2.3 West - Black - Autumn - Sunset

• Black, sun setting, darkness, mystery, night; Thunder Beings dwell there, send rain
• Black is the color; (and dark blue in my wheel)
• Fasting, sacrifice, perserverence, testing of the will, humility
• Fall of the year, adults; dreams and visions
• Respect, for elders, other people's belief systems, spiritual struggle of others
• Commitment: to the Creator, to self, to values; participation in ceremonies

2.3.1 Medicine Wheels

2.3.1.1 Wilson's Medicine Wheel (Wilson VFEM 51-56)

• Eagle - Spirit communication via air; Great Spirit indwelling
• Door of Service
  • Eagle - "divinity incarnate"
  • Butterfly - "transformation"
  • Bat - "death and rebirth"
  • Grouse - "spiral dance to center"
• Moons of the West
  • Ducks Fly Moon, September 23 - October 23
  • Freeze Up Moon, October 24 - November 21
  • Long Snows Moon, November 22 - December 21
• Autumn Equinox - September 23, when night equals day

2.3.1.2 Sun Bear's Medicine Wheel

• Mudjekeewis, Spirit Keeper of the West
  • Season is Autumn
  • Time of Day is Sunset and Twilight
  • Animal associatin is Grizzly Bear
  • Colors are blue and black
• Moons of the West
  • Ducks Fly Moon, September 23 - October 23
  • Freeze Up Moon, October 24 - November 21
  • Long Snows Moon, November 22 - December 21

2.3.2 Correlations for West

• 2.3.2.1 Direction of Death and Resurrection

  • Waters of Life
    • Prevailing rains, life-giving; without them, we would not survive
    • "Creator God, today may Your waters of life flow freely through me to others."
    • Cleansing and healing; sanctification
      • "You were washed, you were sanctified." (1 Cor 6:11 RSV)
  • Maturing
    • Reminds of old age (Sunset); prayers of thanksgiving
    • Become more aware of the spirit of the people's past, knowledge they have gained
  • Darkness or Mystery
    • The unknown; thinking or analyzing; being aware of out spirit nature
    • Introspection, going within, meditation, deep inner thoughts
      • Spiritual insight, contemplation, silence, being alone with one's self

• 2.3.2.2 Spirit-Who-Sees-Within

  • Meditation as a Prayer Form:
    • Not prayers of petition and thanksgiving; rather as prayers of meditation
    • Prayers of true dialogue - give Great Spirit equal time
    • Listen rather than vocalize; Vision Quest
    • How would you feel if your children never listened?
      • Or never asked for advise or council
      • Hurt? angry? bewildered? despairing?
    • Next time you pray with petition or in thanksgiving
      • Spend equal time in silent prayer listening

• 2.3.2.3 The Age of Iron of Humankind

  • c. 1,250-1,200 BCE onward
  • The Father God, the Conquering Sun and the Warrior

• 2.3.2.5 Of the Eagle Totem for the West

  • Same in all three visions: John, Ezekiel, Amerindian (Wilson)
  • No understanding or interpretation in John or Ezekiel
  • Birds fly freely in air: visualize the spirit world as freely occupying air
  • Concept also in Bible: birds of the air represent spirits of spirit world
    • Symbolic, therefore very real
  • Eagle most powerful of birds, majestic
    • Speaks of most powerful and majestic of spirits - the Great Spirit
  • Center of medicine wheel - sacred altar
    • Outer circle represents universe; humans in outer wheel, Creator at center
  • Eagle represents Great Spirit in the realm of humans
    • Incarnation of God in humankind
    • God becomes flesh, indwells, the divine in all of us
  • Meditation, introspection, looking within one's self
    • Looking to discover the indwelling divinity
    • Thunder and lightning from West, rains
      • West is dwelling place of Thunder Beings, represent most powerful of spirit world
      • Though many yet one (Trinitarian)

• 2.3.2.7 from the Cycle Teachings (Wilson MW 65-99)

  • Adults of the Life Cycle
  • Fall of the Annual Cycle
  • The Black Race (Africans)
  • Water of the Elements
  • Two-leggeds of Things that Breathe
  • Moon above the Earth
  • Leaves of Green Things
  • Night in Divisions of Time

• 2.3.2.8 from the Sets of Four

  • Luke of the Gospels (Ox)
  • Reason of John Wesley's Quadrilateral test
  • The Via Negativa of Matthew Fox's Four Paths:
    • Path Two, Befriending Darkness, Letting Go and Letting Be
  • Black Horseman of the Apocalypse
    • Rider given a balance; grains sell high, oil and wine left alone
  • Sociological Area of Life
  • Eastern Spiritual Philosophies, dealing with the spirit within
  • "Rain" - second leaf in four-leaf clover
  • Brown of Petra's Coloring Song:
    • Brown is the color of the autumn leaves when the winter comes to the barren trees
    • There is birth, there is death, there is a plan
    • And there's just one God and there's just one Man
    • That can give us life, that can make us grow, that can make our sins as white as snow
  • The Dharma of the Four Philosophies of India:
    • Duty, virtue in introspection, "looking within"

  2.3.3 Symbology of the Animals of the West (Wilson VFEM)

  

  • 2.3.3.1 Eagle (Wilson VFEM 26)

    • Most powerful and most majestic of all birds
    • Highest flying of all birds
    • Eagle people
      • Are in close contact with the most powerful and most majestic of all the spirits
        • Great Spirit or Creator God
      • They fly the highest spiritually and philosophically
      • Amerindians recognize them as shamen, the medicine people
        • The true priests and ministers in our world
        • Who fly the highest and come closest to the deity
        • We all need to have an eagle person in our lives
    

  • 2.3.3.2 Butterfly (Wilson VFEM 21)

    • Makes transistion from egg to larvae stage
      Then to cocoon stage, and finally to butterfly stage
    • The air dancer, it represents balance, ever changing, ever moving
    • It represents the element of air
    • Butterfly people
      • Are experiencing an incarnation of the Great Spirit within them
      • Their air dance is delightful and beautiful
      • Bring a sense of grace and balance to our lives
      • bring to us the medicine power of self-transformation
    

  • 2.3.3.3 Bat (Wilson VFEM 20)

    • Hangs upside down in cave
      • A symbol of death
    • Flies out into open
      • A symbol of life
    • Hibernates during extra cold seasons
    • Revived when their environment warms up again
    • Bat people
      • Easily experience death sociologially, spiritually, philosophically
        • To family or any other group
        • To concepts, etc.
      • Discover birth/rebirth or new life in new ways
      • Seem to be indifferent to sociological surroundings
        • If they feel people are cold towards them
        • But will come alive around people who are warm towards them
      • Theirs is the medicine power of rebirth
    

  • 2.3.3.4 Grouse (Wilson VFEM 28)

    • Has dull feathers
    • Grows to about the size of a large chicken
    • Feathers hid nostrils
    • These birds usually live in high or northern places
    • Feathers cover legs of most species to keep them from freezing
    • Build nests on ground in well hidden places
    • They dance the spiral dance
    • Grouse people will teach you the spiral dance
      • The dance of birth and rebirth
      • The sacred whirlwind dance which will take you to the center of your spiritual life
        • The Sacred Altar
      • Here you will transcend to higher stages of awareness of the God that is within you
      • This is their medicine power

• 2.3.4 Other Associations

  • Native American Associations:
    • Wilson: Eagle, Autumn
    • Sun Bear: Mudjekeewis, Bear
  Introduction: Page One ~ | ~ Page Two ~ | ~ Page Three ~ | ~ Page Four ~ | ~ Page Five ~ | ~
  ~ | ~ Sacred Altar ~ | ~ East ~ | ~ South ~ | ~ West ~ | ~ North ~ | ~
  Inner Circle: Owl ~ | ~ Cougar ~ | ~ Hawk ~ | ~ Coyote ~ | ~ Wolf ~ | ~ Bear ~ | ~ Raven ~ | ~
  Outer Circle: Snow Goose ~ | ~ Otter ~ | ~ Cougar ~ | ~ Hawk ~ | ~ Beaver ~ | ~ Deer ~ | ~
  ~ | ~ Flicker ~ | ~ Sturgeon ~ | ~ Bear ~ | ~ Raven ~ | ~ Snake ~ | ~ Elk ~ | ~ Blue ~ | ~

  Medicine Wheels Native American Medicine Wheel Roy Wilson's Combined Wheel Grey Wolf's Earthweb Other Medicine Wheels The Four Directions and Paths The Twelve Earthly Moons Native American Links	© 1997-2005 Refiner of Gold Creations Created 1/13/2002 by EMC, Updated 4/10/2005.