Matariki New Zealand: A Guide to Hauora and Health Reflection

Matariki, the Māori New Year, is marked this year on Friday 10 July 2026. As the star cluster rises in the winter sky, it brings with it one of the most grounding traditions in Aotearoa: a pause to look back with gratitude, take stock of the present, and set intentions for the year ahead. Traditionally, this happens through the hautapu ceremony: remembering those we’ve lost since the last new year, celebrating what sustains us now, and looking to the future with hope.

At the centre of the Matariki cluster sits the whetū (star) that gives the group its name. Matariki herself represents hauora, health and wellbeing, and is known as the gatherer of people. When she rises bright and clear, it’s taken as a sign of good health for the year ahead. When she appears hazy, it’s read as a warning to take more care of ourselves and each other, a fitting image for anyone managing a long term health condition.

This year’s national theme, Matariki Herenga Waka, draws on the whakataukī “Tāmaki herenga waka,” the gathering place of many canoes. The idea is that Matariki belongs to everyone, whatever your background or the path that brought you here. That felt like the right spirit for a conversation many of our patients are already having quietly with themselves: how is my medicinal cannabis actually working for me, and what does balanced wellbeing look like for me this year?

So this Matariki, we’re inviting you to sit with four simple pillars of reflection, on your own, with whānau, or ahead of your next appointment with us.

Why reflect on your treatment this Matariki

It’s easy to keep taking a medicine the same way for months or years without stopping to ask whether it’s still serving you, or whether life around you has shifted in ways that matter just as much as the prescription itself. Matariki’s rhythm of remembering, celebrating, and planning is a natural prompt to do exactly that.

There’s also a practical reason to reflect regularly, not just a symbolic one. Under New Zealand’s Medicinal Cannabis Scheme, your prescriber is the one who weighs up your medical history, your other medicines, and the possible risks and benefits of your treatment (Ministry of Health). They can only do that well with good information from you. A short, honest reflection on how things are actually going gives your next appointment something real to work with, rather than a general “it’s fine” that doesn’t tell your doctor much at all.

Ten quiet minutes with a notebook is enough to start.

The four pillars

1. Impact: how is medicinal cannabis helping you

Matariki, the wellbeing star, sits at the centre of the cluster for a reason.

This pillar is about honest stocktaking, not judgment. Clinical guidance for prescribers recommends that patients keep a simple record of dose, timing, symptoms, and side effects, especially in the early months of treatment (bpacnz). You don’t need anything formal. A few lines in your phone or a notebook each week is enough to notice patterns that are easy to miss day to day.

• How is medicinal cannabis helping my life and my symptoms right now?
• What has genuinely improved since I started: sleep, pain, mood, function, connection with others?
• Where has it fallen short of what I hoped for?
• Have I noticed any side effects worth mentioning? Anything unexpected is worth raising with your prescriber.

2. Context: the environment around you

Waitī and Waitā govern fresh and salt water, and Ururangi the winds, a reminder that we’re always shaped by forces beyond ourselves.

Wellbeing is rarely just physical. Te Whare Tapa Whā, the wellbeing framework developed by Tā Mason Durie and used across New Zealand’s health system, describes hauora as a wharenui, a meeting house standing on four walls: taha tinana (physical), taha hinengaro (mental and emotional), taha whānau (family and social), and taha wairua (spiritual) (Ministry of Health). If one wall is weak, the whole house feels unsteady, no matter how well any single treatment is working.

Use those four walls as a quick check when you think about what’s shaping your wellbeing this year.

• Taha tinana: sleep, movement, and how your body actually feels day to day.
• Taha hinengaro: stress, mood, and mental load, including work or study pressure.
• Taha whānau: relationships, whānau, and whether you feel supported or isolated.
• Taha wairua: whatever gives you a sense of meaning, connection, or grounding.
• What other environmental factors are impacting my wellbeing: work, housing, relationships, finances, weather, season?
• Are any of these masking or amplifying my symptoms in ways cannabis alone can’t fix?
• What’s within my control to shift, and what do I need support with?

The parts outside cannabis, like housing, finances, or relationships, are best worked through with your GP or a counsellor. In your appointment with us, we’ll focus on how those factors relate to your medicinal cannabis treatment.

3. Method: dose, adjuncts, and holistic care

Tupuānuku and Tupuārangi represent food from the earth and sky, the things that nourish us beyond a single treatment.

New Zealand dosing guidance for medicinal cannabis follows a simple rule of thumb: start low, go slow. The goal is the lowest dose that gets you a genuine benefit with the fewest side effects, and any changes to dose or timing are usually made gradually and in consultation with your prescriber rather than all at once (bpacnz). If your notes from Pillar 1 suggest your current dose or method isn’t quite right, that’s exactly the kind of thing worth bringing to your next appointment rather than adjusting on your own.

• What changes can I make to my method of consumption, timing, or dose, and is it time to raise this with my prescriber?
• Am I open to adjunctive treatments, such as other medicines, physio, or talk therapy, alongside cannabis?
• What holistic practices (movement, rongoā, mirimiri, whanaungatanga, time outdoors) could sit alongside my treatment?

4. Intention: setting your wish for the year

Hiwa-i-te-rangi is the star of wishes and ambitions for the year to come.

This is the forward looking part of the hautapu tradition, where wishes are set for the year ahead. It’s also, fittingly, the part of this reflection that’s entirely yours. Medicinal Cannabis, your GP, and the people around you can all support your hauora, but the direction is something only you can set.

• What environmental factors should I address this year to give myself more balanced wellbeing, my hauora?
• What’s one realistic step I can take in the next three months toward that balance?
• What wish would I set for my health this year, if I said it out loud to the stars?

Your call to action

Take ten quiet minutes this Matariki to write down your answers to these four pillars. Bring your notes to your next appointment so we can talk through how they relate to your medicinal cannabis treatment, or share them with whānau as part of your own hautapu: looking back, gathering in the present, and setting your wishes for the year ahead.

Mānawatia a Matariki, may the new year bring you clearer skies and steadier health.

If any of this reflection raises questions about your treatment, dose, or adjunctive care, please bring it to your next consultation so we can discuss how it fits with your medicinal cannabis treatment.

Further reading

• Matariki Herenga Waka, the 2026 Matariki theme, Te Papa
• Te Whare Tapa Whā model of Māori health, Ministry of Health NZ
• Information for consumers about medicinal cannabis, Ministry of Health NZ
• An overview of medicinal cannabis for health practitioners, bpacnz