?? The Medicine Wheel ??

Hello, my friends!

Today's share follows from yesterday's piece, in which I discussed the Tree of Life.

Taken together, the Tree of Life and the Medicine Wheel come together to form a model of our energetic field and its natural links to the surrounding medium.

I hope you enjoy!

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“The Medicine Wheel

The Tree of Life is the fundamental channel of consciousness and Creation.

It is the underlying structure of Being, independent of context.

It is from this central channel that we learn the way of Spirit.

But life in the body is not only life of the Spirit.

It is Being, in context. Living artwork.

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We have this situation, this history, this unfolding story.

It is the context of our lives which makes this life in the body what it is.

But we do not find context on the central channel. The Tree of Life is part of you, with you wherever you go, Eternal and Unchanging.

And, just like each chakra is both a wheel, and a spiraling line of energy through the center of the wheel, so the circuit of our Being has a Tree, which we have discussed, and a wheel which spins around it.

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In the tribal perspective, the energetic circuit of this wheel is called the medicine wheel.

This circle extends horizontally from our heart center.

And this circle is the energetic template for the cycles of Creation.

Day and night; spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

This horizontal channel of power can be described by the compass points:

East, where the sun rises and the new day begins.

South, where, in the Northern hemisphere, we see the sun hit its highest point.

West, where the sun sets and we reflect upon the day gone by.

And North, where, in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun takes its rest, and the events of the past day are crystallized into the foundation of the next day.

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We see here four directions.

Four seasons.

Four periods of the day: morning, day, evening, and night.

It is from this basic cycle that we draw the image of the 4 elements.

Spring and dawn correspond with air, with thought and exploration. With the light of comprehension.

And this can be viewed as linked to the East, where the sun rises.

Day and summer correspond with fire, with the action and motion that brings change to the world.

The energy of fire, action, and change can be linked to the South.

Dusk and autumn correspond with water, with softening and merging, connecting and feeling. Reflecting.

And the energy of water can be linked with the West.

And finally, night and winter correspond with earth, with the principle of structure and crystallization, practicality and productivity.

And the elemental energy of Earth can be linked with the North.

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These elements are symbolic expressions of phases of a cycle. And everything in creation runs according to the same cyclical patterns.

These energies, although they are symbolic rather than concrete, show the themes and cycles that run through our lives.

Each is linked with a way of connecting with the context of the moment.

Do we understand, act, reflect, or build?

Human life requires all of these energies, at some point or another.

And a healthy human life comes in large part from balancing these energies, so that we can make use of all human potentials, all qualities necessary to navigate the world of Creation.

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Now, this is not just a story.

I love to teach about the subtle energies because you can actually feel these qualities and come into conscious connection with them.

You can feel them in your body!

You can feel them in your emotional space, and in the quality of your thought, and of course, directly on an energetic level.

We are surrounded by these supportive energies, embedded in these cycles of Creation.

And they are a part of our normal, healthy function.

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Remember, the mechanism of our inner work is intention and emotion.

So once you have opened up your channels (activated chakras and run the Tree) and gotten into more conscious connection with your own energy, it’s simple to expand this and connect with the network of forces around you.

Simply set the intention to honor each quarter and the energies associated with it.

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You may wish to begin with the East, where the sun rises. Honoring the light and the air and the principle of understanding and vision.

Inviting this clarity into your field.

You can then turn to the South, honoring the fire of the noonday sun, action and change.

Inviting this energy and vitality into your field.

Then, to the West, where the sun sets and we reflect upon our day.

Inviting into your field the water energy, the principle of softening, merging, connecting.

And finally to the North, honoring the principle of structure, practicality, and productivity.

And then, turn once more to face the North.

When moving clockwise, we mirror the movement of the sun, and we act to concentrate the light within.

When honoring the quality of each direction, we connect with this quality consciously, bringing this vibration more fully into our field.

We qualify our energy. (We bring, with intention, emotion, and attunement, a specific quality or vibration to our field.)

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So this is the Medicine Wheel, the circle of the One, expressed as a cycle, and then divided into the four phases inherent within the cycle itself.

The medicine wheel is a basic template for all of the cycles in our lives.

By meditating upon it, you will begin to understand in depth that template of the cycle and how it is expressed in every aspect of your life.

And, by consciously connecting with it, we return to a state of full activation, energetically engaged with this moment of our experience.

Next, we will put it all together with the Seven Directions…”

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I hope you have enjoyed this piece on the medicine wheel.

If you would like to explore this further, drop a line in the comments or reach out through DM.

Thanks and blessings, beautiful Beings!