Introduction
The medicine wheel, also known as the medicine hoop, is a symbol used by Indigenous Native American tribes for healing. The symbol can take various forms, but in all cases, the wheel is separated into four distinct sections or directions, demonstrating the existing connections in the world from the Native American tribes’ perspective. The essay will explain how the Medicine Wheel is aligned with the Native American people’s worldview.
The Medicine Wheel and the Native American Worldview
Firstly, the symbol of the Medicine Wheel can be perceived as a representation of existing connections between the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual realms. Native Americans’ understanding of medicine extends to symbols and amulets; therefore, they associate the direct image of the world’s structure with the body’s ecosystem and health (Presley, 2021).
The concept of the four worlds is often met in Native American culture and directly connects with the creation story. The story explains that there were three other worlds with different living creatures that existed before the creation of the fourth world, in which people live now. Thus, the story aligns with Native Americans’ worldview of interconnectedness in nature and people’s place in the world.
Furthermore, the distinction of four different sections is aligned with the role of four different winds in Native American tribes’ worldviews. The directions created by four different winds are associated with different seasons, stages in an individual’s life, and other aspects of Native American people’s lives. For example, the southern wind is aligned with summer and birth, while the northern wind is associated with winter and death.
Conclusion
Therefore, using the Medicine Wheel for healing is directly connected with the Indigenous worldview. The Medicine Wheel symbol demonstrates the natural course of life in Native American tribes’ understanding and aligns with the story of the world’s creation. Thus, by using the Medicine Wheel symbol and amulets in healing rituals, Native Americans called for order and harmony in the human body ecosystem to improve their health.
Reference
Presley, R. (2021). Kincentricity and Indigenous wellbeing: Food(ways) and/as holistic health in the native Medicine Wheel. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, 4(2), 126-167. Web.