The Medicine Wheel The Medicine Wheel's meaning has long been lost. Many Elder's today speculate their meaning and relate the configurations to different symbols or aspects of the culture. The tipi and the sweat lodge have a circular formation. The centre of the sweat lodge or tipi would have a fire pit. The sweat requires a dug out pit of heated stones. Some Elder's say the circular formation with the cairn of stones in the centre of the Medicine Wheel is representative of a big sweat or a large tipi. The Elders believe these stone configurations are all related to former ceremony and are symbolic representations of those ceremonies.
There is a variety of stone configurations that dot the prairie landscape. Some appear to be the outline of a giant man while others form the shape of a buffalo. The circles also vary in shape with some having stone spokes like a wagon wheel that juts out from the stone cairn at the centre. Other circles have the circular shape but then have extending spokes that stretch far beyond the circumference of the circle and reach out to the four directions. Some Elders believe there is still a spirit that resides with these stones. In fact, First Nations people journey to the Medicine Wheels and partake in prayer and ceremony still today.
The Medicine Wheel used today as a theoretical construct stems from this ancient configuration in stone that symbolically. It defines the worldview of First Nations people. The four spokes indicate the four directions and all things that come in four such as the four elements, the four seasons, the cycle of life - infancy, childhood, adulthood and Elder and the four parts of our being - emotional, spiritual, physical and mental.
