Sometimes symbols with meaning will pop up in the most unsuspecting places. I've loved eating the cereal "Lucky Charms" since I was a kid, and partly because of the neat little marshmallow "marbits" in the different shapes. Never mind that the rest of the oat cereal had charm shapes too - those marshmallows fascinated me.

When the advertisers stepped up their campaign to sell them to children in recent years, I noticed them all over again. Even though I never really stopped eating them, I just haven't had them as often because the so-called "adult" cereals were less expensive for my strained budget. (This too has changed!)

I used to draw some the shapes from the "charms" on bits of paper along with my favorite symbols. So they had a little bit o' meaning to me. A couple years ago, I noticed that there were some similarities to the Medicine Wheel - numbers, colors, shape meanings, etc. It was then that I set out to see if they would "fit" the wheel. Surprisingly they came pretty close, so I drew up a wheel and placed them in it. The drawing here is one of the products of this little experiment. Then they did a new commercial and added a fresh batch of charms to the mix - "crystal balls" in four colors. Ironically, this "completed" my wheel, which was missing four pieces! I will post the wheel when I have it completed.

More charms (marbits) have been made since, and ironically there seems to be a place for them too. I did a bit of research on the history of the marbits and their shapes, though it would seem that the data available is limited to the memory of Lucky Charms fans, though I happen to have some of the missing tidbits in my own collection of memorabilia. This page is definitely due for some updates, including links to the websites I found.

Circle of Seven

Here are the original marshmallow shapes in their original colors

Directions and Paths

The first two outer shapes on these direction-paths are recent and current shapes in their colors.

Paths

The third shape inward on each direction-path represent the four shapes/colors that are no longer in use from the original seven.