The "Medicine Wheel" is an ancient symbol of the tribal cultures in North America. It has been used countless millennia by indigenous elders to pass along what we can learn about nature, and our relationship to the many aspects of nature--including our natures within. The insights the wheel can teach us are exponential and potentially infinite.
The wheel generally represents four major aspects found in nature and illustrates how all these aspects are interconnected in the many cycles in life. Each of these four aspects are understood to have their own direction in the wheel, in the cycles of life. The position in the wheel of each aspect helps to illustrate its relationship with the other three aspects, whether adjacent or across from another aspect. These positions then illustrate the interplay of each direction and demonstrates how they all function in nature to continually move all life toward balance.
The Four Seasons Cycle[]
One of the most common teachings of the wheel is of the four seasons. The Medicine Wheel helps to illustrate the dynamic cycle of seasons throughout the year, starting with Spring in the Eastern quadrant. The Southern quadrant represents Summer. The Western quadrant represents Autumn. The Northern quadrant represents Winter.
Yellow illustrates the illumination of the morning sun, which rises in the East earlier each subsequent day throughout Spring. Besides a few specialized exceptions, the cycle always begins in the East in each of these wheels. Spring then segues into Summer, without any rigid demarcation from nature between any of the seasons. Red represents the increased warmth of Summer. Summer segues into Autumn, represented by black to illustrate the increasing darkness of night. Black also illustrates the darkness of the cave or dwelling, where one withdraws and takes a closer look at oneself. Autumn segues into Winter, represented by the white of snow, and the white of an elder's hair. The cycle renews into Spring, and continues perpetually in this predictable pattern.
This predictable pattern is applicable beyond the four obvious seasons of changing weather throughout the year. Nature permeates life with this pattern, and the other wheels help to illustrate how this cyclic pattern can illuminate our understanding of the many cycles in nature. With a better understanding of these predictable cycles we can better address all the challenging needs we experience throughout life.
The Life Cycle[]
Life begins in the East of the cycle, as an Infant. Infancy is the new life of Spring in one's lifetime. Life then segues to the Youth of South, the energetic Summer of one's lifetime. Life then leads to being an Adult in the West of this lifelong cycle, the productive harvest of Autumn in one's lifespan. In the North, Winter then sets in as one becomes an Elder, before transitioning back into Spring.
Through this cyclic paradigm, contrary to perhaps a more familiar linear worldview, life is viewed as cycling from this visible dimension onto one less visible. "Death" is the breaking of intimate connections in this lifetime between those who have "walked on" to the next dimension of life and those remaining behind in this dimension of life.
This perspective is not applied only to the lifespan of a single human, but is applicable to the lifespan of a group. Established organizations also go through these life stages, starting as infants, onto experimental youths, to settle into a productive adulthood, till becoming respected elders of their respective community. Then these organizations either die or find new life as they strategically adjust to their changing environments.
The Day Cycle[]
Another repetitive pattern of nature is the perpetual rotation of the day, from morning to midday to evening to night and onto the next morning. Note how this pattern corresponds with the four seasons throughout the year, and the life cycle.
Spring is the morning of the year, as new light arrives with new warmth. Infancy is the morning of one's lifespan. East is full of fresh beginnings, of new growth, and drawing in new energy. Here it is represented by the bright yellow of the emerging sun.
Summer is the midday of the year, when it grows the hottest. Youth is the midday of one's lifespan, albeit not actually the halfway point in a typical lifespan of today. Youth still represents the zenith of high energy, which is the cause of popular culture's infatuation with appearing young and energetic. South is full of social warmth, but even this can sometimes be too heated. Here it is represented by the burning heat of the midday sun.
Autumn is the evening of the year, as the light of the sun starts to withdraw and the air grows cool. Adulthood is the evening of one's lifespan. West can be full of abruptly changing weather, of challenges that force us to look inward and see ourselves honestly as never before. This is commonly represented by the black of darkness following the setting sun.
Winter is the midnight of the year, at the coldest point of the earth's rotation. Elder is the midnight of one's lifespan. North is not only a phase of stark coldness but a phase that brings out the best of our inner strengths and responsibilities, and even develop the wisdom that will someday be expected from one whose hair has turned white. North is commonly represented by white.
The Four Aspects of Being, et al[]
This ancient symbol also helps to realize how we exist as four integral aspects: a spiritual core, supporting an emotional depth of being, which in turn supports a mental or cognitive level of being, that is lastly exhibited in our more visible physical shell of being. This order will be useful later to explain a dimension that applies to the transspiritual experience, but by no means is the only valid representative order. Likewise, the color ascribed to each quadrant can change according to local customs, each with their valid application.
These are merely a few applications of the medicine wheel to focus upon, the ones that will help elucidate transspirituality. There is far more that can be learned from this profound tool, much more than can be developed here. If the Internet could ever get to a total capacity of a googol terabytes of memory, there would still not be enough room to contain all the wisdom that can be gleaned from this ancient symbol.