Welcome To Pass The Feather
Mohawk Feather Keeper | Writer | Graphic and Web Designer
Spectrum of Work | Services
Pass the Feather provides feather bundling services.
This business is on the Kanienkéha’ka (Mohawk) territory of Kenhtè:ke (Tyendinaga) and Akwesasne and all work is created by Iehstoseranón:nha, Wakhskare:wake (Bear Clan) of Akwesasne.
Hand beaded feather bundles. Made with glass seed beads over a hand made wooden handle. You choose your own feathers based on the medicines you'd like to carry.
Feathers are never for sale but can be bundled according to the medicines that you’d like to carry with you. These bundles are wrapped in hide creating the perfect tool to move your smoke.
Prints, Books & Calendars
For over 30 years Dawn has been a writer and digital creator. Find her work in her 'little book' series.
Search Dawn's prints and order professional prints or download and print at home.
Dawn's 'Little Book' series includes, 'little book of bird medicines', little book of smudge and medicines', 'little book of women's medicines' and 'little book of gratitude and good mind'.
The first calendar of its kind, Dawn has tried to capture all that is important to Indigenous women and offers gentle reminders of changing seasons, moons and the natural world. Calendars include Moon times, Moon names, Moon water reminders, seasonal ceremonies and Indigenous dates and events like Orange Shirt Day and MMIW awareness.
Gentle Teachings & Free Downloads
As a survivor of Indigenous child apprehension, Dawn understands that not everyone has access to teachings, community or Elders. She was taught to share and that learning should always be free. Dawn offers everyone free resources and downloads on important ways of knowing.
Learn more about the 4 sacred medicines and order a print for delivery or download a free PDF file to print at home.
Ohén:ton Karihwatékwen is a daily reflection that is sacred to Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nations. You can download this for free.
The most important connections and understandings a woman can carry is her connection to Grandmother Moon. Moon Water is medicine. Learn a bit more on Dawn's website.
Dawn loves web design. This is the most recent site she developed for Aunties On The Road and she looks forward to any opportunity to create clean presentations.
Dawn has designed logos for hundreds of Indigenous organizations and businesses including all Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada logos, books and marketing.
For over 30 years, Dawn has produced signage, custom imprinted promotional products (including t-shirts, pens, tote bags, buttons) and more.
In walking alongside my Bear Clan Mother and our circle of brilliant women, a passion has come over me. In carrying a lifelong eagerness to uplift the sisterhood and a deeply rooted quest for knowledge, I long to share my research so that we all may better prepare for today, the tomorrows and the future.
The information is for your personal learning. Permission to share is required. This is intellectual property belonging to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a sovereign nation consisting of the following United Nations: Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga and Tuscarora. The illustrations and words ©2024 Dawn Iehstoseranon:nha, Pass The Feather
This knowledge gently helps you become familiar with Indigenous spirituality as it pertains to bird medicines and how carrying those medicines can profoundly affect your wellbeing.
The Indigenous practice of giving thanks, asking for guidance and cleansing to go forward in a good way is often called ‘smudging’ but that is not our word. We burn medicines to open a conversation or send a message to Sky World through smoke.
The circle influences how Indigenous people view the world. That is, how all things are connected. Balance relies on this connection and without balance, health is compromised. In this way, talking circles are meaningful conflict resolution and healing strategies.
Women's Medicine is what brings you health and happiness. We search out things that speak to our matrilineal order, that uplift feminine spirit and empower all generations of a uterine line of love.
Grandmother Moon lifts the water in both the oceans and the women. We are made of water and float in water before arriving to see Mother Earth. This connection for women is everything, water is everything. Make your moon water and take that medicine.
Ohenton Kariwatekwen (pronounced: Oh hoon doe Galli wha day qua) or the Thanksgiving address is how the Haudenosaunee people begin each day and each gathering; we come together as one, with gratitude and good mind.
Tsiokonsaseh or Jikonsaseh or Mother of Nations / Peace Mother was Peacemaker's collaborator and the first woman/kononkwe to share the message of peace. She was a direct descendant of Sky Woman and established a matrilineal society where Clan Mothers are the sole counsellors or law at a grassroots level of government, the keepers of peace, keepers of the earth and keepers of lineage and names.
Wampum or Quahog are shells that carry stories of our entire history including all agreements with settlers. Wampum is medicine for grief, the centre of condolence ceremony. Holding wampum commits you to telling the truth and carrying good mind.
The solar eclipse of 2024 was a monumental reminder of the unification of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at the ratification of the Great Law of Peace about 1000 years ago. The 2024 eclipse passed over each Haudenosaunee nation in perfect alignment and we witnessed the crossing of the great orbs with good mind and meaningful spiritual and scientific conversations.
Over the years, I have studied Haudenosaunee history through Elders, Clan Mothers, scholars and scholarly articles. I have also recorded my searches for schools and have dedicated my life to being sure that people have access to authentic Indigenous resources when studying Indigenous ways of knowing and history. Always be sure that you are using authentic resources when learning about Indigenous cultures and peoples.
Pretendianism or Indigenous identity fraudsters engage in wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain. It has become a very common occurrence in which the fraudsters are paid and/or receiving grants meant for Indigenous peoples.
In engaging Indigenous peoples, inviting us to classrooms, requesting teachings/speaking engagements, here are some things to remember:
On Turtle Island (North America), Indigenous nations are sovereign and very diverse. There are more than 650 different Indigenous nations in North America alone, each with different ways of knowing, speaking and perspectives.
Do not engage in pan-Indigenism; each tribe/nation has a different culture and language and showing true respect is acknowledging our diversity. We invite you to demonstrate effort and engagement.
It is estimated that over 30,000 Indigenous children in Canada were abducted by church and state, either at the time of birth or shortly after. The children were placed in foster care and raised without any knowledge of family. This was/is a parallel program to the Indian residential school system and accomplished assimilation of children that were to young to attend school. I was abducted and displaced through this system.
She was embraced as the mother of all Onkwehonwe, a direct descendant of Sky Woman and was upheld for serenity and natural way of creating peace and gentle spaces. It is a woman's story and we call on her now, in this time of violence amongst each other and towards Mother Earth. Read more...
Full Solar Eclipse 2024
On April 8, 2023, Haudenosaunee nations are on the exact path of a full total solar eclipse. It happened about a thousand years ago and at the time that we joined together to ratify the Kayanarekówa (Great Peace), the skies darkened so deeply that the nocturnal animals woke to encircle and witness the calm of a unified people. In this time of violence and war, we once again call in the Peace Mother. More...
Wampum: Beads, Belts, Strings
Quahog is clam found in the soft sand along the Atlantic coast and she not only provided us great nutrition but she embraced the people and taught us how to create a living records, agreements and how to visually honour each other. I am mindful of this sacred living thing and grateful that she has taught us so much about peace, grief and healing. More...
Research, Links & Learning
This page holds the beginning of my research and I'm grateful for all the people who have listened, written and shared this information before me. It is a work in progress and you can find everything from scholarly articles to great videos. Explore Haudenosaunee peoples, events, worldview, stories and websites. More...
Iehstoseranón:nha
she keeps the feathers
Iehstoseranón:nha (She Keeps/Protects the Feathers)... Dawn (Born: Mary Francis) is Akwesasronon, Kanien'kéha:ka (Mohawk), Wakhskaré:wake (Bear Clan) and a Feather Keeper. Her family was one of several Kanien'kehá:ka families from Akwesasne that settled on the banks of Moira Lake, Madoc, Ontario.
Pass The Feather business is situated on both Akwesasne and Tyendinaga reserves.
Dawn is the founder and president of the Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada (a Canada Not-for-profit Corporation) and owner at Pass The Feather. Pronounced: Yeh sto sa la new huh