Pro2

I invite you to cast aside your preconceptions and enter a magical world
where all things area connected to you, and you are connected to all things.
This magical world consists of the very real and beautiful earth that is always
around you and all your relations on her.
I invite you to open your eyes, your ears, your minds and your hearts, and to
see the magic that is always there. Today we tend to see the earth as a
stable backdrop for all of the affairs of humankind. We see the minerals, the
plants and the animals as servants of man. We have forgotten that they can
be our teachers as well; that they can open us to ideas and emotions that
have been blocked from the human heart for too long a time.
We have forgotten that we are connected to all of our relations on the earth,
not just our human family. We have forgotten that we have responsibilities to
all these relations, just as we have them to our human families. We have
imprisoned ourselves in tight little worlds of man-made creations.
We have forgotten how to hear the stories and songs that the winds can
bring to us. We have forgotten to listen to the wisdom of the rocks that have
been here since the beginning of time. We have forgotten how the water
refreshes and renews us.
We have lost the ability to listen to the plants as they tell us which ones of
them we should eat to live well. We have lost the ability to listen to the
animals as they give us their gifts of learning, laughter, love and food. We
have cut ourselves off from all of these relations, and then we wonder how
we can so often be bored and lonely.
The Medicine Wheel is a magic circle that encompasses all of that world. As
you journey around it, you will find wonders both within and without. With
tenacity you will even discover the wonder of knowing about yourself: who
you are, what you know and what you can do in this lifetime.

The Native people knew about this magic circle. They respected it and used
it often in their everyday lives so they would always remember all of the
things that they had learned. When they built their homes, most often these
were circles, whether they were tipis, wigwams or hogans. When they went
to purify their bodies and their minds, they did so in the circle of the sweat
bath, a cleansing lodge which represented the womb of the human mother
from whom they came, and the womb of the Earth Mother, who sustained
them throughout their lives. When they came together in council, they sat in
a circle, so that everyone was included, as an equal, with an equal voice.
When they made music, they made it upon a round drum. They danced in a
circle. The beat of the drum represented the beat of their hearts and the
beat of the Earth Mother. They raised their arms and legs toward the
heavens, and then placed them upon the earth, creating a circle that
extended from the earth to the sky and back to the earth, with their bodies
as the transmitters.
They saw life as a circle, from birth to death to rebirth. They knew how to
acknowledge and celebrate the circles of their own lives so that they were
able to flow and change with the changing energies that came with different
ages. They knew that they, like the seasons, passed through several
phases as the circle of life and time passed around them. They knew that to
fall out of this circle was to fall out of rhythm with life and to cease to grow.
The circle was so important to them, so essential to life continuing in the
ways that it should, that they immortalized this figure in their ceremonies and
structures. The mounds of the mound-building culture were round. The
calendars of the Aztecs were round, and the medicine wheels of stone were
round. In everything they reminded themselves that the earth and
everything on her were part of the magic circle of life.
To remind yourself now of this circle, remember that your are always
traveling around it. You enter the circle at one point, and the entrance gives
you certain powers, gifts and responsibilities. Your starting point is
determined by the moon or month under which you were born. Different
starting points are governed by different elemental clans which tell you the
element to which you are attached. This clan has nothing to do with the
clans of kinship that existed in most tribes. Those were determined by the
clans of one’s parents, and they, in turn, could govern the earthbound
responsibilities one would have, as weel as those one could marry. The
elemental clans determine your relationship to the elements solely, and, like
all of the other points on the Medicine Wheel, these are not static. The
starting points are also governed by the Spirit Keeper of their direction.
It was essential for people in the old days to live their lives in such a way that
they would continuously be journeying around the wheel. This is equally
essential now. To stay with only one moon, one totem, one element, is to
become static. To become static is to cease to grow, to cease to know that
one has a connection with all of the wheel. It is equivalent to stopping the
flow of the life force through your being.
As you pass around the wheel, you have the responsibility of learning about
the different moons, totems, plants and elements through which you pass.
By this learning you keep your own life in constant change, you keep the life
force beating within your heart.
The essence of the Medicine Wheel is movement and change. Through this
knowledge, people attempt to allow themselves as much room for change in
any one life as they can handle. They wish to progress around the wheel
and experience as many manifestations of human nature as possible. They
know that they contain all of these manifestations within themselves, but they
have to place themselves in various positions and experiences in order to
feel them. They do not use their starting position as an excuse for behavior
that is not as strong and clear as it could be. Rather, when experiencing
such behavior, they will try to move themselves to anther position where they
can feel the strength necessary to wash away the weakness. Sometimes
this strength will come from feeling human emotions or thinking human
thoughts. Other times it will come from observing an animal, as it goes
about its life, and seeing what strengths are within that animal. Or it can
come from observing a rock, a plant, or listening to the song of the winds or
the heartbeat of the earth.
We can all live in this way if we choose to allow ourselves to do so. It is only
the arrogance of our minds, or ego, that tells us we are alone in an alien and
hostile universe. It is only the pride of our intelligence that tells us we are
the most important part of that universe. It is only our fear that makes us
feel unloved and alone.
If we open our hearts, the light of the love and unity that created the
universe can shine in and illuminate the flat and arid landscape in which we
sometimes choose to live. If we start traveling the magic circle, our hearts
will naturally begin to open wider as we learn to experience this life we have
been given in all of its beautiful aspects.

Sun Bear and Wabun
The Medicine Wheel: Earth Astrology
Fireside Publishing
New York
1980