Moon Medicine: February 2026

February 1, 2026

Tonight, the second full moon of the new year rises into the cold clarity of a winter sky. The February full moon reaches its peak illumination on the evening of February 1st, casting its silver light across landscapes deep in winter's grip. Among Cherokee peoples, this moon is known as ᎧᎦᎵ or Kagali — the Bony Moon, a name that speaks to the stark reality of this season when food stores run low and even bones must be cracked for their marrow (Mooney, 1900). Similar to the Anishinaabe people's Makwa Giizis (Bear Moon), when bear cubs are born in their winter dens, and the Lakota's Wiótheȟika Wí (Moon of Hard/Difficult Time), this lunar cycle marks a time of both hardship and hidden promise (Buechel & Manhart, 2002; Center for Native American Studies, 2023).

At Good Medicine Collective, we recognize that every moon carries its own medicine, its own teaching. While January's Wind Moon taught us about endurance beneath the frozen surface, February's Bony Moon asks us to honor scarcity, to remember resilience, and to trust in the provisions — both material and spiritual — that sustain us through lean times.

Fact Check: "Snow Moon" and Indigenous Moon Names

This full moon is popularly known as the Snow Moon due to the typically heavy snowfall that occurs in February.

This is Accurate but Incomplete.

The widespread name "Snow Moon" reflects the reality that February often brings the heaviest snowfall of the year across much of North America. However, as with all moon names adopted into popular culture, this represents only one perspective among many rich and specific traditions. As Potawatomi botanist and MacArthur Fellow Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer articulates in her foundational work on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Indigenous knowledge systems are not simply alternative ways of knowing — they are "centered on the interdependency between all living beings and their habitats and on humans' inherent kinship with the animals and plants around them" (MacArthur Foundation, 2022). Moon names are not interchangeable labels but expressions of deep place-based relationships.

Indigenous moon names reflect the lived experiences, ecological relationships, and spiritual frameworks of distinct peoples:

In Cherokee tradition, this moon is ᎧᎦᎵ or Kagali, the "Bony Moon" — a name that acknowledges the hunger and scarcity of deep winter when food stores run low and survival requires ingenuity and fortitude (Mooney, 1900; personal communications, Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center).
The Lakota people call this time Wiótheȟika Wí (Moon of Hard/Difficult Time) or Canwape Kasna Wí (Moon When Trees Crack Because of Cold), names that honor the severity of winter on the Great Plains (Buechel & Manhart, 2002).
The Anishinaabe recognize this as Makwa Giizis (Bear Moon), acknowledging new life even in winter's depth, as bear cubs are born in their dens (Center for Native American Studies, 2023).
The Choctaw call this the Moon of Big Famine, while the Mahican name it the Deep Snow Moon (Almanac.com, 2025).

As Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) writes in As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, Indigenous environmental knowledge is inseparable from political sovereignty and cultural identity — it represents "thousands of years of observations, practices, and relationships that have been tested, refined, and passed down through generations" (Gilio-Whitaker, 2019, p. 45). These names are not folklore — they are sophisticated ecological calendars that encoded survival knowledge.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer further explains that Traditional Ecological Knowledge "makes room for and acknowledges human relationships with land, but also respects the innate intelligence of the natural world" (Grand Canyon Trust, 2016). When we speak of moon names, we speak of relationships — between people and seasons, between observation and survival, between past and present.

Fact Check: February's Moonlight — Neither Super nor Micro

Tonight's moon is a regular full moon.

Fact. While 2026 brings three supermoons in January, November, and December, February's full moon occurs at a more average distance from Earth. Unlike January's micromoon at apogee or the supermoons that occur near perigee, this Snow Moon appears at a typical lunar distance — neither exceptionally close nor exceptionally far (NASA, 2026).

There is medicine in this, too. Not every moon needs to be spectacular. Not every moment needs to be extreme. February's moon teaches that ordinary light is enough, that steady presence holds its own power, and that we need not always seek the extraordinary when the everyday is sacred. As Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg) writes in As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance, Indigenous resurgence is found not in grand gestures but in "the daily labours of healing" and the quiet, persistent refusal to abandon ancestral ways of being (Simpson, 2017, p. 9).

OUR MEDICINE: ART AND INTENTION UNDER THE BONY MOON

This moon's teaching is about survival, provision, and the fierce grace required to endure difficult seasons. The Bony Moon asks: What sustains you when external resources are scarce? What internal reserves do you draw upon? Here is how we can honor this moon's energy:

The Art of Utility and Beauty

In times of scarcity, Cherokee ancestors created objects that were both functional and beautiful — a practice that affirmed humanity even in hardship. As Métis scholar Dr. Emily Legaufee writes, beadwork and craft are "applied narrative, each seed bead a word in a visual story" — beauty is not frivolous when resources are limited, but rather "an act of cultural resistance, a statement that we remain fully human even in hardship" (Legaufee, 2021).

Traditional Ecological Knowledge teaches us that the relationship between utility and beauty is inseparable. As described in Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability, edited by Melissa K. Nelson (Anishinaabe) and Daniel Shilling, Indigenous practices include "language, art, and ceremony, as critical ways to maintain healthy human-environment relations" (Nelson & Shilling, 2018, p. 4).

Under this moon, repair something broken. Mend a garment. Restore a tool. Let your hands remember that caring for what we have is its own form of creation. In doing so, you participate in what Simpson calls "generative refusal" — withdrawing from the wastefulness of consumer culture while productively engaging in practices that honor resources and relationships (Simpson, 2017, p. 23).

The Practice of Gratitude Inventory

This is a moon for taking stock. Sit with a journal and write down your provisions — not just material ones, but spiritual and relational resources. Who are the people who sustain you? What knowledge do you carry? What skills have you developed? What stories feed you when external nourishment is scarce?

As Cree-Métis scholar Chelsea Vowel writes in Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada, "Survival is a gift given by our ancestors through their knowledge, their stories, and their refusal to give up" (Vowel, 2016, p. 12). Acknowledge what you have been given. In Indigenous worldviews, as Kimmerer articulates in Braiding Sweetgrass, gratitude is not passive appreciation but an active practice of reciprocity — "the currency of a gift economy" that maintains balance between giving and receiving (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 383).

A Bony Moon Observance: Water for the Earth

Even in winter, the earth still drinks. Fill a bowl with clean water (or snow that has been allowed to melt). Leave it under the moonlight tonight. At dawn, pour this moon-blessed water onto the frozen earth or at the base of a sleeping tree. Speak a prayer of gratitude for the provisions you have, and for those yet to come.

This simple act honors the relationship between sky, water, and earth — the cycle that will eventually bring spring. As Kimmerer teaches, water is not merely a resource but a relative, and the moon's influence on water connects us to ancient rhythms that governed Indigenous calendars for millennia. In her work on reciprocity, Kimmerer writes that when we engage in such practices, "the relationship transforms from a one-way street into a sacred bond" (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 124).

Tonight, We Encourage You To:

Learn the original moon name for the land you are on, if possible from a direct knowledge keeper or trusted source from that nation. February's moon carries many names, each one a doorway to understanding place. As noted by the Center for Native American Studies, "the Anishinaabe designated the names of the moon to correspond with the seasonal influence within a given location" — meaning moon names were deeply tied to specific ecosystems and regional patterns (Center for Native American Studies, 2023).
Observe with intention. Go outside into the cold. Let the winter air wake you up. Look at the moon and consider what it has witnessed — thousands of Februarys, thousands of communities enduring, persisting, creating beauty even in hardship. As Gilio-Whitaker writes, "Indigenous peoples had, in fact, been managing all kinds of ecosystems, including forests and grassy plains" long before colonization disrupted these relationships (Gilio-Whitaker interviewed by The Natural History Museum, 2024).
Create from limitation. Make something from what you already have. Cook a meal from pantry staples. Write a poem with a limited word palette. Draw with materials at hand. Limitation is not the absence of creativity — it is often its catalyst. This practice aligns with what Lara A. Jacobs (Muscogee Creek Nation) identifies in Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge as the Indigenous value of "relationships, reciprocity, and responsibility" — creating within constraints honors what we have rather than always seeking more (Jacobs, 2024).

WE SHARE THESE TEACHINGS FROM A PLACE OF ᎤᏚᎯᏲ (U-DU-HI-YO), A GOOD MIND

These are general cultural principles shared from published and oral sources. The deepest ceremonial knowledge of Cherokee moon cycles belongs to specific Cherokee ceremonial leaders and is not for public discussion.

If you are not Cherokee, we ask you to appreciate, not appropriate. Learn from the framework of honoring cycles and recognizing scarcity as teacher, but do not perform Cherokee-specific practices or claim Cherokee moon names as your own spiritual practice. As Simpson powerfully argues, Indigenous resurgence requires centering Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination — not extracting Indigenous knowledge for settler benefit (Simpson, 2017).

We encourage everyone to: Step outside tonight. Feel the cold, the quiet. Notice what persists even in winter — the evergreens, the stars, the moon itself. Let observation and respect be your practice. As Kimmerer teaches, "paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world" (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 37).

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The Bony Moon reminds us that survival itself is sacred work. Our ancestors endured countless difficult winters, carrying forward not just their physical survival but their languages, their arts, their ceremonies, their laughter. We are here because they persisted — a truth that Gilio-Whitaker emphasizes throughout her work on environmental justice: Indigenous communities have always been "at the forefront of protecting lands and waters" precisely because their survival has always depended on maintaining these relationships (Gilio-Whitaker, 2019, p. 156).

At Good Medicine Collective, we honor this persistence through every bead strung, every story told, every relationship built between artist and community. Our work exists because scarcity does not have the final word — creativity does. Resilience does. Community does. As Nelson and Shilling write in their comprehensive study of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, "the wisdom of Indigenous knowledge systems offers tested pathways toward sustainability" in an era of climate crisis (Nelson & Shilling, 2018, p. 1).

May this Bony Moon teach us that even in lean times, we are wealthy in what matters: connection, culture, creativity, and the enduring knowledge that spring will come again. Let us move through this season with ᏄᏓᎴᏒ (nu-da-le-sv), balance, carrying the medicine of endurance and the fierce determination to create beauty no matter the circumstances.

We invite you to continue walking this path with us. Support the artists whose work keeps culture alive. Learn the stories that have sustained peoples through countless winters. Build relationships grounded in respect and reciprocity — what Kimmerer calls "the honorable harvest," where we take only what we need, use everything we take, and give thanks for what we've been given (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 183).

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REFERENCES & FURTHER READING:

Benton-Banai, E. (1988). The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway. University of Minnesota Press.

Buechel, E., & Manhart, P. J. (Eds.). (2002). Lakota Dictionary: Lakota-English / English-Lakota. University of Nebraska Press.

Center for Native American Studies. (2023). Moons of the Anishinaabeg. Northern Michigan University. https://nmu.edu/nativeamericanstudies/moons-anishinaabeg-0

Cook, W. H. (ed.). (1979). Cherokee Language Lessons. Cherokee Publications.

Gilio-Whitaker, D. (2019). As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock. Beacon Press.

Grand Canyon Trust. (2016). Robin Wall Kimmerer Explains Indigenous Traditional Knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/robin-wall-kimmerer-explains-indigenous-traditional-knowledge/

Jacobs, L. A. (Ed.). (2024). Indigenous Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Oregon State University Press.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions.

Legaufee, E. (2021). Patterns of Kinship: Beadwork, Narrative, and Métis Visual Sovereignty. Journal of Indigenous Arts & Sciences, 8(2).

MacArthur Foundation. (2022). Robin Wall Kimmerer: 2022 MacArthur Fellow. https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2022/robin-wall-kimmerer

Mooney, J. (1900). Myths of the Cherokee. Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Mooney, J. (1891). The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

NASA. (2026). Phases of the Moon: 2026. NASA Science.

Nelson, M. K., & Shilling, D. (Eds.). (2018). Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability. Cambridge University Press.

Old Farmer's Almanac. (2025). Full Moon Names for 2026. https://www.almanac.com/full-moon-names

Personal Communications & Teachings from Cherokee elders and language instructors at the Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center.

Simpson, L. B. (2017). As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance. University of Minnesota Press.

The Natural History Museum. (2024). Indigenizing Environmental Justice: A Conversation with Dina Gilio-Whitaker. https://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/learn-teach/writing/indigenizing-environmental-justice-a-conversation-with-dina-gilio-whitaker/

Vowel, C. (2016). Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada. Portage & Main Press.

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