Mapping Relational Constellations

OVERVIEW

This activity is meant to open up discussions about interconnectedness and relationships. Understanding our connections to one another, the broader community, and the planet can help us to overcome feelings of loneliness and uncertainty. The activity will explore cosmic constellations, and think about our webs of relations through personal constellation mapping.

Intention and Teachings

Constellations help us think about how we are connected to everything in creation. The stars themselves also offer a multitude of teachings that allow us to connect with our communities and land. We can also use constellations as a metaphor to understand ourselves in relation to our environments. Naming our relations helps us to make decisions about the things we can control (i.e. nurturing or ending relationships) and to understand the aspects which we cannot control. All of these relationships make us who we are, and remind us of our interconnections rather than what separates us.

Suggested supplies

• Handout or blank paper and art supplies

• Stellarium App

STEP-BY-STEP FACILITATION GUIDE

Step 1: Mapping Your Relational Constellation

Take a moment to think about the relationships in your lives. You can start with those that are the closest to you, like your friends and family. Then think about everyone else you might interact with, like your teachers or other community members. You might also want to think of relations to your ancestors, culture, and land.

Use the handout attached to place the relationships that are most important to you in a relational map. This is just a way of thinking about which relationships are most important in your life (closer to you in the middle of the circle) and which are further away but still impacting you.

Step 2: Exploring Star Systems

Use the Stellarium Constellation App and spend some time observing and investigating the constellations in the sky. Explore which constellations you feel connected to.

The well-known constellations of stars all form an image. These images help tell a story. Every culture around the world has stories that relate to these stars!

What story would your life tell if it were mapped on the sky?

Revisit your relational constellation map on the previous page. Think now about which relationships are closer to you, closer to each other, and which are furthest away. If you were to connect the dots between each of these relationships to map them onto the sky, what shape would best represent it? (Use Stellarium to think of examples).

*Learned from the Indigenous youth initiative, Finding Our Power Together: https://findingourpowertogether.com/