The Medicine Wheel is a process of transformation. It is an example how the Native American people used the symbolism and the energies of the Earth as a way to see where they were on their way in life. Knowing the Medicine Wheel and living with the Medicine Wheel is learning to live a full life, a life in beauty. The end of the journey is seeing how all things have been part of a Divine Cycle, a circle that has taken you through a journey of transformation. In the course of your life, you have to walk the wheel again and again. And each time you approach the beginning of the wheel in grace. The Medicine Wheel is sometimes called the Sacred Hoop. ( Circle)
As you look at the process of your life you might see the circles you have passed through already. So you learn to value each sacred step you have taken. The Medicine Wheel shows us the lessons we have learned and by sharing them others will learn too.
Physical life begins at birth., which is the South Direction on the Circle. We will travel through the circle that South to North path until we reach the place of the Elder, in the North. The East is the home of the Golden Door, the entry point to all other levels of awareness and consciousness. Spirits of the Ancestors who have finished their Earth Walks, leave the Wheel at the North and follow the Hoop to the East. Once again we come through the Golden Door in the East as spirits are born again into physical bodies in the South. Always remember that when you walk the wheel you are in company of all those generations before you. They walked the wheel and became wise people. They carry the wisdom of Mother Divine Those who pass it on carry the wisdom of Mother Earth.
The fire that burns in our belly, burns also in the center of the Medicine Wheel. It is the same light and all originate from the fire of the Beginning.
The powers ( talents and lessons) of the Four Directions can show us the way. Traditional native American teachers always teach the children of their Tribe to feel the Wind, so that they can know what to do if they are lost or afraid.
- If the Wind came from the West, they should sit still and look inside their hearts for courage or an answer.
- If the Wind came from the South, they would stop thinking that they have all the answers and learn humility and perhaps listen to another child that knows the way home.
- If the Wind came from the North, the children would know that the Elders, in their wisdom, knew where to look for them.
- When Wind came from the East, they were to use their good sense or logical ideas that would bring an answer to their quest.
In understanding the lessons of the sacred Wheel we learn to touch life in a deeper and more gentle way. To live the Medicine Wheel, we are asked to see the gifts of growth each direction offers. When we as Children of the Earth lose our sense of where we are and how we fit into the medicine Wheel, we lose sight of the unified circle and how to live in a sacred manner.
East South West North
Illumination Inner child as teacher To look within Place of Elders, wisdom
New beginnings Innocence, healing Introspection, silence Insight, prayer
Eagle Tenderness of a deer Bear, Buffalo
Morning Noon Evening Night
Spring Summer Autumn Winter
First quarter Full Moon Third quarter New Moon
Light, Fire Soil, Body Water Air
Mind Bodily Self Emotional Self Spiritual Self
Male Energy Child Energy Female Energy Male Energy
YELLOW RED BLACK WHITE OR BLUE
Child Adult Senior Ancestor
Medicine Wheel, free picture ancients origin net
INSPIRATIONSacred path Cards, Jamie Sams ISBN0-06250762-1