• The Medicine Wheel is the ancient spiritual symbol for the totality of all life.
• It is a map of understanding our lives, from birth through to death,
  at each stage of growth and development.
• It gives us a holistic method of balancing the four parts of our
  lives: body, mind, heart and spirit.
• It represents the seasons and the path of the sun around the earth.
• It can be interpreted in different ways according to our geographical
  location, the energies of the land on which we live, the ancestral
  memories within our culture and our own personal soul seeking.
• You can discover your personal animal allies by placing them in each
  direction of your wheel or the wheel of your culture.
• You can create your own Sacred Circle (temple, or ceremonial space)
  by simply honouring the eight directions with stones or symbolic
  objects.
• From this sacred space, it teaches us how to honour and balance each
  of the elemental worlds within and without.
• Above all, it is a simple method of creating dialogue with the Sacred
  Spirit on a daily basis to find peace and balance in our lives.

I have included two separate wheels, the North American Medicine Wheel and the Celtic Medicine Wheel of the British Isles.

An instructional CD is available "Drumming the 20 Count"

Indigenous spiritual systems around the world use this universal method of understanding the inter-connectedness of all life. I offer you my personal interpretation based on my spiritual journey so far.

The Medicine Wheel	The Celtic Medicine Wheel

The North American Medicine Wheel

In the beginning was the Void, the Womb of Creation, the Sacred Receptive Creative principle.
She is the Zero, the Circle.
Her name is Wakan. Great Mystery

Then the movement of Wakan gives birth to the first spark of life: Grandfather Spirit, the Sacred Spiral. He is the active conceptive principle.
His name is Sskwan. Great Spirit.

The Sacred Love of Great Mystery and Great Spirit creates
the Divine Union which births all Life in the Universe.
WAKAN TANKA – Great Spirit

The Sacred Twenty Count

The Celtic Medicine Wheel

This Sacred Marriage of the Goddess and the God created all life in the universe… the stars, the planets, the minerals, plants, animals and humans…We honour and call to them through the Sacred Earth Mother and her consort, the Horned God.

Their sacred union is central to the healing energy of this Celtic MedicineWheel. They give birth to the “Golden Child” who is found in the centre of the circle. This child is YOU, your golden soul essence through which you are directly connected to this Divine Union, the Source. When you experience their ecstatic union within yourself, you have become one with Spirit and you open yourself to being a co-creator in the wheel of your life. Thus we have the Sacred Trinity. Goddess, God and Golden Child.

The Celtic Medicine Wheel
of the British Isles

NORTH-WEST: Karma, lessons to be learned, recognising attachments (events from the past being projected into the future), hopes and fears which we project. Patterns of illusion….	NORTH: Darkness. Midnight. Earth, mountains, landscape, stones and minerals. The Earth Goddess and Horned God. The silver wheel of Arianhrod representing the wheel of stars. Place of ice, frozen potential energy, waiting be born.	NORTH-EAST: Design of energy, male/female balance, the Sacred Marriage
WEST: Sunset, dusk, green growing abundance, fecundity and harvesting, the point of change, of death and dying across the waters of the western sea. This is the primary gateway to the underworld, Annwn, the realms beyond physical life.		EAST: Air, sunrise, dawn, place of ideas, new concepts, rebirth, illumination.
SOUTH-WEST: The dream-weave, the place where the future is being woven, access point to the Web of Wyrd, the tapestry of life…	SOUTH: Fire, midday sun, strongest sun energy, place of expansion and play.	SOUTH EAST: Ancestors of land and place and personal ancestral memory.

Festival Names and Dates

These eight seasonal festivals consist of the solstices and equinoxes - four moments during the year which are dictated by the relationship between the Earth and Sun - and the four 'cross-quarter' festivals which are not determined astronomically, but are related to the traditional pastoral calendar. These other four festivals are also related to the seasons, but are not tied to specific astronomical events. Instead they have evolved from traditional festival times linked to farming practices begun in western Europe during Neolithic times, thousands of years ago:

SAMHAIN 1st November	YULE (Winter Solstice) 21st December	IMBOLC 1st February
MABON (Autumn Equinox) 21st September		OSTARA (Spring Equinox) 21st March
LUGHNASSADH (Lammas) 1st August	LITHA (Summer Solstice) 21st June	BELTANE (May Day) 1st May

Samhain (Sow'-en), usually observed at Hallowe'en, celebrates the final harvest of the season. It's a time to reflect on what this year now ending has brought to us, and to come to terms with that which we wanted but were not able to achieve. On a deeper level, it is a time to reflect on that one wonderment of life over which we have little, if any, control - death. We recognize the passing of family, friends, and those in the community who have passed on within this year. We also honour the memory of those important to us who are long gone, as well as giving honour and recognition to our ancient ancestors. At Samhain we say that the veil between the worlds is thinnest. We believe this night is of special importance, belonging neither to the old year nor yet to the new one. At such times, communication with those who have passed over and not moved on yet may be possible. It is at Samhain that we salute the God as he sails away into the darkness, having given his life at the harvest for us, his children. This is but a temporary absence, as he is born once again to the Goddess at Yule. The Goddess holds in her hands a cauldron of water of limitless depth - her promise to us of rebirth to all which has been cut down to make way for the new.

Yule is one of the strongest manifestions of the power of the Triple Goddess as she gives birth to the new Sun God, the promise of returning light at our darkest hour. This lesser sabbat, occuring at the winter solstice, marks the shortest day of the year and hence, the time of greatest darkness. A festival of joy and light, we gather for song, feasting, and gift-giving. As the Goddess tends her newborn son, She rests from her labours for the current moment, in order to prepare for the change and growth of the coming seasons.

Imbolc (Em' bolc )meaning "in the milk," was traditionally keyed to the lactation of the ewes. It marks the recovery of the Goddess after giving birth to the new Sun god, who is growing into a young boy by this time. His power is felt in the lengthening days of sunlight, though that power is fickle in his youthfulness as we wake to warm sun one day and cold, grey skies the next. The Goddess begins to manifest the Maiden aspect, with the first few flowers of the season pushing up through the melting snow.

Ostara, (O' Star' ah), the Spring Equinox, reckons our first true day of Spring. The Goddess, joyful in the strength and lust of Maiden, begins to blanket the Earth with fertility as the fields initiate their bright flourish of wildflower colors and the trees bring forth new buds. The God stretches and grows to maturity, his strength on the verge of conquering the darkness. At the Spring Equinox are the hours of dark and light equal, and from now until Mabon, the new Sun God will rule in strength.

Beltane, standing opposite the Wheel from Samhain, marks the celebration of life renewed with as much intensity as Samhain marked and honored death and rebirth. The God is now full-grown to manhood. The Maiden, her fertility all-encompassing, stirs and rouses the God's desires. As they lay amongst creation, united as one by their eternal love, their union creates the new Sun God-to-be, the promise of rebirth to which we hold so close at Samhain. Yet, even though we're reminded at this Sabbat that all things have an ending, it is with joy and hope and desire and passion for the fertility of the world and for ourselves that we dance laughingly around the Maypole. For fleeting moments, the world stands still in promise of what might yet be, and the urge to love and merriment overwhelms.

Litha marks the Summer Solstice or "Midsummer," the longest day of the year. The sun is at its zenith now; the energies of nature have reached their highest point. The God and Goddess, now mature in their deepening love, revel in the fertility of the earth despite the knowledge that from this point on, his power will begin to wane.

Lughnasadh, or Lammas, is also known as the Festival of First Fruits, as season of yearly harvests begins. The first of the harvest festivals, it also marks the waning strength of the God; the nights grow longer and the days moderate their warmth. The Goddess, now fully enveloped in her Mother aspect, watches in sorrow at his diminishment, but finds comfort and strength in the realization she carries the seed of the new year's Sun God within her. This is the time of Thanksgiving, a time to give thanks for all the forms of bounty the earth gives to us - the bounty of the harvest; the bounty of the bonds of love found among our family and friends; the bounty of our spirit. It is a time to recognize the lineage from which we come, and to honour the dying God's coming sacrifice.

Mabon. the Autumn Equinox, marks the second harvest of the season, and is a time of rest after hard work. Once again day and night are equal. Nature declines, readying itself for the cold winter dark as the Sun God sacrifices himself to ensure life for his children. This sabbat is also known as "Harvest Home" and the "Festival of the Harvest Moon."

IF YOU ARE LIVING IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE: This wheel gives the names and dates of the festivals for the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, festivals that are opposite each other on the wheel of the year can be swapped, so Summer Solstice is celebrated around 21 st December and Lammas on 1 st February, for example. Also, please remember that these wheels reflects the energies of the land here in England, so go out and find the energetic directions for your geographical location and the ancestral memories of the people who have lived there before you. Open to spirit.

TOP OF PAGE

CONTACT JANA

Contents ©Jana Runnalls, 2005, 2006