• Symbolic of the Sacred altar (Wilson MW 18)
• Used in the center of the Sweat Lodge for cleansing
• John the Revelator refers to this (Rev 4:3 NIV):
  • And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jaspar and carnelian.
  • A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.
• Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9, 7:13, 7:22)
• The Eternal One, the Great Spirit, God
• Grandfather = "What father can say he is older than his grandfather?"
• Fire from the stones around the altar
  • Represented in the heated stones used in sweat lodge
• Lightning from the throne of God seen in the Revelations of John and Ezekiel
• Great Chief of the Above, Sacred Mystery

• ... I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
• Above him were seraphs, each with six wings:
  • with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying
• And they were calling to one another:
  • Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.
• At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook
  • and the temple was filled with smoke.
• "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
• Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
• With it he touched my mouth and said, "See this has touched your lips: your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

1.2.2 Oneness at the center of the Wheel (Loomis)

• Sacred Mystery is represented by the void that contains all potentials
• Represented by a zero, but is not empty; there is potential within
• All things in pre-nascent state (origins of all possible things, ideas)
• Collective unconsciousness, the realm of archetypes
• Place of catalytic energy (creative force)
• Represents the rainbow people or people of mixed blood
• All humans have potential to become catalytic energy for others
• Represents sexuality of human aspects
• This is the organizing power or force of the Emotions Wheel
• Void or "no mind" - universal consciousness

1.2.3 Four Living Creatures

• In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures,
  • Covered with eyes front and back
  • First was like a lion
  • Second like an ox
  • Third had a face like a man
  • Fourth was like a flying eagle
• Each had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even on his wings
• Day and night they never stop saying:
  • Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and is to come.

• I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north
  • An immense cloud with flashing and lightning and surrounded by brilliant light.
• The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,
• And in the fire was what looked like four living creatures.
• In appearance their form was that of a man,
• But each of them had four faces and four wings
• Their legs were straight;
  • their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze
• Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man
• All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another
• Each one went straight ahead, they did not turn as they moved
• Their faces looked like this:
  • Each of the four had the face of a man [front]
  • And on the right side each had the face of a lion
  • And on the left the face of an ox
  • Each also had the face of an eagle [back]
• Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward;
  • Each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side,
  • And two wings covering its body.
• Each one went straight ahead.
• Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.
• The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches.
• Fire moved back and forth among the creatures;
  • It was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
• The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
• As I looked at the living creatures,
  • I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.
• This was the appearance and structure of the wheels:
  • They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike.
  • Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.
• As they moved, they would go into any of the four directions the creatures faced;
  • The wheels did not turn about as the creatures went.
• Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
• When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved;
  • And when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
• Wherever the spirit would go, they would go,
  • And the wheels would rise along with them
  • Because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
• When the creatures moved, they also moved;
  • When the creatures stood still, they also stood still;
  • And when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them,
  • Because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

• These creatures in both cases moved in the four directions to and from the throne
• Amerindian (Wilson)
  • Cougar to the North, the North American lion
  • Buffalo to the East, the North American ox (ref. beefalo, an ox-buffalo hybrid)
  • Bear to the South, animal used to represent man in Amerindian folklore
  • Eagle in the West
• More discussion in the Four Directions (2.0)