Medicine Wheel Family

DIRECTION = NORTH (Towards colder regions)

SEASON = WINTER (A cold and harsh season)

SPIRIT GUIDE = POLAR BEAR (Patience and concentration)

ELEMENT = AIR (The breath of life)

COLOR = BLACK (Dark and unknown stirring imagination and fear)

STAGE OF LIFE = ELDERS, DEATH (Respecting what dies is appreciating what lives)

MEDICINE = OYSTER FUNGUS (From the white birch tree)

ATTRIBUTE = MENTALITY (Meditation and focused decisions)

GIFT = WISDOMOFTRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE (Retrospective, Ancestors)

This is the last component that completes the four basic colors of man and seasons that are commonly used by most or all Native American tribes of North America. They may not all be in the same order of sequence when interpreted, but they are basically the same colors.

It was explained to me by an elder who passed away in 1991 named Buffalo Child that some ceremonies don’t require the color black. According to his spiritual contacts, the feast ceremony he conducted required several cotton cloths that were a meter in length and were of all the colors of the rainbow. A rainbow is a symbol of hope and spiritual life from our Great creator. We connect to the spiritual world through our ancestors; they are like our umbilical chord back into the spirit world. If we don’t maintain our communication we sever those ties.  

MEDICINE WHEEL FAMILY

DIRECTION = EAST (Where Grandfather Sun rises and provides life energy.)

SEASON = SPRING (New beginning, Germination, Rejuvenation and awakening.)

SPIRIT GUIDE = EAGLE (True vision, Faith, and Love.)

ELEMENT = WATER (Life source and Fluidness in movement.)

COLOR = WHITE (Purity and perfection)

STAGE OF LIFE = BIRTH (Babies born, Entering mother earths realm.)

MEDICINE = SWEET GRASS (Opens the door to the spiritual realm, cleansing space.)

ATTRIBUTE = SPIRITUAL VALUES (Sacred teachings, Prayers, and Worship, Believing.)

GIFT = INNOCENCE(To be devoid of evil or wrong doing of any kind)

The first position on the Medicine Wheel is east. This is according to our common sense approach of this philosophy. There are many other interpretations of the four colors and how they are placed in the wheel. This commonsense approach uses the diagram with the colors gradually getting darker as they progress moving right to left depicting stages of growth and aging, beginning with white, yellow, red and black to represent the beginning and the end of a life cycle.

To fully understand the Medicine Wheel one has to live it.

MEDICINE WHEEL FAMILY

DIRECTION = SOUTH (Towards warmer regions)

SEASON = SUMMER (Ideal climate for growth and festive activities)

SPIRIT GUIDE = THUNDER BIRD (Controls the wind, rains and the electrical energies)

ELEMENT = MOTHER EARTH (Provides for her children with sustenance and evolution)

COLOR = YELLOW (Warmest color on the color wheel often referred to as a summer color)

STAGE OF LIFE = ADULTHOOD (From youth to adulthood and the female gender)

MEDICINE = BUFFALO SAGE (Protects the sacred ceremony in a circle against evil spirits.)

ATTRIBUTES = EMOTIONAL (Our mothers teach us how to understand our emotional values)

GIFT = COMPASSION = (To experience the growth of healthy living and beauty)

South is often referred to as the place of warm weather, that’s why people like to vacation south bound when the winter season hits. Even the birds migrate south towards warmer conditions when the food source depletes here in the northern regions of Turtle Island. Only to return again as the season unfolds its beautiful colors of flowers and foliage. Its no wonder that our ancestors believe the true spirit of Mother Earth can be represented with love and growth in this direction and all of the female gender carries the emotional genes from one generation to the next.

MEDICINE WHEEL FAMILY

DIRECTION = WEST (The place where we exit after life, when the sun sets at the end of day.)

SEASON = FALL (A time to gather, harvest, hunt and reap the good foods of mother earth.)

SPIRIT GUIDE = BLACK BEAR (Courage, wisdom, skills in medicine and healing.)

ELEMENT = FIRE (Purification, Curing and Medicinal energy through sweat lodge.)

COLOR = RED (The color of blood and life represented in the sky and the trees.)

STAGE OF LIFE = ELDER (Warrior, hunter, Teacher and respecting the role of a male elder.)

MEDICINE = CEDAR (Dispels negative feelings and brings about well-being.)

ATTRIBUTES = PHYSICAL (Strength agility and prowess both mental and physical.)

GIFT = CHARITY (Share the good life we have lived to those in need of knowledge.)

West; the position where the sun sets and is the strongest in growth of all living things in fact it symbolizes maturity and reaching a pinnacle of a life well lived. Now is the time to share and teach those that are following but yet learning from the senior elders more wisdom from generations before. Taking into account that the teachings of life are all about the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional which makes for good medicine ways. We should not think of ourselves as a human family above all other creatures; but that we are part of the bigger picture that is not just of our Mother Earth, but the whole universe.