Working with the Medicine Wheel Concept

copyright © Leo Sawicki

Long before written language people of Earth used objects found in nature as methods of communication. Stone formations, including petroforms and petroglyphs, were a symbolic language. From tribes in the Old Testament to Celtics, Druids and North American Indians, all used round circles of stones to impart teachings or knowledge.

My interest in medicine wheels came about in the 1980’s as a result of a dream. I had came in contact with Sun Bear’s teachings and books like American Indian Ceremonies by Medicine Hawk and Grey Owl, Dancing with the Wheel by Wabun Wind and Crysalis Mulligan, and Wisdom of the Elders by P. Knudtson & D. Suzuki. I was fascinated and set about learning as much as I could as a personal wheel evolved. Twenty-four Crystals for the wheel came from collectors, friends and children.

As I was working with the medcine wheel concept as a means of achieving balance, Ken Horseman with Health Canada, suggested I contact his people in Alberta who were working with simliar information. A meeting was arranged. The night before travelling to meet in Calgary sleep would not come. Just before sun rise as I was drifting off three flashes of lighting appeared in my mind’s eye followed by three quick images. The first was hundreds of twinkling lights, the second was mountains and the third was a single tree.

Catching an hours sleep and making an early morning flight to Calgary I had little time to process the visions. Later that evening in Calgary as I prepared for the meeting and looked out over the city I saw an ocean of twinkling lights. I glanced up and the mountains in the background came into view. At that precise moment a knock came to the door. As I opened the door there was a person holding out a blue book with the picture of a single tree on the cover. For me, it was a sign I was on the right path.

I had been working with children and the Medicine Wheel Concept when I was invited to do a presentation for the Brotherhood inside Stoney Mountain Penitentiary. I shared my understanding of the Medicine of the Wheel found in the placement of the stones and the lessons learned along the way. After the presentation the Brothers asked for something in writing they could take back to their cells. The Spiritual Elder and Native Liaison met with other Elders to discuss the Brothers request for information on paper and agreed it was time to develop a program that could be easily facilitated and that was self-learning. Their blessing took me on a four year journey as the Balanced Lifestyle Program based on the Medicine Wheel Concept evolved.

The idea of integrating program material combining right brain left brain learning was fueled by Saskatchewan Federal Correctional Education Program Director, Bill Rooksby, who saw how a correlation between the medicine of the wheel and cognitive mobility (or learning to learn) would work from an educational approach.

Bill Rooksby suggested contact with John Marshall of New Choices of America, Drug Free Living, whose successful Driving Under the Influence (DUI) programs were based in whole brain learning. A meeting was arranged in Phoenix, Arizona to sit in on delivery of classes and view material approach in the context of combining linear thought, i.e. lists, logic and reason with creative approach to teaching methods used in right brain whole brain learning styles, i.e. symbols, visualization and cultural content.

As I entered the lodges to seek the teachings of the medicine wheel and travelled with Medicine People in Manitoba and Ontario synchronicity kicked into high gear.

In 1991 I met Sid Fiddler in Winnipeg at a Child and Family Conference. He and Joan Sanderson had just completed a study on the medicine wheel concept entitled Medicine Wheel Concept from the World View of the Plains and Parkland Cree Culture which provided well researched material indicating 67 existing medicine wheel structures known to the northern plains cultures. He forwarded the study which shared many perspectives of the sacred circle including: a reflection of all that is, a way of connecting to the universe, a metaphor to contemplate the deeper meaning of life, and a way to remain in balance and harmony with all that is.

Information kept filtering in. In an article in Canadian Geographic on Sacred Circles and Prairie Medicine Wheels, according to Reg Crowshoe the Blackfoot “had a sacred duty to balance the real world with the Spirit world in everyday life”. Their extended use of stones in daily life reflects a spiritual continuity that dates back thousands of years.

In further research I came in contact Dr. David Voght, Director of Science World in Vancouver who had done his thesis on medicine wheels. Dr. Voght too shared his research. According to his study medicine wheels made of stones or large boulders in circular arrangements date back to 3200 BC and are are mostly located in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan with smaller sites in Montana and Wyoming.

A common theme indicated medicine wheels were used as ceremonial centres that recognized a connection with all states of being within the circle of life and the universe.
In his thesis on Medicine Wheel Astronomy Vogt stated that medicine wheels, amongst other ideas, may include: Burial or commemorative monument, connection to Sun Dance structures, vision quest structure, petroform art, traveler’s signpost, and as astronomical observatories aligned for observation of horizon-based rising and setting of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars. He went on to say that they were created, modified and used by different peoples for different reasons.

I was amazed at the limitless applications as a teaching model and when the Balanced Lifestyle program based on the Medicine Wheel Concept was developed arrangements where made to meet with Dr. Vogt in Vancouver. As it turned out, two of the four people in attendance were involved in a 45 minute documentary entitled The Medicine Wheel by Coyote Production in Vancouver.

The point of the story is that the path was clear and many people were working with the medicine wheel concept for the good of all.