TheBanyanTree: Medicine Wheel

[Russ at nogard4cd.com]

Sunday was quite a day.  My life has been upperside down most the 
last few weeks. To get the day started, I made a huge breakfast for I 
knew it was going to be a busy day though I had no idea what I was 
going to do.  After breakfast I cleaned up the kitchen.  I didn't 
expect to do much cooking for the next week since I'm going to be on 
a fast. My medicine partner (and love of my life) is preparing to go 
on a Vision Quest and I felt I was to fast as well.  Even though she 
has moved 800 miles from me, we are still connected.  As a side note, 
she received a job offer that couldn't be refused, and we will work 
through this geographic barrier.  Anyhow, when I told her I was going 
to fast with her, she said no, but I told her to listen to Spirit.  
She instantly knew I was to fast for some reason but we didn't know 
the reason.  After cleaning the kitchen I kind of picked up the rest 
of the place and started laundry. While that was washing I changed 
oil in the truck.  It was WAY overdue.  

After I got the clothes done and oil changed, I loaded my "juju" bag, 
my old trusty medicine staff, my "outside" drum, and some water in 
Fancy (my Mitsubishi Montero Sport) and headed out.  I had no idea 
where I was going to go.  I had thought to go to my loves medicine 
wheel to sit and meditate and pray.  I decided to not do that as the 
pain of her leaving to go to a job 800 miles away was still very new. 
Going to her wheel to meditate and pray would have just reminded me 
that it will by far too long before I get to spend time with her 
again.  Instead I found myself heading up through Claremore, a little 
town north east of Tulsa.  I knew were I was headed by then.  I was 
going to Little Blue park.  This is a little state park that has 
pulled me back over and over since I was introduced to it.  It is 
rustic and little used.  It is only about an hour from Tulsa, but 
with no facilities and only a little stream it doesn't get the 
attention the big parks do.

Well, I was driving along and realized I was really being "pulled" 
to go there.  I stopped and got more water at a store in a small town 
on the way.  I often stop there because it sells buffalo meat, but I 
didn't get any this time but simply continued on.  I also pulled into 
the "Totem Pole" historical society park on the way, but very clearly 
felt, "today is not the day".  I had no idea what was going on but I 
wasn't about to argue.  I kept on driving and got to the park about 
1ish I guess.  I got my staff and a few other things (and my hat) out 
of Fancy and started walking toward the place I feel I needed to go.  
It is up the spillway on barren rock below a large dam.  Not many 
people walk up there.  You have to hop across a stream, climb up some 
rocks, and even then the spillway is barren rock, washed clean when 
the water gets too high and is released in the "secondary" spillways.

The little stream was higher than usual, and I couldn't "hop" across 
on rocks to get to the other side, so I just wadded in soaking my 
hiking shoes.  I started crawling up the rocks to go up the spillway 
and by this time I was almost in a frenzy.  I went up and at one time 
went past some kids.  One of them snickered and said "Look at the 
shaman".  One of the others said to not laugh, he had seen his 
grandfather with the same look in his eyes and knew I was being led.  
I forgot to mention that my medicine staff has bells, feathers, a 
sage bundle and some other stuff tied to it.  OK, so I look pretty 
wild at times with my white beard, my hat, and wearing medicine bags. 
They got quiet and the one who told the others to not laugh wished 
me success on my quest as I walked past.  I thanked them and kept on 
going.  Young people sometimes surprise me, especially the young of 
Native American and "Mexican" extraction.  I usually don't go far up 
the spillway because there is only the view of the dam to the north.  
I kept going up there though and first tried the high area on the 
east but it felt "not right".  

I went over to the "knob" that is in the middle of the spillway.  It 
is high ground that the water doesn't cover even in the heaviest 
spillway usage.  I walked up onto that area and was walking under the 
trees.  There were thick leaves on the ground compared to the 
spillway with bare rock. I found I was supposed to keep going to the 
northerly end of the knoll.  I found the place I was looking for.  It 
is were my new medicine wheel is to be.  I took my staff and drew a 
circle to see how the space felt.  It felt very good indeed.  There 
is a small tree in the center, it is about 6" across.  That is the 
Center of the wheel.  Another tree, about 12" across at the most is 
the East Gate.  I had to go back to Fancy to get my "Juju" bag, my 
water and other things.  My poor shoes got so soaked yesterday! 
They may never be fit to wear again!  It is a bit of a walk and climb 
to get to my wheel, but not too bad.  It is close to people, but they 
never go up there.  I found very few "ATV" tracks up there, and the 
few I found were old.  It just isn't big enough for the ATVers to 
want to trash out.  When I got back to the spot that had been 
"selected" for me, I checked the circle I had made with my "measuring 
string" to see how far off from a "proper" size it was.  I found my 
circle was almost a perfect 3 lithic yard radius.  It is a big wheel 
(nearly 18 feet across) but will be a place I will be taking others 
to pray, meditate and learn to find their own path.  I spent the next 
hour or so clearing the leaves from the circle and placing marker 
stones at the cardinal directions.  I felt very much guided as I was 
doing all this.  It wasn't done in any "specific" tradition, but was 
done in a very sacred way.  

After I had the marker stones in place, I took my drum and started to 
drum at the East Gate.  I slowly walked the perimeter just 
inside what will eventually be the wheel.  My synthetic head drum 
never sounded like it did then.  Maybe it was because I rarely beat 
it that hard, but there was something different.  It was like there 
were three beats coming out of each beat I made.  Boom woom 
woom, Boom woom woom.  On the second circuit I started to cry and 
couldn't stop. I wasn't thinking of anything, I just couldn't stop 
crying during 
the entire circuit. I was walking very slow too, almost shuffling 
along. After that I lit a smudge wand and smudged the circumference 
of the circle.  Then I smudged in a spiral from the east gate to the
center, making many loops around the circle.  The smudge wand was 
glowing so bright.  When I stopped at each of the direction 
markers the smoke blew toward me, even though the breeze was out of 
the south.  After I smudged, I took my sweetgrass whip and 
went around the circle.  Even the sweetgrass stayed lit!  

The rest of the time I spent stacking stones around the base of the 
center tree and putting 4 more stones around each cardinal direction
marker.  In time I will have stones all the way around the circle and
along each direction line and some other stones in there as well.  I 
am using small stones, not much larger than a big cabbage.  
There will be rock stacks at each of the cardinal directions and a 
large cairn around the tree in the center.  It is a good place and 
feels very "right" to me.  There are dogwood trees close by that were 
in bloom, and not too far away is a cedar.  Grandmother Willow 
marks the "gully" where I go up onto the knoll from the spillway to 
find my wheel.  I hope that someday I will be able to take many 
people there, in small groups of 3 or 4 and have us pray and give 
thanks, and to listen to All That Is.  

I now know why I am supposed to be on this fast this week.  My wheel 
has been started.  I have the small one at my house, but his 
one is for me to take others to for prayer, guidance and to find 
their own path.  I hope to get back up there this next Saturday and 
spend all day working on it.  I may even go up Friday after work and 
spend the night there. It will be kind of a "mini-quest" of my own,  
taking nothing with me but my "juju bag" my staff, a couple gallons 
of water and the clothes I will be wearing.  I will just have to wait 
and see. I have many stones to place on the circumference of the 
wheel, and 
many to bring in to mark the lines to the center.  It will be a good 
thing to do on Saturday.  

The pattern of growth and learning continues and I am humbled at the 
many gifts I'm always being given.

Russ