These are as follows Sapa, Luta, Gi, and Okaga Ska. The wheels followed a basic pattern-a stone center surrounded by an outer ring of stones with lines of rocks, or “spokes,” radiating from the center. Traditional medicine wheels, like the one at Bighorn, were stone structures constructed by Native Americans for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. The term “medicine wheel” was first coined by white men in the late 1800’s in reference to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. These are the forces that confronted the people who came here, ages ago, to build a place of ceremony and worship.” -Bighorn National Forest Streaks of jagged lightning, deafening thunder, and wind scream past the rocky embattlements. Sleet, rain, and snowstorms are common here, even in July. Lying atop Medicine Mountain at nearly 10,000 feet, the weather here is as wild as the towering crags and sheer cliffs that define the mountain. “It is perhaps the location of the Medicine Wheel that contributes so powerfully to a feeling of sacredness and agedness. The markings of the wheel align with solstice sunrise and sunset and the rising locations of the three brightest starsPhoto: Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Is a national historical landmark and considered a sacred site by local Indians and New Age practitioners. The ancient Bighorn Medicine Wheel, located in Bighorn National Forest near Sheridan, WY,
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According to Lakota legend: “ Good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn.”Īlso represented by the circle is the Medicine Wheel, an ancient and powerful symbol of the never-ending cycle of life, used by Native Americans for various spiritual and ritual purposes. Labyrinth mandalas have been used by Native Americans to represent birth, death, rebirth, and/or the transition from one world to the next.ĭreamcatchers, fashioned by tying sinew in a web around a circular frame of willow, were hung at the bedside to protect children from nightmares. It represents the sun, the moon, the cycles of the seasons, and the cycle of life to death to rebirth. The circle has always been an important symbol to the Native American. Our tipis were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children. The life of a man is a circle from childhood-to-childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.
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The moon does the same and both are round. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.Įverything the power of the world does is done in a circle.The sky is round, and I have heard that the Earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. “Love settles within the circle, embracing it and thereby lasting forever, turning within itself.” -Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux