Walking the Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel assists in helping to seek: strong, healthy bodies (East); strong inner spirits (South), inner peace (West),  healthy minds (North). The term "Medicine" as it is used by First Nations people does not refer to drugs or herbal remedies. It is used within the context of inner spiritual energy and healing or an enlightened experience.

 The central essence of the medicine wheel is that each of you must make your own choices. More often than not, however, these choices are influenced by other individuals (families, co-workers, friends, social and political environments). Not of all your experiences are good ones, there is a lot of hate, terror, jealousy, fractured families and societies in a very unsettled world which has resulted in an increase in various kinds of cancers. Sometimes you are not successful in working around the pain and you become caught up in a jungle of tangled emotions, followed by ‘not right action’. It is difficult to walk the earth walk with care always looking to your future in healing, positive and understanding ways, when it is so easy to just give up. But, then, this is the challenge isn’t it? To learn from those experiences that have not elevated your life, (even though it can be a scary process!) keep moving forward in a manner that pleases your Ancestors.  Remember: time is relative to the process of building your life and is no one else's business unless you choose to share.

 To emphasize, there is no right or wrong way to walk the wheel or live your life, how we do it is our choice, and how we do it should not be judged by anyone else. This is where Rupert Ross' Five Native Ethics come in, which is a whole other teaching. Suffice it to say, that the Ethic of Non-Interference, teaches it is not my place to judge how you choose to live your life. It is your place to be there in friendship, love, balance, support and harmony when needed and even then your personal opinions remain your own. After all, it was never the intent that the world would be borne out of mistakes.  Each person is created as a "perfect soul" which reflects the central essences of the medicine wheel. I know, it is hard to accept perfect-ness when you are feeling decidedly imperfect on any given day. However, you are where are supposed to be at this point in time, and you are still perfect!

Life is an ongoing journey of personal redemption and evolution. If you wish to become a self fulfilling prophecy, it is best to think and walk in a positive way, for if you are angry, remorseful, and bitter, then your earth walk will reflect that anger. In ancestral times, Indigenous People greeted every sacred day with honour songs and prayers because physical life was a fleeting thing. There were songs to greet the morning Sun, songs to put Grandfather Sun to bed, Songs for Guardian Spirits, Prayers for Mother Earth.

 Everyday day should be a good day with good thoughts, good feelings and prayer because being called to your day of quiet could be at any time. As one of my teachers once said, "If someone says to me, 'I'm not spiritual', I'll say, you breathe, don’t you’? If you breathe you are spiritual for Spirituality is breath and breath is hope." As the beginning of the Great Spirit Prayer says, "Oh Great Spirit whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me I need your strength and wisdom."

The Old People say that you are never the same person coming out of a circle as when you went in because so many new connections have been made. All things that live within the Sacred Hoop are equal and protected. It is a place where you come together in safety, trust and sanctity to share stories and feelings and help each other heal through both communal and individual laughter and tears. Eventually you will return to your starting place older and hopefully a little wiser to begin the process of walking the Wheel again, this time with new understanding, insight and inner strength.

Borrowed from,
SWEET THUNDER MEDICINE WHEEL TEACHINGS IN THE 21st CENTURY