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Medicine Wheel Teachings
May 31st, 2010By Shawna Louise Snache
Recalling Our Role as Guardians of Mother Earth
The Seven Grandfather and Medicine Wheel teachings given to us by the Anishinabek Nation give us a road map or a ‘way of being’ in our lifetime. The teachings of Honesty, Respect, Love, Wisdom/knowledge, Courage/bravery, Humility and Truth teach us how to live our lives in a good and kind way and show us how to treat all living beings.
As with all teachings of the Medicine Wheel we start in the East where life begins and the sun rises, and we work our way to the South, West and finally the North. Along the way we learn about the stages of life and the responsibilities presented in each stage.
In our ceremonies we honour those teachings and those that give life. We honour the water and all of Creation. When we come in to this world we come in from the East.
As a baby the gift we bring is joy; simple yet abundant.
As a toddler in the South East, we bring the gift and the lesson of safety that our parents must provide for us. Along the wheel to the South, as children in that quadrant we become teachers and are always asking “Why?” When arranged in the Medicine Wheel diagram on paper we see that opposite the child in the South sits the Grandparents in the North, who have gathered enough life experience to answer those many ‘why’s?’ that we have as children. That is why Grandparents actively participate in the raising of the young ones, while the parents are busy providing.
After childhood we become Youth and Teens where we begin to search for Truth and in our quest for Truth we may rebel or challenge; parents, authority, teachers, elders, etc. It is here that our Teens and Youth would seek out the guidance and advice of the Elders when they are attempting to find Truth.
Next is the Young Adult stage. It is in this stage that a young person would seek to find their role in the community and work to fulfill that role, doing the work of the people.
In the Western direction we become parents and our role and responsibility now is to provide, including providing that safety to those toddlers we identified in the early stages of the Eastern direction. Parenting is supported by the Grandparents and the immediate circle of influence including Brothers and Sisters, Aunties and Uncles. Next to that influence and just as important are the Elders, Clans, Community and Nation. We learn about who we are and what we are responsible for from these influences.
After parenthood we graduate into the Northern direction where we become grandparents. Our role is to love, teach and nurture the babies, the toddlers and the children.
At the end of the journey through the Medicine Wheel and life we move into our final phase; the Elder phase. Here we share our knowledge and understanding gained over a lifetime of experience. We offer spiritual guidance and direction to those at other stages of the wheel making their way through the journey.
We acknowledge and respect all things, animate and inanimate because we understand through our teachings that spirit lives in everything the Creator made. We gain these unique understandings through the teachings, the language and the ceremonies.
In a pipe ceremony those old ones or elders that sit in the North, they hold the pipe stem vertically, acknowledging those tree’s and the teachings of Honesty. Tree spirits always grow in one direction, towards the sky. A tree will live its entire life giving us this teaching as it practises all that it knows; to live and grow honestly, always reaching towards the Creator. The pipe stem is made from the inner trunk of the tree and represents the male, while the pipe stone represents the female and that strength. We acknowledge and learn duality in all things when the pipe is assembled for ceremony and we practise respect and working together in a good way.
As we come to know and understand respect for ourselves gained through the teachings we also learn respect and appreciation for the natural world around us. When this happens we come to understand our connection to the trees and forests and the intimate relationship that exists between us. It is a delicate and intricate balance that is to be maintained along the path of the Medicine Wheel and as caretakers of the Earth it is important to remember that these teachings were part of the original instructions given to us by the Creator. It is by remembering our sacred teachings that we recall our role as care takers and guardians of Mother Earth.
