Dancing with the medicine wheel
by Teresa "Tia Terre" (April 28, 2006)


The medicine wheel is made up of 36 stones. Each stone that forms the wheel has a tool to help you understand your ties to the Universal Truth, God, Goddess, Great Spirit, the Big Picture, the I Am that I Am, or whatever you call your higher power.

At the center of the wheel you'll find the Creator stone, representing all life. This stone is the hub of the wheel, the position that teaches you about your own sacredness and your ability to develop to your fullest.

Seven stones form the center circle around the Creator stone. The first stone of the center circle represents Earth Mother. This is the position that teaches you about the nurturing female energy within you and Earth herself. Go here to find solace when you feel deep sadness or anguish about the condition the earth is in now. 

The next stone moving in a sunwise direction honors Father Sun, who warms and quickens life. Go to this stone position when you need more energy, warmth and expansion in you life. Spend time here to gain knowledge about masculine principals. Father Sun teaches about discrimination and the healing ability to set limits.

The third stone of the inner circle honors Grandmother Moon, who guides dreams and visions. Rest here when you want to examine lesser-known aspects of your being. This position offers help to increase your intuitive and psychic abilities and to learn more about your sensuality and your emotional side and facets that defy logic.

The next four stones of the center circle represent the Elemental Clans and are the building blocks that spirit gives you to discover tools that uncover your true talents and the power to put them to use in service of Mother Earth and all her children. 

There are four stones placed when creating the medicine wheel at the cardinal directions of north, east, west and south. These are the Spirit Keeper stones. Three other directions that are honored while dancing with the wheel are the underworld, the upper realms and the inner direction of your heart.

The vision of the medicine wheel shows us that each of the cardinal directions holds a Spirit Keeper who is responsible for teaching Earth's children about the power of direction, the times, the seasons and the aspects of humans that they represent.

The 13 Moon and Totem stones that follow fill the spaces on the rim of the wheel between the Spirit Keeper stones. They hold the station you came in with at birth. This is where I like to start people when they begin dancing the wheel.

The spokes of the wheel are the Spirit Pathway stones. Spirit Paths represent qualities that take you from daily life into the sacred space of Creator.

These show ways that strengthen and support you in growing and can introduce you to unseen worlds slowly and subtly.

This simple physical description of the wheel provides the first basic steps for dancing the wheel. To really understand the wheel, your comprehension must surpass the physical and the intellectual.

All space is "sacred space." Every inch of Mother Earth holds a specially energized connection to the Universe and is therefore to be honored. The medicine wheel is a physical expression of this knowledge and is set up for sacred ceremonial and experiential awakenings that enable us to come from new perceptions to enhance our daily life experiences. 

Life is a spiraling circle, from birth to death of the body. Then, the body turns to compost to bring life anew, and so it goes on and on and on. 

Humans, like seasons, pass through many phases during their lives. The medicine wheel stones give us a way of understanding and celebrating these changes.

You don't need a guru or shaman to dance the medicine wheel. You only need your intention to be more, to grow, to fill the chalice of life with sweeter nectar. If you have a desire to claim your real purpose in this circle of life experiences, recognizing a purpose of living life is to live in joy and gratitude, come dance with the wheel.

When coming to dance the wheel with reverence you'll pay attention to the guides and angels that are all around us and set yourself free. Come join the dance of the medicine wheel in a state of receptivity with the willingness to be more and you shall be more.

The next dance will be held during the New Moon weekend starting May 26 at 4pm and will continue until sundown on Sunday, May 28. Work exchange possibilities exist for those who cannot afford the fee. No one is turned away because of financial challenges.

Dancing the medicine wheel
Friday, May 26, 4pm
Cuna de la Naturaleza, 20 minutes outside San Miguel
650 pesos


Teresa "Tia Terre" is a 25-year resident of San Miguel now living outside the city limits in a developing ecological permaculture community. In the 1960s she studied with Hanna Kroeger, an herbal, energy and psychic healer in Boulder, Colorado. She went on to Bisbee, Arizona, to work with an elder of the Ozuna family, learning and facilitating native ways of healthfulness.