship with the cycles of the land in my garden and beyond that every single bud, bloom, fruit, and harvest is an embodiment of an interdependent cycle of phenomena conspiring together to make life spring up and bless us as humans.

The beginning of our annual renewal cycle is when the magnificent sparkling Pleiades are directly overhead. Long ago, wise ones noted that approximately five days after the new moon in the dark of winter, the star constellation which represents the birth canal in the sky through which our original ancestor, Skywoman, descended into this world to sing the world awake. The sparkling stars paint a map of story and starsong that remind us of where we came from, for we descend from these Star nation people. And we keep time by celestial and lunar cycles. Our original woman, Skywoman, came tumbling down into this watery abyss from the Skyworld, and all the relations here conspired to make her a suitable home for her and all her descendants. We are reminded as we retell our creation story in this Midwinter that we have been gifted so much in coming here to Earth. It is our great responsibility to care for and to be grateful for all that is here for us, and above all give back in whatever way we can. Now is the beginning of our agricultural cycle, the time when the seeds lie dormant, just like the seeds in the dark night of the soil before the spring sprouting.

The creation story that began so long ago continues to unfold and come alive in every moment, as our life-sustaining forces emerge from our Mother Earth and remind us of our Original instructions. Dancing in the direction that the sun goes, First Woman put into place the cycles of continuous creation, continuous birth. As human beings we have been given the original instructions to follow, which maintain the cycles of constant creation, of this continuous birth put forth by SkyWoman. We descend from women, from the dawning of our Creation story, when Original Woman shuffled her feet upon the Earth, carrying seeds in her hand and singing the world awake.

Our ceremonies are born from a "cosmo-phenology," which is a cosmic understanding that when one being emerges into our world to signal the beginning of the next phase in our seasonal lifecyle. Some are predictable, like the rotations of the moon and stars. Still, others are more spontaneous and unexpected, such as the Thunderers returning to signal that the ground is now beginning to awaken, and we can begin to sing the seeds awake again in our ceremonial ways.

We are a people who drop what we are doing in that moment, and make space to be in call and response with the elemental beings; Sometimes the ceremonies disrupt our everyday flow, whether they be small individual ones of dropping some tobacco and a little song or calling the community together to engage in the collective honoring of the Thunderers returning. And that little disruption is good for reminding us of our interdependence, our relationality to the world around us, and it reminds us to decenter our needs and desires in the moment to be in reverent response to the gifts that are being extended to us in every moment.

Phenology is the understanding of the overlapping layers of transformation that are happening all around us, and which are often subtle but sometimes a sensory burst of an ephemeral living love poem in the form of the first spring Thunderstorm or the first emerging vernal blossom.

Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena. When I say "cosmo-phenology," I am referring to the understanding of a relational and responsive spiritual worldview that creates ceremonies of renewal in response to the natural phenomena occurring all around us. This is a life-way that is supple, dynamic, ever-changing, receptive, and in a natural call-and-response with the world around us. This is a worldview that sees time as relational and responsive. Time is non-linear and cyclical in nature. Time is measured in cyclical events.

The threads of Indigenous wisdom are woven through our observation of Earth's rhythms, carrying the whispers of our ancestors through time. As seed keepers and Earth listeners, our communities have always danced in harmony with seasonal cycles—watching for the return of certain birds, the emergence of spring ephemerals, or the phase of the grandmother moon to guide our hands in planting. This phenological knowledge isn't simply pragmatic calendar-keeping; it's sacred relationship. When our grandmothers taught us to listen for the spring peepers before planting corn, they weren't just sharing agricultural advice—they were inviting me into a conversation with a world alive with meaning and reciprocity. Our ceremonies honor these relationships, acknowledging that we are not separate observers of nature but integral participants in an intricate web of kinship that spans beyond human understanding. This is not knowledge we possess, but wisdom we embody through generations of attentive belonging to place.

Here is an artistic rendition of our ceremonial and agricultural cycles.

Our Haudenosaunee ways follow the cycles of thirteen moons, each one calling us into ceremony and right relationship with the land that sustains us. As a seed keeper, I've witnessed how these sacred gatherings—from the deep stillness of Midwinter to the sweet blessing of Strawberry time—anchor our people to the cycles that’ve nourished our ancestors since the beginning. When we gather in the longhouse, sharing food from our gardens and stories from our hearts, we're not simply performing rituals; we're actively renewing our covenant with Creation. These ceremonies remind us that we aren't separate from the land—we are the land, speaking and singing and remembering itself through human form.

Today, I write this love poem to the Thunderers, who have returned to energize the land and open the seasonal doorway for us to begin awakening the seeds and tilling the Earth for our gardens to flourish in the months ahead. Just a couple of weeks ago, my children and I gathered in the house during a powerful and intense thunderstorm that rolled across the sky, flashing and clapping the Thunder-song for literally hours above our mountain home. We sang songs, we made offerings of tobacco, and welcomed the return of the Thunders, who re-energize the land so that we might have good food to eat in the coming season. Without their arrival, we wouldn't be able to continue to follow our ceremonial or agricultural cycles. We show up in response to their arrival with reverence, respect, gifts, and offerings for the life they bring to the Earth.

"The Thunderers, what do they mean to the people? What do we mean to the Thunderers? Where do they come from? What do they hold? What is their purpose? How do they affect the people, children and other identities on the earth? One duty of the Thunderers is to continue to make fresh water or bring the rain, which replenishes or renews the water supply, the wells, lakes, and streams for the inhabitants of the earth. Another duty is to water what the Creator has planted on our Mother Earth, so that these plants and the gardens of the people may grow well. To wash the earth and all that are present at certain periods of time is a duty as well. Another duty is to keep the spirits, which at one time roamed our Mother Earth and preyed viciously upon the people. The Creator placed these spirits beneath the ground. The Thunderers were given the duty of striking the ground where these spirits attempted to come close to the surface of the earth. The Thunderers are regretful that sometimes a person is struck, for these spirits try to seek cover by hiding under people as they rise to the surface of the earth." - Jack Jacobs, Mohawk; Environmental Philosophies of the Haudenosaunee

Now that the Thunderers have returned, we can move forward in our annual planting, which includes feasting our ancestors, blessing our seeds, and honoring the Moon, who guides all cycles of birth, fertility, growth, death, and rebirth. This is the foundation of a relational agriculture that is responsive to the natural cycles all around us. It is this seasonal song that is most vulnerable to cycles of destruction that come with climate change and seasonal shifts, where natural phenomena are no longer predictable. Some of our relatives no longer return to the land in our seasonal dances.

We live in a modern world dominated by boxed-in calendar holidays and ceremonies, which hold dead and dogmatic rituals that are only a husk of true faith, relationality, and reciprocity. They are only a vestige of the immensity of what they fully represented, in a time of intact culture long ago. The seeds of meaning have long gone dormant, and people go through the motions of celebrating Easter or Christmas without understanding the indigenous roots of these ceremonies and holidays, which were originally seasonal rites of renewal.

This is why I am committed to re-seeding imaginations. That we tend to the seeds of true relational and reciprocal agriculture, where we acknowledge that our creation story never ended ,and that each season is another chapter of this life-affirming and timeless bundle of stories that makes life meaningful and rich here on Earth. When a culture's ceremony time becomes tied to a static calendar that stands alone and isn't responsive to the natural cycles of the phenomena of the natural world, you have lost the essence of what the ceremony is about. It is about the renewal of relationships. Its about being of place and responding to the gifts of our interdependence, each and every day.

To build capacity for us to hold these relationships collectively, there is an intimate immensity of power in reclaiming the little everyday responses and ceremonies as we witness the miracles and gifts unfolding in every moment. When we restore this type of intimacy to our world, one by one, we contribute to the collective spiritual powers that sustain enduring cultures. My people called this "Orenda." In Haudenosaunee culture, orenda refers to a spiritual power or force that is believed to be inherent in all living things and natural objects. It's not a personified god or deity, but rather a fundamental energy or life force that connects all beings. Orenda is seen as a transmissible spiritual energy that individuals can tap into to achieve their goals or exert influence.

What does it mean to be a responsive, reciprocal, and relational culture instead of a dogmatic and rote culture that is just going through the motions without being in true relationship with the elements and beings around us? Where are you engaging in responsive little everyday ceremonies to honor your connection and dependence on the cycle of all things?

It could be as simple as paying attention, and making your own little ceremonies of renewal when certain elements return; an offering for the first Thunders, a song for the rain returning after a long dry spell; a pinch of tobacco for the first budding medicine plants outside your doorstep; a tiny ritual of making foods under a newly returning waxing moon.

Name the ways you are returning home to mapping your own "cosmo-phenology" below, or ways that your lineages of ancestors honored the turning of the seasonal wheel with alive and responsive ceremonies that honored the predictable and unpredictable gifts that unfurl across the seasons.