Medicine Wheel Building Ceremony
1. Preparation:
a. Background Music: "All One Tribe" or "The Way the West Was Lost"
b. Purify Space: Sage and Drum
2. Open Circle:
a. Invite Spirits: Face 6 directions and invite Spirit Keepers to join our circle:
1) Up -
2) Down -
3) East -
4) South -
5) West -
6) North -
b. Invoke Light
c. Sing: "Hey Ya Hey" to Wabun.
3. Purpose -
4. Explanation/Discussion -
a. Medicine Wheels are places to pray, meditate, contemplate, and strengthen our connection to life and the universe. It helps us understand ourselves and our relationships with all creation, other beings, plans, animals, humans, and spirits. It helps us grow spiritually.
b. Medicine Wheels are usually placed where earth energy is strong, such as this place we have chosen. As a result, Medicine Wheels, being energy vortices, are places of intense energy and healing.
c. The Medicine Wheel has 36 stones. Each stone is a "tool" to help us understand ourselves in relation to the universe and teaches us to respect ourselves and our relation to other life forms, Mother Earth, and the Universe, in keeping with the Law of Right Relations.
d. What is the Law of Right Relations? Respect for ourselves and other life forms; non-
e. Medicine Wheels symbolize the "Sacred Circle of Life", with many different cycles: of Life, creation, the seasons, the directions, growth/development, events/history, etc.
f. In life, we need to keep the wheel of being in notion in terms of time and space. This means we don't want to be "stuck"; instead we want to continue to "grow" at all levels of our being. We also need to keep the different levels of our being in balance. These levels of being include our physical self, mental/emotional self, socio-
g. The circle is a metaphor for equality: there is no beginning or end, no leader, everyone works together, in a good way.
h. The circle is called a "Medicine Wheel" because, in the Native American tradition, anything good (food, talking, energy circles, etc.) is deemed "Medicine".
i. Each of us is deeply connected to everything that exists and therefore we are a critical part of the sacred medicine wheel. Because of this interconnectedness, what we do to other life forms, we are doing to ourselves. This is the Law of One.
j. We each have a basic position upon the wheel as determined by our time of birth. But we do not remain in that position our entire life. Instead, we travel around the Medicine Wheel, experiencing life from as many positions (stones) as possible. Thus at various times, we will have the opportunity to experience a person born under another moon position. We need to understand and know what moons are influencing us at any point in time. We also need to know what stones to go to balance or heal ourselves. If we want to balance yourself in a particular way, seek the stone that represents that way.
k. The wheel can give us visions for our life. True visions benefit all our relations on Mother Earth, not just human relations, but all the beings in all the kingdoms.
l. Feel the energy and knowledge of the Medicine Wheel, don't just think it. "Dance with the Wheel". Become one with it. (You cannot separate the dance from the dancer, as the dance requires both). As in the Hindu tradition, "Shiva", the Changer, is also the Divine Dancer.
m. Creating a Medicine Wheel should be a respected ceremony. Ceremony is a way that we can give back to creation some of the energy that we are always receiving. Earth Mother gives us something to walk on; Father Sun warms us; Grandmother Moon brings healing dreams; Fire warms our homes and cooks our food; Air gives us breath of life. Each part of the Medicine Wheel, each stone, like each part of life, gives us gifts.
n. Through ceremony, we learn to give back. When we sing, we give energy back through our voices. When we pray, we give energy back through our hearts. With our eyes, we give others blessings. When we drum, we are giving our heartbeats to Mother Earth.
o. Our ancestors, the "Ancient Ones" understood the importance of ceremony, and how, through ritual symbols, ceremony communicates with and nurtures the inner spirit, the God/Goddess within. The Ancient Ones, throughout the year's seasons, had many ceremonies and festivals for planting, for growth, purification, thanksgiving, and harvesting. We have pipe ceremonies, the spring sweat lodge, the equinoxes. Many ofthe ceremonies were connected to the sun and moon cycles. These ceremonies were planned ways of keeping the balance of the Sacred
Circle of Life.
p. As the Ancient Ones, we now understand. Let us now build our Medicine Wheel.
5. Construction: The act of construction a Medicine Wheel is in itself is a ritual ceremony, done with understanding, respect and love. We will build the wheel, stone by stone, explaining each stone and its relationship to the other stones.
a. Creator Stone (1 stone): symbolizes the creator which is the center of all life, therefore, it is in the center of the Medicine Wheel.
b. Foundation of All Life (7 stones): inner circle surrounding the creator and represent the foundation of all life, teaching us the basic building blocks of life.
Earth Mother -
Father Sun -
Grandmother Moon -
Turtle Clan -
Frog Clan -
Thunderbird Clan -
Butterfly Clan -
c. Spirit Keepers or Anchor Stones (4 stones) : honor and represent the Spirit Keepers:
Waboose -
Wabun -
Mudjekeewis -
Shawnodese -
d. Moon Stones (12 stones) : outer circle; represent the moons that divide the year, from which we can learn about the seasons, time of day, time of life, other beings, plans, animals, minerals, etc. The moon stones represent our animal totems. (There is also an invisible 13th moon, which, if discovered, will shift our world view).
e. Spirit Paths (12 stones): 4 groups of 3 stones each which connect the outer circle to the inner circle. These stones represent qualities that take us from our daily life into the sacred space of the creator.
7. Heart Meditation: Attune to the spirits. Offer a prayer and gift of rice or corn. (Play "Calling in the Spirits" )
8. Sing -
9 . Dedicate the Wheel -
a. Offering: Together, we offer the newly created wheel to the Creator, Earth Mother, and 4 Spirits
b. Sing: "Eagle Song". and "Dawning"
10. Circle Closure.
a. Thank Spirits.
b. Blessing
Borrowed from,
One Spirit Ministries