The World in Which We Live – Center

In the Native American world, wheels or circles have been used since the ancient times as tools for teaching the ways of the Universe. Nothing is seen as linear for the idea of a linear existence is considered to be an illusion. There is no “beginning” or “end.” There is simply a change of reference points. 

Learning of the Universe through wheels offers a way to perceive how one form of life is completely interconnected with all other life: flowing, changing, and reaching out to touch all forms of all things with beauty. All the wheels of the Sweet Medicine SunDance Path spin and interconnect with one another in this way.

Each of the aspects we are about to explore sit on a wheel. When we look at a single wheel, e.g. the Season Wheel, we have the opportunity to learn about the specific items in each direction: spring in the south, winter in the west, autumn in the north, summer in the east, and the solstices and equinoxes in the center. Understanding one wheel at a time exhibits one level of knowledge. Deeper teachings beckon us as we overlay wheels to investigate the interrelationships of the myriad of aspects that all sit in one direction. It is through the overlays and interrelationships of energy that we can begin to know, honor, and be in harmony with the world in which we live.

We started with the South direction of the wheel, then headed West, followed by North, and East.

As we know, all “4” wheels have 5 directions, so let us look at the center of this overlay of wheels.

This direction holds the element of the void, solstices and equinoxes, the spirit world, the black hole as the heavenly body, our human aspect of soul-sexual-catalyzer of energy, and the self-expression of breath and ki/chi.

The center sings of the black hole, the womb, or the void – the space where all possibilities and potentialities reside – and is stabilized by the element of the void. Think about that for a moment… this space of expansive limitlessness is also what stabilizes our limitless expansiveness!

The seasons that reside in the center are the solstices and equinoxes, the four markers of death, change, transformation, rebirth, and life. The markers of the shortest and longest days (or nights) and the times of the year when the light and dark are in balance. These seasons teach us the necessity and beauty of life and death.

The spirit world lives in this magickal place of the center, from the faeries and elementals to our own awakened selves, from our blood relations to all our relations (plants, animals, minerals, clouds…). Such an abundance of opportunities of inter-connection, inter-dependence and inter-reliability.

Our human aspect here in the center is our soul-sexual-catalyzer of energy. All forms of life have spirit, or “Manitou”. Though the naming of spirit varies, its essence remains always present and is known by all earth cultures. It is that Universal Life Force Energy that pulses through all forms of life. We experience this energy through our breath or chi-ki flow. It is this pure Life Force Energy that makes all life, all power, all self-expression possible.

Harmony is the gift we receive – the ability to be in harmony with our self, life, and others