The Medicine Wheel: A Journey Of Self-Discovery

ShamanicCourses

11 Oct

The Medicine Wheel, a term coined by early American settlers, originally referred to mysterious stone circles found across the continent.

Today, its meaning has expanded, drawing inspiration from ancient cultures like the First Nations, Mayans, Celts, and Native Americans.

To these indigenous peoples, "medicine" encompassed not only herbs for healing physical, mental and emotional issues but many other forms of healing including working with our spiritual energy.

In the realm of physics, energy is seen as a constant force, neither created nor destroyed but merely transformed. Our well-being depends on maintaining a harmonious flow and connection to source energy like a river fed by the clouds and flowing to the ocean, which then evaporates to become clouds again.

The Medicine Wheel is a sacred symbol used by many Indigenous cultures, representing the cycle of life and the interconnectedness of all things. It is typically divided into four quadrants, each representing a cardinal direction and associated qualities. Creating a personal Medicine Wheel becomes a symbolic representation of oneself on all levels: physical, emotional, physical, mental and spiritual. By viewing our life’s journey with the Medicine Wheel as a map and compass, we can see more clearly from the eagles’ perspective where our energy is flowing with ease, where there may be obstacles to overcome or flow around, prompting us to course correct, and how to focus our attention in the moment for best results.

Therefore the Medicine Wheel serves as a tool for self-reflection and spiritual growth. It can help us see our lives with greater clarity, identify areas needing healing, and navigate the world we exist in with a greater sense of inner peace and outer harmony.

By getting to know our relationship with the energies of the Wheel, we come home to ourselves, we foster harmony within ourselves, our surroundings, and our relationships. It can act as a mirror that reflects our true selves, where we are strong and stuck, sometimes demanding courage to confront what we see. This is not meant to be done in a judgemental way, more as a ripening - to become the fullest, juiciest, most abundant version of ourselves. As we come home to ourselves and find our true selves, we can unlearn what the outside world has conditioned us to be and to walk our unique path, unconditionally.

Through this journey of self-discovery, we will course correct, like a ship on the ocean, we reflect on where we come from and we align with where we want to go. To get there, we will experience obstacles, and we will make ‘mistakes’ which will become learning experiences that will help us to course correct many times. The Medicine Wheel can help us to do this more easily, with eagle eyes, so we may enrich our lives as human beings, to find our path to happiness, to discover how we want to show up in the world and connect with a deeper sense of spirituality.

As Don Miguel Ruiz, A Toltec Shamanic Teacher says:

“The real mission you have in life is to make yourself happy, and in order to be happy, you have to look at what you believe, the way you judge yourself, the way you victimise yourself. Be completely honest about your happiness. Don't project a false sense of happiness by telling everyone, "Look at me. I'm a success in life, I have everything I want, I am so happy," when you don't like yourself.”