My Medicine Wheel……It gets overgrown, going back to the Earth as we all do…….
I have a medicine wheel that I started building here in a peaceful and secluded natural clearing in the forest over 50 years ago. I cannot recall exactly what or why I was guided to the place, only that it was needed and it has served me and many others along with the birds and animals of the place very well. Pipes have been smoked there, healing for many who were suffering from disease or trauma and it has been a place for finding peace and calm in a sometimes turbulent and troubling world.
When things became confusing, sad, angry or other anxieties or just in times that seemed important or needing expression, I would go there. It is a place that satisfied many needs, wants, questions or challenges.
It started with a large circle of stones, having bigger ones at the openings or doorways to the four directions with a large crystal in the center and four stones of the different colors (red, yellow, black and white) marking the East, South, West and North consecutively around the wheel. There are shells with crystals in them to mark the four in-between points. Over the years, as stones, crystals, bones, shells, herbs and other offerings were added, the center grew larger and an additional circle of smaller stones was formed around the outside of the first circle.
It is formed like this....
I sit in the different doorways depending upon what is needed or my mood, often in the North, the place of cleansing and healing.
Lately, there has been a lot of death, and in despair and needing guidance, I took my pipe, tobacco, sweet grass, sage and cedar, along with my drum and medicine bag to the circle.
I have learned from some great teachers and teachings in my life for which I am deeply grateful. Many of these old teachings have been handed down through lineages thousands of years old and taught by example, personal teachings and word of mouth. Only in recent history have some of them been recorded and usually not digitally.
So feeling helpless and in limbo, I went to the medicine wheel for guidance and help. I usually enter from the East...the place of new beginnings, new moon, new day and more. I walked clockwise around the circle, putting tobacco down in each of the four directions as well as in the shells with crystals in them halfway between each doorway (SE, SW, NW, NE).
I sang the “Ohila”, a song for grief, loss and the passing of souls. Singing in the forest with the big old growth tress, mosses and ferns and green all around me feels like everything hears me and likes it, even if my voice cracks or is out of tune. The wolf did teach me how to sing so I have more confidence. (See "The Wolf and I") from an earlier posting.
The forest around the Medicine Wheel
The drum awakens everything's attention it seems. I have a beautiful drum made by a part Ojibwe man named Steven Reid who was the official drum maker to the Haida Nation before his passing. It was given to me by his wife, Susan Musgrave, when I turned 70. She is a well known Canadian writer as was Steven.
And so, having sang and said my prayers to the Spirits all around me and the seen and unseen guides, I always give thanks to all...to Great Spirit, the Great Mystery and the Spirit that moves through us all but people have many differing names, religions and beliefs around this so I try to encompass it all.
My partner was Ojibwe or Anishinabe as they call themselves. Some of my children and grandchildren, most grown up now, have their Native status, whatever that means, but it is what is in your heart that counts.
I have found great comfort and wisdom in the ancient teachings. Some cultural things can go off the rails but many of those old teachings have been tried and are true...let us each be the judge of our own destiny and each must find one's own way but I am eternally grateful to those teachings, the teachers and the medicine wheel for helping me through what seemed like an impenetrable jungle sometimes. I always found answers and peace...just like this Earth often does for us when we give ourselves to it, whether walking, gardening, exploring, being on the water, lying in the sand, etc.
It isn't for myself that I go there, it is for all, everything is connected and often I go just to thank this Earth, Spirit or whatever one calls it, Sun, Moon, trees and everything to let it all know how much I love it and am grateful.
So on this very powerful Equinox with the New Moon circling overhead, I go there to give thanks, to bring healing and love to this beautiful Earth, to All My Relations, to the strong and good, to the light and to the stars and cosmos, from where we come and to where we return.
Imagine yourself here if you wish….Come in, you are welcome.
Thank you Kathy for your ceremonies on these important dates at this important time on this important Planet.
Thank you Susanne, beautiful, peaceful and inspiring.
Hugs. Kathy