The Medicine Wheel Explained
The wisdom of the Medicine Wheel framework allows us to externalize our gifts, personality characteristics and social conditioning, helping us to see our limitations, and guiding us to alternative routes of growth.
Alchemical traditions and Shamanic traditions around the world work with the four elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. They often use a framework of symbolism that incorporates circular or spiral energy. These are ways in which energy moves in the world, and the circle and spiral are symbols of eternity, connectedness, cycles, and the natural world. Sometimes the metaphor of a wheel is used, the medicine wheel or wheel of life, to really illustrate the point that all things are cyclical, ever-turning.
Working with the elements is a way of working with energy. As we connect with the elements from the natural world, we become more aware of our connection to nature and All That Is. We can learn to harness their power that help us to heal our wounds and obtain balance between the four different parts of ourselves - the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
Most of our inner wounds are located on the emotional level, which can then express themselves physically. They can be caused by different family experiences, or by someone who has has done something, which is perceived as an injustice. But our wounds may also be on the spiritual level, and this is where energy medicine can really help by going to the root of the problem - because we can travel all the way to the soul and heal the spiritual origin of the wound and start a healing process.
The Medicine Wheel can take many different forms. It can be an artwork such as artifact or painting, or it can be a physical construction on the land. Many cultures have used wheels or circle-like structures as magical and sacred ways of organizing and passing on understanding, knowledge and information about existence. Just look at the mandalas of the East, the Neolithic stone circles of Europe, and the South American Mayan and Aztec circles to name a few.
Regardless of the tradition, the Medicine Wheel is wonderful tool for personal exploration, growth and transformation. We can look upon the Medicine Wheel almost like a mirror that reflects back our humanity. Growing in wisdom comes from moving around the wheel and constantly re-assessing “what we are not”; becoming aware of the ephemeral nature of these cycles. If you perceive life solely from one of the four directions then you will always remain a partial person, never to truly become whole.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Different tribes interpret the Medicine Wheel differently. Each of the Four Directions (East, South, West, and North) is typically represented by a distinctive color, such as black, red, yellow, and white, which for some stands for the human races. The Directions can also represent:
Stages of life: birth, youth, adult (or elder), death
Seasons of the year: spring, summer, winter, fall
Aspects of life: spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical
Elements of nature: fire (or sun), air, water, and earth
Animals: Eagle, Bear, Wolf, Buffalo and many others
Ceremonial plants: tobacco, sweet grass, sage, cedar
The Four Directions use of the Medicine Wheel is the most basic approach, as it connects each direction in a simple circular pattern. However, when you put the Wheel into practice, it grows in complexity as every direction of the Wheel can be finely interconnected to many other elements of life.
Growing in wisdom comes from moving around the wheel of the cycles. If you perceive life solely from one of the four directions then you will always remain a partial person, never to truly become whole.
Origins of the term Medicine Wheel
The term "Medicine Wheel" is not a native term. Initially it was used in the late 1800's and early 1900 by Americans of European descent in reference to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel located near Sheridan, Wyoming. Later, research on the Plains identified other features characterized by a variety of stone circles and spoke configurations. Because of general similarities to the Bighorn Wheel, the term "Medicine Wheel" was extended to describe them as well.
The Big Horn Medicine Wheel consists of a central circle of piled rock surrounded by a circle of stones, "Rays" of stones travel out from the central core of rock and its surrounding circle. The whole structure looks rather like the wheel of a bicycle from the air. There is no real consensus as to when the medicine wheel began to appear in Native American Culture except to say that some of the wheels date back two to four thousand years BC, the time of the Great Egyptian Pyramids. Some archaeologist and geologist even go as far as saying that The Big Horn Medicine Wheel is as old as a few million years.
The individual or community can see what is going on within by examining what has manifested outwardly in the mirror like situation the Medicine Wheel shows us. It is also a wheel of protection and it enables us, and allows us to gather surrounding energies into a focal point and to commune with Spirit, Self and Nature. Thus, it is a model to be used to view self, society, or anything that one could ever think of looking into. Medicine Wheel teachings are vast and limitless and form the basis of most First Nations beliefs - The great circle of Life.
These teachings are among the oldest teachings of First Nations people. The teachings found on the Medicine Wheel create a bio-psychosocial and spiritual foundation for human behaviour and interaction. The medicine wheel teachings are about walking the earth in a peaceful and good way, they assist in helping to seek; healthy minds (East), strong inner spirits (South), inner peace(West) and strong healthy bodies (North).
Today, the Medicine Wheel has become a major symbol of peaceful interaction among all living beings on Mother Earth... representing harmonious connections.