The medicine wheels in North America are circular stone structures, some of which are estimated to be several thousand years old. Their purpose is unknown, but it is believed that they had ceremonial significance.

The medicine wheels commonly used in New Age circles today are also said to originate from Native American traditions. However, they bear little resemblance to these archaeological structures and only became widely known in the 1970s, primarily through Hyemeyohsts Storm and Sun Bear.

It is therefore debatable whether the use of the term “medicine wheel” constitutes cultural appropriation or not. On the one hand, out of respect for the actual traditions, I would prefer to avoid the term and use “circle of life” instead, for example. On the other hand, the term medicine wheel has become established, and somehow it is more practical than “circle of life.”

Be that as it may, the fact remains that the circle or wheel represents a universally valid structure for humans. The image of the four-spoked or eight-spoked wheel with intermediate directions can be found in many cultures, including Buddhism. Its universality stems from human anatomy itself: the observer at the center, surrounded by the circle that can be described by the arms, and the directions that are given to us: front, back, right, left, top, bottom – and inside.

The medicine wheel is a map. It can be used to relate the elements and components of nature and life to each other, to the whole, and to the observer. It contains everything. And because this is so, we can find answers in it, answers to questions that arise in life.

First, it symbolizes the seasons and then also the times of day, not linearly, but in the cycle of life. Our European ancestors – and not just “primitive peoples” – also lived much more in and with the cycle of nature than we do now in Western civilization. The seasonal festivals are based on this cycle, making it tangible.

Actually, the medicine wheel is more of a spiral than a circle. Life repeats itself in the same cycles, but never exactly the same. Sunrises are the same every day and yet different every time. A plant does not have exactly the same flowers every year. A tree grows. A child is constantly learning; its little brother or sister will go through the same stages of development, but will still be completely different. The spiral is the three-dimensional version of the circle of life.

And in this circle, on this wheel of life, we can wander: from conception to birth, childhood, youth, adulthood, death, and the transition to another form of existence. Just as childhood is characterized by different feelings and activities than adult life, the different levels of human existence are also found at different points in the circle of life: body, emotions, mind, and spirit. These levels of human existence, in turn, find their counterparts in the elements and their properties: earth, water, air, and fire.

The assignment of the elements to the cardinal directions is somewhat arbitrary. A map also depicts reality, but only certain aspects of that reality, and the way it is read is based on an agreement: the legend. With this legend, the map works exactly as it should – but under one condition: I can only find the way if I actually set out on the journey. The same applies to the medicine wheel.

In any case, all qualities – seasons, phases of life, planes of existence, elements – can be felt in the wheel. We feel good or less good in a certain place, full of energy or powerless, and perhaps exactly the opposite in another place in the wheel. We may feel resistance, even the impossibility of moving on to the next position. It might pull us in a certain direction, showing us what is currently missing in our lives or what we feel particularly comfortable with. When we enter the circle with our question, with the intention of finding an answer, we cross a threshold into a sacred space. That is why we find the answer to the question we have asked ourselves. Just as in a vision quest, we are only partially in the everyday world; part of us has made more intense contact with All-That-Is, and accordingly, everything we perceive can be part of the answer we are seeking.

Our intention is an indispensable prerequisite for this. It is what makes the circle that sacred space.

(Winter 2021/2022)