medicine wheel garden plants

What can you plant in a medicine wheel garden?

We planted ginger and lemon geranium, thyme, mullein, yarrow, wormwood, rosemary, borage, zataar (wild oregano), comfrey, horseradish, California poppies, lavender, echinacea, aloe vera, white and black sage. East- The significance of the East is knowledge and the sacred plant is tobacco.

What is the medicine wheel teachings?

One way to use the Medicine Wheel is as a self-assessment to determine how balanced one is. ... The Medicine Wheel reminds us that we need to balance all four aspects of our being – the spiritual, emotional, physical and mental aspects. When we become out of balance, we experience disease.

What are the 4 sacred medicines?

Three other plants, sage, cedar and sweetgrass, follow tobacco, and together they are referred to as the Four Sacred Medicines. The Four Sacred Medicines are used in everyday life and in ceremonies.

What are the four directions of the medicine wheel?

Each of the Four Directions (East, South, West, and North) is typically represented by a distinctive color, such as black, red, yellow, and white, which for some stands for the human races.

How do I get to the Medicine Wheel in Majorville?

It sounded simple: just turn south onto Secondary Road #847 at Bassano and drive toward the Bow River for 15 kilometers. We honestly didn't think the Majorville Medicine Wheel would be that hard to find, even without explicit directions. For one thing, it was almost certainly on the highest hill around.

What are the colors of the medicine wheel?

While it is true that the most common colors of the Medicine Wheel in Native America are Red, Yellow Black and White, these are not the absolute colors for all Native American Nations. Some Nations use, Blue in wake of Black, others have Purple instead of Black. Yet some other Nations have used Green in lieu of Black.

Why is it called a medicine wheel?

The original name for medicine wheels was “sacred circles” - the term “medicine wheel” was coined by non-Native Americans in response to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, the largest in North America, around the turn of the previous century.

Is burning sage bad for your lungs?

Breathing in smoke carries some possible risks, Fleg says. Although researchers haven't studied sage burning specifically, burning incense has been linked to lung problems and allergies.

Why is sage sacred?

Sage, depending on the particular culture, can be used in medicine pouches, spread over the floor of a sweatlodge, wrapped around sacred implements, used for healing, used to make bad spirits sick, purify people and dwellings, healing and calming. ... Interestingly, the Latin root of Salvia is salvare, which means to heal.

Is tobacco a sacred plant?

Cherokees, like many Native American tribes, hold tobacco very sacred. In fact, in Cherokee culture, tobacco is referred to as “the ancient one.” It is considered the first plant of all the plants, and is often used for medicinal and spiritual purposes.

What are the four sacred colors?

Color has many symbolic meanings in Navajo culture; in fact, a single color can mean several different things depending on the context in which it is used. Four colors in particular black, white, blue, and yellow have important connections to Navajo cultural and spiritual beliefs.

Where is the medicine wheel located?

The Medicine Wheel is located in the Bighorn National Forest on the western peak of Medicine Mountain at an elevation of 9642 feet in the Bighorn Range east of Lovell, Wyoming.

How old is the medicine wheel?

Most medicine wheels are found in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. The oldest is the 5,500-year-old Majorville Cairn in Alberta. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel, probably less than 1,000 years old, was first studied in 1902 by the noted ethnologist S. C. Simms on behalf of the Chicago Field Museum.

What are the colors of the four directions?

Like many Native American beliefs and traditions, specific details regarding colors associated with directions varies.

West (Black) To the west, the sun sets, and the day ends. ...
North (Red) North brings the cold, harsh winds of the winter season. ...
East (Yellow) The direction from which the sun comes. ...
South (White)

What are the three main stars the Bighorn Medicine Wheel is aligned with?

Six smaller cairns are spaced along the rim. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is astronomically aligned: four of the outer cairns line up with the rising and setting sun of the summer solstice, and the others with the three bright stars that fade as the sun rises on summer mornings: Aldebaran, Rigel and Sirius.

Who created the Medicine Wheel?

The wheel was constructed by Plains Indians between 300-800 years ago, and has been used and maintained by various groups since then. The central cairn is the oldest part, with excavations showing it extends below the wheel and has been buried by wind-blown dust.

What is the medicine wheel made of?

Structures referred to as medicine wheels generally share the following characteristics: 1) They were largely constructed of unmodified, locally available natural stone; 2) they consist of a combination of at least two of the following primary components: a prominent central cairn; one or more concentric stone rings, ...

How many stones are in a medicine wheel?

The Earth, Sun, and Moon. The inner circle of the Medicine Wheel immediately surrounds the Creator Stone. It has seven stones. The first three stones give life and vision to the Creation for us: Father Sun, Earth Mother, and Grandmother Moon.

Why you shouldn't use white sage?

For Hopkins, the appropriation of white sage is made worse because the plant is often not being harvested correctly. “When using medicinal plants, it's important that the plant is used sustainably. ... If someone is harvesting white sage and doesn't know to leave the root, they're preventing more plants from growing.

What prayer do you say when saging your house?

Use this example prayer.

"You could simply say: 'Sacred and holy ones, please clear this place of stagnant and negative energy,'" he says. "And after you are finished working, you can thank them and the sage for their help." According to him, it's a solid stand-in that'll do the job just fine.

How often should you burn sage?

Seasonal Smudging

Freeing your home of stagnant energies can be done anytime, but it's a good rule of thumb to do a thorough smudging of your home four times a year when the seasons change. You may also wish to smudge your living space whenever it has been compromised by negativity or foreign energies.