Presented at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Native Physician Association in Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, August 23-25, 1996.

The Medicine Wheel concept from Native American culture provides a model for whom we are as individuals: We have an intellectual self, a spiritual self, an emotional self, and a physical self. Strength and balance in all quadrants of the Medicine Wheel can produce a strong, positive sense of well-being, whereas imbalance in one or more quadrants can cause symptoms of illness. Addressing issues of imbalance can potentially diminish your patient's symptoms and enrich their quality of life.

 

I am a full-blooded Mohawk of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Before joining the medical staff of Kaiser Permanente, I lived and practiced medicine in the Native American community where I was born and raised--Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada. The Medicine Wheel--a visual model depicting the interrelation of basic life concepts--has long been a part of my culture but is relatively new to my personal life. Understanding and using the Wheel serves me extremely well in my own journey in life, and I have begun sharing this knowledge with patients as they arrive at my clinical practice here at Kaiser Permanente-Colorado. My approach to incorporating it into my own medical practice is, and has been, continually evolving.

The Medicine Wheel is not unique to Mohawk culture; it is derived from universal principles which are found within all human groups: sharing, caring, kindness, humility, trust, honesty, and respect. The Medicine Wheel model as applied to individual patients is at once simple to understand yet comprehensive in scope. When used in the context of understanding a particular patient's overall situation, the Medicine Wheel can be a useful tool that facilitates the practice of holistic medicine. Although a complete discussion of all of the subtleties of interpreting the Medicine Wheel is beyond the scope of this article, I will give an overview of it and describe those portions relevant to patient care.

 

By constructing the circle of the Medicine Wheel, a shaman constructs a symbol for a world in which everything is connected in harmonic synchronization. The Medicine Wheel thus symbolizes both the Universe and the working of the Universal Mind as well as the "little universe" of each person's own individual life and individual mind.

In Native American language, "medicine" meant power, a vital energy force that was within all forms of nature. It also meant "knowledge" because knowing gave the "knower" power to do, to achieve, and to attain. Because a wheel is accurately thought of as a spiral or vortex of energy in motion, "Medicine Wheel" means a circle or spiral of generated power under the control of Mind. "[The Medicine Wheel] is a physical, mental, and spiritual device that can enable its users to come into attunement with the cosmic and natural forces in which they are immersed and have their being, and find harmony with their environment and within themselves."

Within the Medicine Wheel are several different layers of meaning. In Native American wisdom, the entire manifested world was vitalized by four primary forces: the Vibratory Force, a power with oscillatory elliptical movement like that of a planet; an intermolecular Binding Force, a power with centripetal movement like gravity; an electromagnetic Light Force, a power with wave movement; and a Life Force, whose presence can be experienced but can never be seen or measured. The Life Force is the power that makes a great oak tree from a tiny acorn or a gigantic grizzly bear from a single egg and sperm. It is the power that makes each of us aware of our own uniqueness that gives us our consciousness and awareness.

Crucial to the understanding of the Medicine Wheel is the knowledge that Native American cosmology is a science not of materialism but of mind and spirit. All that exists is seen as a manifestation of thought. "Every part of the physical universe and every living thing on the Earth was seen as having its origins not in the material but in the spiritual and mental." The physical world is the manifestation of the mind of Shonkwaia'tison--the Creator--imbued with differing amounts of the four primary forces. Even while in manifestation, minerals, plants, animals and humans are in a state of continuous change. "The whole of Nature and of existence was thus regarded as a 'coming into being' and a 'going out of manifestation,' and its essence was not material but spiritual and mental."

 

The Medicine Wheel has been handed down from generation to generation in oral form. Its message was made available to the general public with publication of The Sacred Tree in 1985. Its story tells of the Great Paradox: Everything comes out of No-thing and to No-thing Everything returns. Out of No-thing (the Great Spirit) came the Great Everything (Shonkwaia'tison), whose name means "He who creates or makes all things, beings, bodies possible." Another translation of Shonkwaia'tison is "He who made possible our bodies with perfection."

From all this, the shamans knew "a universal and unvarying cosmic law that no Force or Matter is ever destroyed or lost or comes to an end--it merely changes its form and the way it manifests. Nothing ends, but only follows a cycle of change. Everything that manifests comes into physical being and goes out of manifestation only to return to manifest once more in accordance with the Circle of Change."

This is the teaching of the Medicine Wheel--that everything comes from the same source of all existence, Shonkwaia'tison, the Creator. From the Creator all things come into existence; and to the Creator all things return.

 

"The power of the Spirit of the East is the power of illumination that opens the spiritual eye and brings enlightenment and discernment. It is the power of new beginnings" and of fresh new life. The color of "the Spirit of the East is yellow--the color of the rising sun and of illumination and enlightenment."

The power of the Spirit of the South is the spirit of rapid growth, exploration, experience, and investigation; it is the power that guides and grows. It is the power of trust in feelings and intuition--the natural trust of the child. "The color of the Spirit of the South is red--the color of vital energy and of the lifeblood."

The power of the Spirit of the West is the power of "strength and introspection." It is the power of growth, which enables realization to develop. It is the power of growth to full maturity. It is the power of self-examination. "The color of the Spirit of the West is black--the color of the formlessness from which all form comes."

"The power of the Spirit of the North is the power of renewal and of the quickening of the spirit. It is the power of Winter, when nothing appears to be growing" but when Mother Earth is gathering her energies for springtime to come. It is the power of concentration and clarity of intent. The color of the Spirit of the North is white, regarded as the color of perfection because it is the sum of all the colors.

This basic configuration--a circle divided into equal quadrants--can then be used to depict many other relationships, always in sets of four.

 

The Medicine Wheel constitutes who we are as individuals. People who are at ease with themselves, content, happy, and maximally productive; who can share, care, and trust; and who are respectful have strength and balance in all quadrants of the Medicine Wheel and in all segments of life: the spiritual, the emotional, the physical, and the intellectual.

Spirituality is that part of self which believes in the connection of all things. Spirituality is having a sense of connectedness with all other creations of the Great Spirit. This connectedness allows for an inner awareness of the unity of all things, animate or inanimate. The related direction, East, is the direction for learning about sharing and love.

Emotionality is that part of self which can touch all other things through feeling. In our emotional self, on the South of the circle, we "touch all other things through feeling" with trust and innocence, finding excitement in discovery and joy in the awareness that new knowledge brings. South is the direction for learning about honesty and trusting. Through personal and clinical experience, the greatest imbalance in most people's lives is most commonly found in this quadrant of emotion.

Physicality is that part of self which recognizes and nurtures the body and the environment in relation to the cycle of life and death of all other things. Our physical self is located on the West side of the circle. The West is the place for looking within; the realm of the adult; and the direction for learning about respect, kindness, and activity that nurtures the self and all others.

Intellectuality is that part of self which seeks knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. The intellectual self also requires that knowledge be put into action. Our intellectual self is located at the North of the circle. North is also the place of the elders and is the direction for learning about caring.

Balance thus equals wellness equals health and requires alignment.

 

Imbalance within the Wheel causes disorder and unsettles a person's life; causes unwellness and ill health; and causes symptoms. Thus, in my experience, the Medicine Wheel achieves its greatest clinical utility with patients who present with chronic complaints without objective historical, physical, or laboratory evidence of pathology. Patients who have vague complaints, symptoms related to multiple organ systems, frequent visits, thick medical charts, numerous consultations, and numerous tests alert me to the possibility of imbalance in the patient's life.

To change the way these forces are used is to create disharmony and discord both within and without. The most common way these energies are changed is to interchange the South and the West, thereby "holding with our emotions and giving with the body ... By holding onto our emotions, we lock up our heart."

Three rules of survival govern families in which trauma is occurring: "don't talk, don't trust, don't feel." Although these rules help a young person to survive the chaos of trauma in the family, the rules become detrimental as the young person ages. Our emotions are alive: they have an energy, a force, and a strength. If our emotions are not allowed expression through the heart, through the voice, and through the mind, this energy can--and will--go elsewhere.

Patients who have lived with the legacy of "don't talk, don't trust, don't feel" and with a history of having been traumatized are emotionally cut off from conscious, daily life. These patients hold on to what should have been given away: their emotions. This tremendous emotional energy (and pain) roiling within the unconscious without a safe outlet must be expressed elsewhere. For some people, this energy is directed into somatic symptoms--headache, neck pain, low back pain, body ache, abdominal pain, pelvic pain, fatigue, forgetfulness, depression, or anxiety (to name but a few). In my opinion, this redirection of energy is the major root of addictive behavior, an unconscious effort to "medicate" oneself against psychic pain. I do not mean to imply that these symptoms are always explained by imbalance in a patient's life: Each symptom has its own differential diagnosis that must be considered by the astute clinician. In my experience, however, the Medicine Wheel approach can be useful when other possibilities have been exhausted and the patient remains distressed.

 

Imbalance in a patient's life should be considered in the differential diagnosis of vague or refractory symptoms. The Medicine Wheel approach is not for every patient every time but is a useful approach for some patients some of the time. I have often found the ability to share my understanding of the Medicine Wheel with patients to be very rewarding, both for my patients and for myself.

When I suspect that a patient's symptoms may be related to imbalance, an empathetic approach is crucial if the patient is to accept the process. When I lack a thorough background on a patient's extended family, I drop pen and chart, make myself comfortable, and say, "I do not know you very well. Can you tell me about yourself and your family?" I then proceed with additional specific questions designed to inform me about the patient's background:

"Married?"

"Children?"

"Parents alive?" (If they are not, I ask the year they died, their ages at death, and the cause of death.)

"How many brothers and sisters? Their health problems?" (Addiction histories will often surface here.)

"What number sibling are you?"

"Any history of alcohol use in your family when you were growing up?"

If the patient acknowledges a family history of alcohol use or trauma, I ask the following: "Do you know the rules of survival in a family where trauma or abuse is occurring ('don't talk, don't trust, don't feel')?"

"Have you ever experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse?"

At this point, I explain that the consequences of abuse and the legacy of "don't talk, don't trust, don't feel" are a storehouse of unresolved inner pain that has nowhere to go. I explain that this emotional energy requires release and that if it is not allowed expression through the heart, through the voice, and through the conscious self, it will come out elsewhere.

I then ask patients where they think these energies might go and what they might cause. Often, patients name the same symptom that caused them to seek medical consultation in the first place! I then try to frame the patient's symptoms in the context of their past. "People who have experienced trauma and abuse can often suffer from these kinds of symptoms. They're real, they're there, they're interfering with your quality of life and they need to be dealt with." This is often a good time to actually show the Medicine Wheel to the patient and to discuss it briefly.

"But Doctor, I feel so horrible. My [head, neck, back, stomach, pelvis, etc] is killing me!"

"Yes, it is very difficult," I answer. "The worse you feel, the more your body is sending you a message that something is not right. This is a complaint and a cry for help, a cry for you to help yourself. I can suggest treatments and prescribe medications to help you with your symptoms, but they will not ever go away unless and until you can address their cause. The answer is not in tests or pills or specialists. The answer is in finding and dealing with inner pain, in learning how to talk, to trust, and to feel. The answer is in finding yourself and in seeking for yourself the balance of the Medicine Wheel. The answer is in counseling."

In this way, physicians can assist patients to embark on their own journey to wellness, a journey whose importance lies not in a final destination (for there is none) but in living day-to-day and moment-to-moment, focused on the present, cognizant of the past, and with enough awareness to struggle continually to separate past from present. The challenge for the patient is to actually begin this journey. Some are not yet ready to hear or act. The challenge for the physician is to continue pointing the way to wellness according to the patient's state of readiness to change. This new dialogue may require repetition before patient action occurs. After suggesting this diagnosis and counseling a patient, at subsequent visits the physician can explore where the patient is in the process and thus avoid unnecessary reinvestigation, retreatment, or rereferral. In addition, by encouraging counseling, we honor the first dictum of our profession, primum non nocere: First, do no harm.

Compassionate, caring, respectful use of the Medicine Wheel approach achieves three objectives simultaneously:

Understanding and using the Medicine Wheel has enormously benefited both my personal and professional life. No longer do I groan inwardly when I prepare to enter the examination room and see vague complaints of "back pain," "headache," or "fatigue" on the medical chart as the patient's chief complaint.

Equipped with knowledge of the Medicine Wheel and armed with courage, physicians can begin to accumulate the experience and skill required to venture into this delicate but rewarding area of patient care. They will no longer feel helpless in the face of symptoms that yield no objective findings. They will be confident--even before stepping into the examination room--that they have something to offer to any given patient.

Acknowledgments: I would like to thank my fellow Native American physician, Dr Judy Bartlett, for her generous sharing of her knowledge and generosity in both written and verbal communication. Some of her construction and phraseology I could not improve upon. I am deeply indebted to the wisdom of Kenneth Meadows in his book, The Medicine Way, from which I have liberally quoted. I would also like to thank my colleagues for their encouragement, support, patient listening skills, and willingness to review my first draft: Drs Irwin Antone, Edward McAuliffe, David Mulica, David Price, Carol Phelps, Stephen Godar, Karen Stasik, and Bernard Abrams. Thanks also to my teammates on the former Chronic Pain Consult Service for reviewing this paper: Anne Samson, PsyD; Karla Langer, PT; and Sue Samuelson, RN. Thanks to my partner Martha McMillen for proofreading and support. My thanks to Julie Geary for typing. My thanks and love to the budding artist --my 12-year-old daughter, Rachel Montour --for her drawing of the medicine wheel. And finally, my respect, honor, and gratitude to my elders and ancestors, from all Red Nations, who have been entrusted with the safekeeping of the power of the Medicine Wheel. My first exposure was a short ten years ago, to the Wheel of the Constitution of the Human. The knowledge I have gained in writing this paper has only served to increase enormously my respect for The Medicine Way.

 

 

 

 

 

IT IS OUR PURPOSE, each of us, to bring balance to the Earthly Mother. In doing this, we bring balance to ourselves.Within each of us, male and female, are male and female elements. For the past few thousand years, since the rise of settled civilizations in the West, the energy of the Earth has been tilted toward the masculine, a patriarchal power. This is not bad. It just is. In the scheme of things, perhaps it was necessary to provide the impetus for the rise of hierarchy, to bring order to the world in human relations.We would not be a global society today without it. Technology, the result of the literal, rational left-brain thinking of the male power, is not a bad thing. It is a powerful force. But when out of balance with its goal-oriented, task-formed action, it also has negative influences such as cruelty, dominance, war and action without regard for others. And it is not the whole truth. Being literal, straight-line energy, its "truth" can be easily broken. (An example is legalese: How something can be true and false at the same time. How it can indicate one thing while meaning another, allowing "advantage" to one over another.)The female power is necessary to hold the excesses of the male power in check. Female power is holistic, circular, right-brained. Its "truth" is often not easily described because it is non-rational, more symbol than word, difficult to put into literal words that separate ideas and, thereby, doesn't represent the "whole" truth when put into words. (An example would be: "My heart is warm and the birds sing, the Earth and I are one." It is true and totally true, and cannot be dissected, nor verified in a rational way.)Prior to the ascension of the male power, for thousands of years, before even recorded time, societies around the Earthly Mother were based on female power, goddess energies. They took many forms, but the female energy of the Earth was bountiful, as the communal societies that resided in that power, receiving pleasure through the gifts of air, water, earth and fire.It was a time of community when the interests of the whole took precedence. The tribe, the people came first. This is female energy: Inclusion, wholeness, being receptive and fertile to be in synergy with the male power. In balance, to provide abundance. Female power alone cannot sustain, as it needs the male power to come to fruition. But neither can the male power exist alone, for it lacks the ability to sustain. That, then, is the aim, to bring our energies into balance. That is to recognize the nvwati (Cherokee), the good medicine in all things.In Native way the world outside reflects the world inside. They are one. But we don't try to manipulate the world to create inner states. That’s backwards, male thinking: Doing to achieve, rather than achieving to do. We achieve an inner state and it reflects in the world, ever outward into The Sacred Hoop of Life where it’s reflected back to us as part of The Sacred Hoop of Life.The Great Secret is that we always carry The Sacred Hoop of Life within us all the time. It is up to us to use it, keep it whole.This is reflected in The Medicine Wheel, which incorporates male (straight line) and female (circular) energies as one.If you look at the Medicine Wheel, it is first a set of lines. To create one outside yourself, put a rock in the middle, then a rock in a straight line outward in each direction: One to the East, one to the South, one to the West, and one to the North. It describes a straight-line equal cross.This is the male energy. Each direction has a power, and each direction has a color associated. Different tribes used different colors, reflecting where they were. But we use the colors red, yellow, black and white here to reflect that we are all members of the five-fingered tribe, one people of many hues, one humanity.The colors and directions are:

Now that you see the powers of the directions, notice that it actually is a circle. You could place stones outward from the center indefinitely, and it would be a stone circle, which is what the lodges of the Hopi and the ancient Celts used as sanctuaries for healing ceremonies and prayer time.Each of these lesser lines has a power, too. Different tribes have different associations with different medicine wheels that describe a purpose or meditation. But for our purposes, we’ll stick with the simple one. It is one stone in the middle, one at each direction: East, south, west, and north. There actually are six directions, counting above and below (a three-dimensional Medicine Wheel, extending in a perfect circle, however large or small you make it, as an altar on a desk top to a circle on the ground). It has great power.Whoever we are, wherever we are, we are important instruments of the Creator in doing this duty, giving prayers in The Medicine Wheel.It is the soul connection that resides within each of us, the "true" path we walk, that knows no time or place. For we carry it from lifetime to lifetime like underwater divers, their air hoses connecting them to above.Our "diving suits" into this 3-D world, our bodies, are removable, and interchangeable. The real "source" of life and the provider of all we have here in this world is not here in this world. But we are connected to it permanently. We only think we live here in these skins and that our surroundings are "real." They are a dream. Admittedly, sometimes, a bad one. We each add to this dream with our consciousness, moment by moment.We are each and all "minute." But the "saving grace" is that we each have the power of the Creator within each and every one of us, which is greater than all. That is the power we access in giving our prayers. And that is the power we use to change our Dream of the World to bring balance to it. Balance is at the heart of the Flow of Creation.We offer ourselves, our sensibilities, in humbleness, knowing we are small and weak and can do little on our own, so that the Creator can take our gift, our individual light, and let it magnify the healing gift of divine compassion. That is the "power." The power of Creator, that gift of love Creator gives each and every one of us that makes us at once humble, human, fallible and divine.So, your prayers are precious. Each of our prayers is much greater than us.Every single one of us has all of Creation within us. Every single one of us has God living inside. Every single one of us is greater than any "thing" we might see around us. That is our reason for being here - to reflect our world as children of The Earthly Mother and Heavenly Father. Our bodies are of the Earth, we come from her, the elements in them are hers, the signature of our flesh and bones are hers. But our souls, our animus, our spark of life and great healing capacity belong to the Creator and are our birthright, as children of Earth and Sky.When you give your prayers to bring balance to the Earth, balance to yourself, balance to all, you do not have to do it in concert with others. It may "feel better" for us to pray with a group, all at once, at the same time. There is a sense of community and belonging to synchronize our prayers, to become a "worldwide" prayer movement, for example. And that is good. There is nothing wrong with feeling good or having the feeling that our prayers matter when joined with others. And they do. They do have power. Tremendous power.

But never discount the power of your prayers - your individual opening and allowing of Creator’s light to flow as your God-given consciousness guides you to do. You are heaven. You are Earth. You are One with the Creator. And your prayers are heard.So, how do we do this?We do it by bringing balance to ourselves and by performing ceremonies to extend that balance to all our relations, those around us, in physical and spiritual form.In this way, by being "one" within ourselves to the outside world, the world becomes "one" as far as all those who seek balance in the world can achieve it.As Dhyani Ywahoo, a Cherokee (Tsalagi) teacher explains in her book, "Voices of the Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire" (rather prophetically given the December 26 tsunami): "Through prayer and ritual the stability of the physical form is maintained. In this time, right action is being called forth from all, to renew The Sacred Hoop. As sacred ceremonies are kept, dances danced, the lunar and solar currents within the individual clearly resonate with the lunar and solar energies of the planet. As individuals maintain attitudes of alienation and ideas of domination over the natural order of things and over one another, there occurs an obstruction of the flow among the individual, the group, and the electromagnetic current of the Earth, thereby disturbing the flow of the wind and the lightning, which brings life-giving rain and germination properties to the seed. Hence, each one is called to make a choice: with the stream or not. No equivocation."The Procedure:

Start with five rocks, putting one at each of the four directions: East, south, west, north. The fifth rock is in the center. You might want to put a special one there, perhaps a healing stone, like rose quartz or turquoise. Or you might want to put a figure there, like Quan Yin, Mother Mary, etc., if you desire. The center stone is actually you, your soul, heart connection, authentic self, as well as the representation of above and below (Heavenly Father/Earthly Mother). You are the center of this universe.Burn sage or cedar or incense to clear the area, remove impurities.Start in the east (facing west), welcoming the energies of dawn – seeing with new eyes, shedding preconceived emotions or thoughts, allowing new energies to pour in. This refreshes you and orients you. Drum or sing or pray, as you will do with each direction, directing your prayers toward Creator and your guides and angels, the good spirits, to carry your open heart love to where it is needed.When it is time to move, sit in the South (facing north), the place of healing, the midday sun, vigorous growth. Allow that energy to come into the Sacred Circle and send that powerful energy of healing and vitality to those who need it.When done, move to the West (facing East) and feel the inner light grow within you as the Western Gate honors the setting sun, the time of darkness, when we go within. Allow that inner light, divine light that is the co-creator in you to go where it is needed, proving inner illumination for those in darkest times.Finally, in the north, feel the white light of the Creator, Higher Power, ancestors, divine wisdom entering the circle, guiding and directing you and your prayers as to where they need to go. Let the eagle of the north carry your heart-felt wishes. For the eagle travels far, sees far, knows the way ahead, the path that is needed.Note that the circle is a three dimensional one. It is above and below as equally as it is around the four points (and all points between those points to make the circle). It is the Earth. It is the universe. And you are the center point. You are speaking, seeing, feeling you as you speak, see and feel you - talking, singing and drumming with the Creator who is your co-creator with this world. You are one. Allow it, accept it, acknowledge it, be grateful. This is the world we live in. We are meant to be here.This is a rudimentary description, but it works to give a nice framework.And what do you feel or do when you do this? That’s up to you. But I’ll give an example from ceremonies I performed in the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami, offering healing love and light to the lost souls so they could orient themselves toward the light of the afterlife, and for those left behind, suffering and in pain. Note that you do not need to be wordy or somber or structured in your prayers. Allow Creator to guide you, being open to whatever gifts of Spirit are offered for you to share.When I was doing the ceremony in the south, I read aloud a note about an orphanage that had been swept away by the tsunami, taking all 170 souls. It brought tears to my eyes, and my heart had a large, aching, empty space for those children, grieving for them and all the little ones who are suffering.I went into that "space" and let the grief and sorrow wash over and well up within me so that my heart filled with compassion for the suffering, my eyes streaming tears, my voice incoherent with sadness, knowing that we are all children in the sight of the Creator, each one of us, and all suffer as one when any suffer. We are one. All humanity.As I was filled with this pain and loss, I remembered how beautiful the laughter of a child is. The image came before me: A laughing child, filled with delight, emanating happiness. This was the gift of the south, its power. It was a golden vision of beauty. It came spontaneously, to fill the lack. And in this, I completely immersed myself.You know, children don’t laugh with their voices like adults, they laugh with their whole bodies. They wiggle all over with joy. Their spirits cannot contain the gladness, nor can their bodies, which vibrate to the awesome power of the Creator’s joy when they find delight. And they do so often, at virtually any and every thing, because the little ones are still close to the Source.I remembered my little boy when he was like that. How he would laugh so much he would put out great heat, his little body getting sweaty with laughter! And I remembered stroking his hair, smelling its scent, the scent of laughter, and my heart filled with love for this divine being that was my child. Such a gift from God! Such are all children!And that was my prayer. That all the children of the Earth, all the children who were swept away, all the children now hungry or cold or fearful, in shock or grieving at the loss of home and loved ones would feel the mighty power of the Creator's love as expressed through the musically loud, sweaty, unrestrained, wiggling love that only a child can truly experience!In the place of that empty, grieving space in my heart, I sent the love I felt, and feel, and know resides in every child, even an old 52-year-old one like me. And I laughed out loud. For that golden light of love can fill and illuminate any void, dispel any darkness, and overflow any earthly receptacle. It came to me: Let the love of God as by a child’s voice in laughter fill the universe and all hearts with gladness to be alive, no matter how deep the darkness or grave the surroundings. And I raised my hands to send it on its way, waving my prayer fan to gently waft this power around the whole world of the Medicine Wheel before me, emanating from its heart.When we send our prayers this way, it is not our love that fills the universe. It is the Creator’s love. By tapping this love within us and sending it out, freely giving it without attachment, only so that our hearts are open to share whatever we may give to any and all who need it, it resonates with The Great Mind, the Heart of God. It is like plucking a string on a violin that causes the great symphony of the Flow of Creation to reverberate and be magnified by the many strings of others’ hearts who hear and feel the vibration sent out, however seemingly small.When we are in the Medicine Wheel, we are the universe. We are the world. We are all people. And as co-creators with Creator, we are the Creator. For our highest vibrations are attuned to the great symphony. With only one string plucked, the strand of love in our hearts, we act as a tuning fork for all Creation with the vibration resonating here in the hologram that is our universe.Know that this is true. And you can do this. You are an instrument of God. Let the Creator and your highest guides and angels, your power animals, and the great goddesses of the Earth instruct you through your intuition. Let the leaning of your heart guide you in which strings to pluck and how to attune them. The repository of all knowledge is within you, waiting to be tapped.Your inherent wisdom is of all ages. I know no more than you. But I know that we each have this potential for Creation within each one of us, as surely as the divine spark of the Creator resides within each one of us. We are each the living potential of an idea in the Mind of The Creator. And we share that body of knowledge, that light, that knowing, waiting in potential, within us.See the light, feel it, become it. Open your heart, and the Creator will do the rest. We are one Sacred Circle in one Hoop of Life. No point in that circle is any "better" or "less" than any other. Each point in the circle holds the circle together. Each point is essential and we all are one. Know it. It is true.We are all related.mitakuye oyasin, gus dii dada dv niAho.© Jim Ewing, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

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