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In many Native American cultures, there is a vital representative of
life
known as the "Medicine Wheel". This circular pattern, no matter how
portrayed, represents the every aspect of life. Usually this consists
of the 7 directions: west, north, east, south, sky/heavens, earth, and
inner self. In this particular medicine wheel, it shows how all 7 directions intertwine with each other. I have only a little knowledge of two cultures, the Sioux and the
Cherokee. However, my Cherokee knowledge does surpass my knowledge of the Sioux, therefore I will give only a very brief explanation of the Sioux's medicine wheel. After that I will be using only the Cherokee way of thinking.
And please be advised here, I will represent this in the Indian
way of thinking. But I will also add scripture from time to time to back up what the Cherokees believe. So if you are offended to either or both, then please don't continue. You may be disappointed to see that the Cherokee or Sioux way of belief and the Bible are quite compatible.
The Sioux Way of Life
First I will present the Sioux reference in the four directions. They start with the west, then continue clockwise to the south, then add the Father Sky, Mother Earth, and the inner self. The west is represented with the black, where the Thunder Beings (black) reside. This is from where the rains come, a necessity to life existing on Mother Earth. The north is the place of rest, from where the snow (white) comes,
giving Mother Earth a rest. Next is the east, from where the sun
(yellow)rises, a new awakening, a better understanding. And south is where the journey is completed, the spiritual (red) aspect, life after death. From here we continue our journey on.
The Father Sky, the heavens is represented by the color blue. This is where the Great Spirit resides. In the skies are the stars and the comets, and other wondrous signs that shout that only the Creator could have created the whole universe, making it work in harmony and unity. And it is towards this direction our prayers are directed. Mother Earth, represented by the color green, is what feeds us, nourishes us. The Father Sky rains on Mother Earth and produces plants for animals to eat, in which turn we have the honor to gather both for our ourishment. And then you have the spotted eagle that represents the part of Grandfather, the Great Spirit, has placed within us, to guide us and direct us adhering to His will.
The Cherokee Way of Life
The Cherokee, as you will see, are very close to the Sioux. A few colors are changed, but all in all, the direction represents almost the same. First I will give a brief description as I
did for the Sioux. Then I will give a much more detailed aspect of what each direction represent, especially the Four cardinal
directions.
To start the life cycle is the south, white, purity, natural things born into innocence. And the west, black, represents the physical growth of all things. North is blue, as the blue-white of the snow, where it is time to allow our minds to grow and put aside our physical, allowing it rest. Eastward is red from where the sun rises, which represents the spiritual aspects, completion of the total aspect of a full balanced human life.
The sky, the heavens, are represented by the color yellow (happiness in Cherokee), while the earth is represented by the color brown, representative of ever-changing world and the Sacred Fire that resides in us is green. Once the circle is completed by the spiritual aspect, then the journey starts again as pure, forgiven, fresh in the south and then we continue on through the circle of life enduring to, yet never completely reaching, perfection in a balanced life. And in all this,
the heavens, the earth, and the Sacred Fire all intertwine with every area of our life as we are striving for harmony with all creation.
The South - Uganowv
To start with a more in-depth study of the Cherokee, we need to
carefully study every direction represented in the seven directions. I will start with the south as this is the start of every natural life. When we are born, we are born pure, innocent, unaffected by the influences, bad and good, of life. Thus the color white, without blot or blemish. This part represents every creation, not only man. All of nature
resides in this area. And this is the area that shows how we should treat nature, all creation, with respect and complete brotherhood.
This is the direction we, our spiritual beings born into the flesh. Knowing this, children should be treated with respect, protected and nurtured in the knowledge that it is the children that are closest to knowing the will and ways of the Father. Biblically, Jesus said in Matthew 18 that unless we become as little children, we will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. And if anyone should cause a child to do wrong, they would be better off if they had drowned themselves at that very moment! And again later in the next chapter He says that the kingdom of heaven belong to children, so don't hinder them!
Therefore, this agrees with the Cherokee belief that we are born in innocence and purity at the closest time of our earthly lives to the Father as we have ever been. Children are to be treated with the greatest of respect. And yet it is still our responsibility to teach our children the "rules" of this world, but without beating down their God-given spirit. It is true that each of us are born individuals and that each of us have our own will. And it is up to the parents to help guide this child in this "new" world they've entered in to make their
own decisions, yet be open to the Creator's will and purpose for
putting us here and not teach them the wrong ways of the world.
And here I must note, we should teach our children there
such a thing as "right and wrong" according to God, the
Father and His teachings. And this is not only Biblical, but
historically lived. (If you are interested, you can visit my page for the every day Cherokee way of living the right way at living life.)
The West - Wudeligv
It seems that most culture have the west as being represented as the color black. Black is because of the early teachings of the darkened land. This is where the sun sets.
The west represents our physical life. Our bodies, our
competitive urges, the things that become sacred in our lives, and absolutely our "helping others" in every physical means. This should be thought of as our "teenage" or adolescent years in life. This is where we are growing up after discovering the "ways" of the world and trying to become a part of it. And if I may, this is where most of us focus on our physical fitness of our bodies. Also, beauty and ugliness of the physical "skin-deep" theories are gathered in by us as individuals. If we aren't taught correctly before and during this stage in life, these bad things will enter in and have more of an impact on that could disrupt the harmony needed to live a balanced life.
Yet at the same time, the west brings out our competitive nature which is good for us as individuals. It brings on humility in the areas where we don’t excel in, and in reverse, give us a little ego boost where our strengths are. Through this, with an appropriately developed mind, we will learn where to apply ourselves, how best to put ourselves forward in a way that will produce the best results and know what to avoid. For example, not wasting our abilities on a wrong "career" that
becomes fruitless and miserable because though we may have wanted to do "this", but through a well-balanced learning and knowing who we are and applying our God-given talent where it was to be put in the first place, we can ultimately focus our physical abilities on where they are best applied,
thus being better balanced within ourselves.
At and the same time maintaining a well-balanced nature of life,
keeping what we learned/knew from the south in purity, as a child in mind and growing upon that.
The North - Uhyvdlv
The north, represented by the wonderful relaxing bluish colors of the snow while Mother Earth rests, brings us to the area/time of our lives where we should start developing our mentality, our knowledge, and start leaving behind the physical desires. These are our adult years. And this is where wisdom first begins, though not in completeness, and actually not even touching any more than the surface! This is where we begin to learn and apply what we have learned and then begin to share our lessons in life with others, teaching them our own lessons in life to help them with their paths. This is where we first become "relaxed" with ourselves, to stop chasing obscure things, to begin to realize what our true purpose in life is to be and start applying it to our lives.
It is at this time of life, you should give your body a rest, yet
remembering there is still a balance to maintain, but here you should focus on developing your mind with as much enthusiasm as you did your mind over matter." But you mustfirst develop your mind enough to know what you can and cannot control. There is so much more to learn in this world besides how to always be
on top, how to look and perform our best according to others'
expectations, and other such trivial ideas.
We must learn in this particular time of our life how to balance the natural, physical and mental point in our own life and still yet start building on the next cycle, the spiritual. And the mental part is essential, just as physical health learned in the west, and the purity learned in the south. And all this is still in unity with the spiritual aspect of ourselves. This is where we learn to think and reason for ourselves, not depending on others to tell us how "this is" and how "that was", but to see it for ourselves and learn our own lessons from what "we" have seen. Of course, we are to learn from our elders and these lessons should always be kept close to our hearts and taken from, but we need to exercise our own minds, learning how to think for ourselves, in case of situations in which we have no one to give us help through the problems. And to learn how to focus on the Creator to give us answers.
The East - Kalvgv
The east is of course where the sun rises, and associated with fire, represented by red. It represents the spiritual aspect of our circular path. (And I always love to point out that this is also the direction that Jesus said He would return to the Earth.) However, this is not to be confused with the "Sacred Fire" that I will get to later. The east actually refers to our "spirit" and the growth of our personal spirit. It is believed to be the direction from which our spirit first enters into this world to be joined with our fleshly bodies.
Now the Cherokee start their prayers of a morning facing east, in this way acknowledging our spiritual direction and the “Morning Star” from where could be gathered wisdom. But if the prayer time is more indepth than the morning prayer of thanks, then they would turn and face each direction praying for whatever guidance/strength they need. There are traditions that include immersing one’s self in water (many times on a daily basis), but I will not get into detail here. When the Cherokee’s prayed, they felt they needed to rid themselves of uncleanness that could keep the Creator from hearing them or working with them and this is the importance of water. Even though the “answer” might be right there in front of them, their eyes could be blinded to the fact. Now water was used as a representation of getting rid of filth, just like the baptism ritual today. And all this is backed up with scriptures in the Bible.
Father Sky - Galvlohi
From the heavens can be seen the glory of God’s creation. It is also from the sky that rain comes to cause things to grow on Mother Earth and provides us warmth. And it is from this all of nature is able to prosper and be nourished. The sky is represented by the color yellow, as in the sun. It represents happiness/peace and also is the abode of the Above Beings in which the ancient Cherokee believed there were three. And the sky envelops the world in full, surrounding it on all sides and even reaching to the ground.
Mother Earth - Elohi
The earth is represented by the color brown, the color of the ground. Another term used meaning below is hawinaditlv. It is of the earth all of the creation are made from. And it is of the earth from where we find our life-sustaining needs, especially the plants and animals. The plants are here to provide medicine, shelter and food. The animals provide food, shelter, companionship and many other daily provisions. Before we take of any life from another whose purpose it is to provide themselves for us, we should always ask their permission and then thank them properly for their giving up of their life. This is only proper manners, sincere respect, not worshipping as some have believed. And when searching for herbs, plants, or other like things, one should leave the first 4 to 7 they find according to availability. This is a way of “tithing” and a way of making sure you are not going to take the last of a kind.
The Sacred Fire/Center - Ahani
This is where the part of God has set His Spirit in us, to “attach” us with Him. This is represented by the color green which to the Cherokee green is the same word for "a new thing/kind". This is how the Creator talks to us. I find it compares very well to the Christian theory of the His Spirit living within us. The Bible does over and over again talk about the fire of God. And when the Holy Spirit was seen over the heads of the believers in Acts, He was seen as tongues of fire.
This Sacred Fire resides in us teaching us through our conscience, leading us away from wrong, into the right. Many times, we must stop and listen in a quiet place, preferably in the middle of nature, being as one with the Creator’s work. When we stop, then we can hear His voice much better. We should listen to His voice. The Sacred Fire touches every part of our lives, every part of the circle of life. And this is why the Sacred Fire that burns in the Cherokee lands should not be allowed to go out. It is representative of God and His Fire. And it is believed that the original Sacred Fire was given to us by Jesus when He visited our lands.
And from here, we continue on the circle of life, starting again in the south, working with the natural/pure, the physical, the mental, the spirital, bringing them all together in harmony, understanding each of them and always being influenced by the Sky, Earth, and the Sacred Fire that resides in each of us.
