The Story of the Medicine WheelThe Story of the Medicine Wheel
The Medicine Wheel In his essay, "Circles", Ralph Waldo Emerson speaks
about how there are circles within circles, and how each circle, because
it is an adumbration of the infinite, is ultimately the same Circle. The
Medicine Wheel is, for Native Americans, a way of remembering that.
Medicine Wheels have been found in the most ancient locations throughout
Turtle Island (North America), and indeed the world: is not Stonehenge
such a Medicine Wheel, too?
Recently there has been a resurgence of
interest in the Native American spiritual traditions, and many people have
come to ask how to build a Medicine Wheel so they may pray there with and
for their medicine animals, and the Grandmothers and Grandfathers.
Everything in Native American spiritual tradition is done in a circle.
The Sacred Pipe is offered in a circle. The people inside the onikare,
(sweat or sacred stone lodge) and around the Sacred Tree in the Sun
Dance ceremony gather in a circle. We recognize the story of life as a
circle from birth to death, like the sun's journey from east to south to
west, and beneath the earth back through north to east again. We
recognize the circle of the seasons, from spring to summer to autumn, to
winter, and the circle of Grandmother Moon's phases. The list could be
extended indefinitely.
The Medicine Wheel is a way to be conscious of
these many circles that are one circle. In the Medicine Wheel we can sit
and pray, say, to the east, when we are expecting the birth of a child, or
our life to change and be reborn, as the east is the origin of new
beginnings. To the Medicine Wheel we traditionally come for weddings,
birth-naming's, Buffalo sings, and death ceremonies.
To set up a Medicine Wheel, one must be sure, first, of the proper place. Ask the Grandmothers
and Grandfathers in prayer. Stand in the place and offer tobacco to the
sacred directions. Smudge the area with the sacred herbs, sweetgrass,
tobacco, sage and cedar. When the place is ready, place a large stone,
or two stones, one on top of the other, where the center is to be.
Then place another large stone to the west. Walk back to the center,
then out to the north, and place another large stone there. Go back to
the center and walk to the east, place a stone there, and follow the
same procedure for the south.
Many people like to fill the in the rest
of the circle with smaller stones, this is not necessary, but
fine,....listen to your teaching spirits. After all this has been done,
smudge the circle, walking clockwise, which is sun-wise, with sage and
offer tobacco to the sacred directions and leave the tobacco at each
circle-stone, beginning with the east. Finish with the center stone. At
each stone, you should offer prayers to the Grandmothers and
Grandfathers of that particular sacred direction. This completes the
formation of the Medicine Wheel proper.
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