
Welcome to a self-guided resource for personal life guidance. This library of posts takes an in-depth look at the ancient and earth-based wisdom known as the Medicine Wheel. In this collection of teachings, you can choose how you wish to study all the stones that comprise a Medicine Wheel.
Investigate specific issues in your life at your own pace and in a fun, creative, and affordable way. Each stone in the Medicine Wheel is a discussion about a universal healing movement. The stone you choose to read about will be the perfect one for you at this time.
Before we dive into the study of the Medicine Wheel Meaning and Function. let’s take a moment to contemplate and clarify… what is the Medicine Wheel meaning and function? Let’s look at each words meaning in the phrase “Medicine Wheel.”
Medicine is movement.
Medicine is anything that improves a situation. Medicine is not an object. Medicine is a way of living, a way of action that leads to more peace and joy. Medicine is what we DO with an object. An aspirin is not the Medicine. Our act of taking it is the medicine. Or our act of refraining from taking it. What action improves a situation? This is always a Medicine Person’s question. Finding the healing movement is the real medicine. How we behave leads us to either more peace or more conflict. How to determine what we ought to do next is the art of sensing how an action makes us feel. This requires the highest level of honesty possible as we often need to confront parts of ourselves who want to hide and deceive.
A Wheel is a structure that facilitates motion.
A wheel is a whole, complete ecosystem of inclusion. A wheel encompasses an entire area or realm. And so a Medicine Wheel is a movement towards improvement that includes and renewing old situations in a positive way. A Medicine Wheel is a tangible, interactive conversation with one’s thoughts and surroundings that help us see what may be causing a block to our well-being. Working with a Medicine Wheel is a form of meditation and introspection that can be practiced anywhere and with any objects (not just with stones.) A Medicine Wheel is a grid of power that facilitates uplifting healing movement.
Technically, a Medicine Wheel is a sculpture of stones comprised of two circles (one large, one small) and four pathways leading to and from each circle, both centered around a central stone. This profound configuration serves as a map into the human psyche and our place in the cosmos. It is speaking to us on multiple levels about aspects of who and what we are in the world and in the cosmos.
Medicine Wheel Layout:
The Medicine Wheel we study and contemplate here is informed by the teachings of:
Sun Bear – Sun Bear was a controversial author and workshop leader in his lifetime. His work was protested by indigenous tribes who wished to preserve the privacy of their worldview during an oppressive time of cultural and legal assault.
Hyemeyohsts Storm – Hyemeyohsts was another controversial author whose publications caused conflict in the indigenous communities of the 1970’s and 80’s.
Jamie Sams – Sacred Path Cards – Jamie Sams published two revolutionary card decks teaching indigenous world views to a global public which offered insights into how to respectfully engage and work with indigenous teachings.
Archie Fire Lame Deer – Lakota Sweat Lodge Cards
The reason we study the Medicine Wheel teachings through these published resources is because they present universal healing practices that have been offered to a global community to access and use for the upliftment of all our relations. We do not study any other Medicine Wheel teachings of any indigenous tribes we have not learned from directly because no other materials are available to the global public. We hold all cultures across the world in the highest regard and hope that our small work here serves to make more connections and deeper understanding between all People.
Stone by Stone A Self-guided life guidance resource
Welcome to a self-guided resource for personal life guidance. I have created a library of exercises, meditations and recommendations which offer specific and unique discussions about what might be needed for you at this time to regain balance regarding some life situation. Choose a Medicine Wheel stone from the collection here and let its contents help you workshop a specific issue at your own pace. It is best to follow the preparation instructions before sitting down to commune with a Medicine Wheel stone.