I was given a wonderful gift today!  I was invited to attend a a First Nation’s (Indian) Medicine Wheel ceremony.  I had no idea what to expect and was a little unsure of my welcome because I wasn’t native. 

When I arrived, the person who had invited me wasn’t there (she actually didn’t come for another two hours) but I was warmly welcomed and immediately included in the circle of people sitting together under the canopy (it was cloudy, cool and threatening rain).  When I looked around, I relaxed immediately because at least half, if not more of the people were not native.

I learned that a true Medicine Wheel lasts for several days instead of the one day event I was at and the whole theme is tied to nature.  The Wheel itself is divided into four parts: earth, air, fire and water and a great  reverence and gratitude  is shown for the blessings we receive from nature.

I wasn’t able to stay for the whole day and won’t go into all of the details but everybody in the circle spoke at least twice.  There were a couple of quotes made by different people in the group that impressed me. 

1.  Freedom is doing what you want to do but liberty is doing what is right.

2.  The greatest religion is a religion of love and prayer is the language of your heart.

One thing that each person did was bring a stone, which could be used in one of two ways.  It could be used as a prayer stone where you would instill into the stone what your desire was.  The other way is a profoundly useful tool for reducing stress.  You could instill all of your anger or pain from an experience into the stone.  When everyone was  ready, the stones were buried in the ground around the medicine wheel.  This could be symbolic of eliminating the pain from your own body and spirit and burying it forever.

I hope that I have understood and translated what I saw and heard today correctly.  If I haven’t, please reply and correct me.  I only had a taste of what I thought was a very moving, special experience today.  I believe that truth and beauty can be found in all religions and beliefs. 

I also believe in the importance of creating memories and grabbing opportunities when they come.  In the end, that is all we have is the memories of what we’ve experienced in our lives.  I don’t want to get to the end of mine having regrets for lost opportunities to learn, grow, experience and touch other’s lives for good.