Medicine Wheels

Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were
constructed by laying stones in a
particular pattern on the ground. Most
medicine wheels follow the basic pattern
of having a center of stone(s), and
surrounding that is an outer ring of
stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks
radiating from the center. Some ancient
types of sacred architecture were built by
laying stones on the surface of the ground
in particular patterns common to
aboriginal peoples.
Originally, and still today, medicine
wheels are stone structures constructed
by certain indigenous peoples of orth
!merica for various astronomical, ritual,
healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine
wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in
ative !merican spirituality where they
are more often referred to as "sacred
hoops", which is the favored #nglish
rendering by some. $here are various
native words to describe the ancient
forms and types of rock alignments. One
teaching involves the description of the
four directions.
More recently, syncretic, hybridi%ed uses
of medicine wheels, magic circles, and
mandala sacred technology are employed
in ew !ge, &iccan, 'agan and other
spiritual discourse throughout the &orld.
$he rite of the sacred hoop and medicine
wheel differed and differs amongst
indigenous traditions, as it now does
between non(indigenous peoples, and
between traditional and modernist
variations. $he essential nature of the rite
common to these divergent traditions
deserves further anthropological
e)ploration as does an e)egesis of their
valence.
Medicine wheels look like a wagon wheel
laying on its side. Some reach diameters
of *+ feet. !lthough archeologists aren"t
e)actly sure what each one was used for,
it is thought that they probably had
ceremonial or astronomical significance.
,istory
#recting massive stone structures is a
well(documented activity of ancient man,
from the #gyptian pyramids to
Stonehenge, and the natives of orthern
!merica are no different in this regard.
&hat does separate them from the rest is
how non(intrusive their structures were.
-nlike the usual towering stone
monoliths, the natives simply laid down
lots of stones on the earth in certain
arrangements. One of the more obtuse
arrangements is the medicine wheel.
Medicine wheels appear all over northern
-nited States and southern .anada,
specifically South /akota, &yoming,
Montana, !lberta, and Saskatchewan.
Most of the wheels have been found in
!lberta. 0n all over *1 medicine wheels
have been found.
One of the prototypical medicine wheels is
in 2ig ,orn .ounty, &yoming. $his *+
foot diameter wheel has 34 spokes, and is
part of a vast set of old ative !merican
sites that document *,111 years of their
history in that area. 0t is located on a
ridge of Medicine Mountain, part of
northern &yoming"s 2ig ,orn 5ange.
0t is a circular arrangement of stones
measuring *+ feet across with 34 rows of
stones that radiate from a central cairn to
an encircling stone rim. 'laced around
the periphery of the wheel are five
smaller, stone circles. $he Medicine
&heel"s function and builders remain a
mystery. ,owever, there is general
agreement that it was built appro)imately
311 years ago by indigenous ative
!mericans, and that its 34 "spokes" may
symboli%e the days in a lunar month. $o
ative !mericans, this remains a sacred,
ceremonial site.
,ow are they made6
Medicine wheels were constructed by
laying stones in a particular pattern on
the ground. Most medicine wheels follow
the basic pattern of having a center cairn
of stones, and surrounding that would be
an outer ring of stones, then there would
be "spokes", or lines of rocks, coming out
the cairn.
!lmost all medicine wheels would have at
least two of the three elements mentioned
above (the center cairn, the outer ring,
and the spokes), but beyond that there
were many variations on this basic design,
and every wheel found has been uni7ue
and has had its own style and
eccentricities.
$he most common deviation between
different wheels are the spokes. $here is
no set number of spokes for a medicine
wheel to have. $he spokes within each
wheel are rarely evenly spaced out, or
even all the same length. Some medicine
wheels will have one particular spoke
that"s significantly longer than the rest,
suggesting something important about the
direction it points.
!nother variation is whether the spokes
start from the center cairn and go out
only to the outer ring, or whether they go
past the outer ring, or whether they start
at the outer ring and go out from there.
!n odd variation sometimes found in
medicine wheels is the presence of a
passageway, or a doorway, in the circles.
$he outer ring of stones will be broken,
and there will be a stone path leading up
to the center of the wheel.
!lso many medicine wheels have various
other circles around the outside of the
wheel, sometimes attached to spokes or
the outer ring, and sometimes 8ust
seemingly floating free of the main
structure.
&hat do they mean6
Medicine wheels have been built and used
for so long, and each one has enough
uni7ue characteristics, that archeologists
have found it nearly impossible to tell
e)actly what each one was for, and
haven"t had much success at making
broad generali%ations about their
function and meaning.
One of the older wheels has been dated to
over 9,+11 years old: it had been built up
by successive generations who would add
new features to the circle. /ue to the long
e)istence of such a basic structure,
archeologists suspect that the function
and meaning of the medicine wheel
changed over time, and it is doubtful that
we will ever know what the original
purpose was.
0t is not hard to imagine that medicine
wheels, like most large stone structures,
would probably have served a ceremonial
or ritual purpose. $here is evidence of
dancing within some of the wheels. Other
wheels were probably used as part of a
ritual vision 7uest.
!stronomer ;ohn #ddy put forth the
theory that some of the wheels had
astronomical significance, where the
longest spoke on a wheel could be
pointing to a certain star at a certain time
of the year, suggesting that the wheels
were a way to mark certain days of the
year.
Other scientists have shown that some of
the wheels mark the longest day of the
year. (ote that an astronomical<calendar
theory has been suggested for 8ust about
every unnatural stone structure on
#arth.)
,opi Medicine &heel
0n the ,opi Medicine &heel of the ,opi
prophecy of the four peoples of the #arth,
the cardinal direction orth represents
the body, plants and animals, the color
white and "white skinned peoples", and
.hildhood. (can also represent birth,
and<or meeting a stranger and learning to
trust as in infancy, e)plained in #rik
#rikson"s stages of 'sychosocial
development).
$he #ast is held to represent the mind,
air, the color yellow and "yellow skinned
peoples", learning the groups to which
people belong and !dolescence.
$he South holds the heart, fire, the color
red and "red skinned peoples", and
!dulthood.
=inally &est holds the spirit, water, the
color blue or black, and "black(skinned
peoples" and #lderhood. &est also
represents the final life stage in the wheel,
being an elder and passing on knowledge
to the ne)t generation so that the wheel
may start again 8ust like the circle it takes
after.
0n many other tribes, however, the
orthern direction corresponds to
!dulthood (the &hite 2uffalo), the South
represents .hildhood (the Serpent), the
&est represents !dolescence (the 2ear)
and the #astern direction represents
/eath and 5e(birth (#agle). 0n terms of
social dynamics, community building and
the use of .ircles in 5estorative ;ustice
work, the four 7uadrants of the circle
correspond to 0ntroductions.
$he 'rovincial Museum of !lberta
,uman ,istory !rchaeology
&hat is a Medicine &heel6
Scattered across the plains of !lberta are
tens of thousands of stone structures.
Most of these are simple circles of cobble
stones which once held down the edges of
the famous tipi of the 'lains 0ndians:
these are known as "tipi rings." Others,
however, were of a more esoteric nature.
#)tremely large stone circles ( some
greater than >3 metres across ( may be
the remains of special ceremonial dance
structures. ! few cobble arrangements
form the outlines of human figures, most
of them obviously male. 'erhaps the most
intriguing cobble constructions, however,
are the ones known as medicine wheels.
$he term "medicine wheel" was first
applied to the 2ig ,orn Medicine &heel
in &yoming, the most southern one
known. $hat site consists of a central
cairn or rock pile surrounded by a circle
of stone: lines of cobbles link the central
cairn and the surrounding circle. $he
whole structure looks rather like a wagon
wheel lain(out on the ground with the
central cairn forming the hub, the
radiating cobble lines the spokes, and the
surrounding circle the rim. $he
"medicine" part of the name implies that
it was of religious significance to ative
peoples.
;ohn 2rumley, an archaeologist from
Medicine ,at, has provided a very
e)acting definition of what constitutes a
medicine wheel. ,e notes that a medicine
wheel consists of at least two of the
following three traits? (>) a central stone
cairn, (3) one or more concentric stone
circles, and<or (@) two or more stone lines
radiating outward from a central point.
-sing this definition, there are a total of
9A medicine wheels in !lberta. $his
constitutes about AAB of all medicine
wheels known. !lberta, it seems, is the
core area for medicine wheels.
Cirtually each medicine wheel has a
uni7ue form. ,owever, we can group
them into eight categories or "$ypes"
based of their general shape. $he most
common form consists of a central cairn
surrounded by a stone circle: >4 of these
$ype > medicine wheels are known in
!lberta. ! variant, known as a $ype 3
medicine wheel, contains a passageway
leading out from the stone circle: four are
known. $ype @ structures consist of a
central cairn with radiating cobble lines
or "spokes:" again, four are known. $ype
9 medicine wheels consist of a stone circle
from which spokes radiate outward.
$hese are the second most common form
and >9 have been recorded in !lberta.
$ype + structures contain a circle with
spokes radiating inward, while the $ype A
is similar but has a central cairn: only one
of each occurs in the province. $ype *
medicine wheels have a central cairn
surrounded by a stone circle with spokes
radiating outward: three are known.
$ype 4 structures are similar, but the
spokes radiate from the central cairn and
cross the circle. $hree of the former and
one of the latter have been discovered in
the province.
$he type groupings are, of course, only a
convenience for analysis. !s was noted
earlier, each medicine wheel is uni7ue.
,ere is a sample of maps of !lberta
medicine wheels reduced to more(or(less
a common scale. $he reader may find
some amusement trying to decide which
type each is.
!t least one of the categories, $ype 9,
appears to be a correct classification. $his
type consists of a central circle from
which spokes radiate outward. $he
central circle appears to be a common
domestic tipi ring. $he radiating spokes
appear to have no consistent pattern in
terms of orientation or length. !ma%ingly,
some $ype 9 medicine wheels have been
built in this century by the 2lood 0ndians
of southern !lberta: one, Many Spotted
,orses Medicine &heel, is illustrated
here. $hese modern 2lood 0ndian
structures were built to commemorate the
death place of, or the last tipi occupied by,
a famous warrior. $he spokes are said to
have no specific meaning other than to
indicate that a famous warrior had died.
Of course, the community is well aware of
who deserves such a memorial. 0t appears
almost certain that the prehistoric
e)amples served the same purpose.
$he purpose of all of the other types of
medicine wheel are not known by
archaeologists. One, Ma8orville Medicine
&heel, was partly e)cavated in >D*>. $his
wheel contains an enormous central cairn
D metres in diameter, surrounded by a
stone circle 3* metre across: about 34
spokes link the circle and central cairn.
$he e)cavation yielded artifacts which
archaeologists can "date" by style: the
style of spear points and arrowheads
changed in a regular manner over time
and archaeologists have figured out the
se7uence of these changes. 0t seems that
the central cairn at the Ma8orville wheel
was initially constructed some 9,+11 years
agoE 5adiocarbon dating of bone from the
bottom of the cairn confirmed this date. 0t
seems that successive groups of people
added new layers of rock, and some of
their arrowheads, from that time until the
coming of #uropeans to !lberta.
.uriously, the site does not seem to have
been used between about @,111 and 3,111
years ago: the distinctive barbed spear
points of that time are not present in the
cairn. !rchaeologists do not know when
the spokes and surrounding circle were
constructed, or even if they were
constructed at the same time.
$he long period of use and construction
of the central cairn at the Ma8orville
Medicine &heel suggests that such sites
may have served different functions over
the years. $hat is, the rituals and
ceremonies conducted at the site may
have changed over time. 0t is not unusual
for human beings to regard particular
places as sacred, even when religions
change. =or e)ample, many modern
.atholic churches in Me)ico occupy
locales which formerly contained !%tec
0ndian temples.
$hus, while we can reasonably surmise
that the Ma8orville wheel served as a
ceremonial centre for several thousand
years, it is unlikely that archaeologists
will ever know the details of the
ceremonies or the religious philosophy
which motivated the construction of the
site. One suspects that hunting magic or
buffalo fertility might have played a part
in the rituals, but the deeper meaning of
the site is lost in time.
'erhaps one of the most interesting
theories to be advanced is that there are
significant stellar alignments present at
the medicine wheels. $his theory was
proposed by astronomer ;ohn #ddy. ,e
suggested that a line drawn between the
central cairn and an outlying cairn at the
2ighorn Medicine &heel pointed to
within ><@ of a degree of the rising point
of the sun at the summer solstice. Other
alignments, both to the summer solstice
sunrise and to certain bright stars such as
!ldebaran, 5igel or Sirius, have been
proposed for a number of !lberta
medicine wheels. $he wheels would thus
have functioned as a calender to mark the
longest day of the year. 'resumably, such
a calendar would be used for the timing
of important rituals.
0t is very difficult to confirm the
astronomical hypothesis, and it is no
longer as popular as it was a decade ago.
! number of astronomers such as Steven
,aak in ebraska and /avid Cogt in
Cancouver have critically evaluated the
idea and have e)pressed severe
reservations about the hypothesis. $hey
note that simple familiarity with the night
sky would likely produce an ade7uate
estimate for timing ceremonies. =urther,
if great accuracy had been desired, it
could have been attained better by using
narrow poles as foresight and backsight
than by using wider rock cairns.
!lberta"s medicine wheels thus remain an
enigma. 5esearch has suggested a number
of functions for the wheels, and has
indicated their use over a very long
period of time. Medicine wheels seem to
be primarily an !lberta phenomenon: we
have many more here than do the
ad8acent provinces and states.
0nvestigation and preservation of these
uni7ue features has been an on(going
concern of the !rchaeological Survey,
$he 'rovincial Museum of !lberta, and
the 'lanning and 5esource Management
2ranch, ,istoric Sites and !rchives
Service.
$he !ncient Feology of Medicine
Mountain
$here are >1 places in the world called
"nuclei of continents". $hese are widely
separated places of relatively small
patches of ancient rocks, first cooled to
the molten earth"s crust 3(@ billion years
old. Overlying younger rock has worn
away.
$hese are thought to be the relatively
small nuclei first cooled and built up that
grew by volcanic activity and sediment
accretion into a single huge island (called
Fondwanaland) that began to break up in
the .arboniferous era (@11,111,111 years
ago).
$hey separated, drifting on continental
plates of ancient rockbed, into our
present continents sometime between
A+,111,111 and about >,111,111 years ago
(the continental plates continue to drift).
Medicine Mountain is one of these rare
ancient continental roots. $he cutaway
profile shows layers of rock color(coded
by age, the youngest lying in the valleys
where the 2ighorn and 'owder 5ivers
run, and the oldest peaking against the
sky, ancient roots down into deepest
earth.
$he Medicine &heel looks from the
shoulder of the most ancient times down
surrounding precipices (that give it nearly
a @A1G hori%on view) to slopes that get
progressively more "modern" until in the
valleys on either side are sedimentary
rocks deposited in merely the last million
to few hundred thousand years. !long the
range"s spine, this character of most
ancient age e)posed to the sky is not
maintained very far north or south of the
&heel, although the physical appearance
of the mountains is the same. $hus the
Medicine &heel floats on a high island of
time, the world"s oldest rocks, layered in
reverse order of the epochs of geological
history.
$he other continental roots are in Hellow
Inife province and a place on the
.anadian Shield north of Jake Superior:
the Fuyana ,ighland in South !merica:
the /nieper 'lateau in central #urope:
/harwar province in southern 0ndia:
Fuinea, $anganyika and 5hodesian
highlands in !frica: and Southwestern
!ustralia. 0n none of these other
continental root nuclei is there a neat
folding(and(wearing of the rock layers in
an ordered set peaking by age, such as is
found in the 2ighorns. Medicine
Mountain is a very special place, where
the whole geological history of the earth is
layered, with the most ancient rocks of all
on the peaks, layered through time
downhill to the modern valleys where
people live. 'erhaps this was felt
somehow by those who built the &heel
there many centuries ago.
( Star Inowledge &ebsite
Jegends and $heories
$here are some who suggest that the
spoke(like structure resembles the "Sun
/ance Jodge" or "Medicine Jodge". $he
Sun /ance .eremony is a celebration
which is part of the fabric of ative
!merican culture and religion.
! contemporary .heyenne cultural
leader stated, "the tribes traditionally
went and still do go to the sacred
mountain. $he people sought the high
mountain for prayer. $hey sought
spiritual harmony with the powerful
spirits there. Many offerings have been
left on this mountain. $he center cairn,
once occupied by a large buffalo skull,
was a place to make prayer offerings.
Cision 7uestors would have offered
prayers for thanks for plant and animal
life that had, and would, sustain them in
the future. 'rayers of thanks were offered
for all of creation. 'rayers are made for
families and loved ones who are ill.
!tonements are made for any offense to
Mother #arth. &hen asking for guidance,
prayers for wisdom and strength are
always part of this ritual. !ll of this is
done so that spiritual harmony will be our
constant companion throughout the year.
! .row .hief stated that Medicine &heel
was built "before the light came". Other
.row stories say the Sun Fod dropped it
from the sky. !nd still others say it was
built by the "Sheepeaters," a Shoshone
band whose name is derived from their
e)pertise at hunting mountain sheep.
Many .row feel it is a guide for building
tipis. Some e)plain the wheel was built by
"people without iron."
One .row story speaks of a man named
Scarface. ,e was handsome and was fond
of strutting in his finery before young
women. One day while entering his
mother"s tipi, he fell into the fire which
severely burned his face and was
thereafter embarrassed to be seen.
Shamed at his appearance, he left his
people and went to live in the mountains.
Scarface lived alone for many years.
One day while a young woman and her
grandmother were hunting berries, they
became separated from their people and
couldn"t find their way back. $hey
traveled along a trail which took them
into the mountains. $hey occasionally saw
Scarface and one day made contact with
him. Scarface later married the young
woman. On their travels back to his
people, Scarface supposedly built the
Medicine &heel as their shelter. On the
second day he built another tipi by the
2ig ,orn river in the valley below. $he
tipi rings are believed to still e)ist.
0t is also said that 5ed 'lume, a great
.row .hief during the time of Jewis and
.lark, found great spiritual medicine at
the Medicine &heel. $he legend states
that following four days without food of
water, 5ed 'lume was visited by little
people who inhabited the passage to the
wheel. $hey took him into the earth
where they lived and told him that the red
eagle feathers was his powerful medicine
guide and protector. ,e was told to
always wear the small feather from the
back of the eagle above his tail feathers.
$hus 5ed 'lume received his name. -pon
his deathbed, he told his people his spirit
would be found at the wheel and that they
might communicate with him there.