The modern Medicine Wheel symbol was invented as a teaching tool in about 1972 by Charles Storm, aka Arthur C. Storm, writing under the name Hyemeyohsts Storm. It has since been used by various people to symbolize a variety of concepts, some based on

Native American religion Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...

s, others newly invented and of more

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

orientation. It is also a common symbol in some

pan-Indian Pan-Indianism is a philosophical and political approach promoting unity, and to some extent cultural homogenization, among different Indigenous groups in the Americas regardless of tribal distinctions and cultural differences. This approach to ...

and

twelve-step Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), aided its member ...

recovery groups.

Recent invention

Charles Storm, pen name Hyemeyohsts Storm, was the son of a German immigrant who claimed to be

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

; he misappropriated and misrepresented Native American teachings and symbols from a variety of different cultures, such as some symbolism connected to the

Plains In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In ...

Sun dance The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains cultures. It usually involves the community gathering together to pray for healing. Individuals ...

, to create the modern Medicine Wheel symbol around 1972. Subsequently Vincent LaDuke (a

spiritual leader going by the name Sun Bear), who was of

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

descent, started also using the Medicine Wheel symbol, combining the basic concept with pieces of disparate spiritual practices from various

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

cultures, and adding elements of new age and

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

spiritualism. LaDuke self-published a newsletter and several books, and formed a group of followers that he named the Bear Tribe, of which he appointed himself the medicine chief. For a fee, his mostly wealthy and white followers attended his workshops, joined his "tribe", and could buy titles and honors that are traditionally reserved for respected elders and knowledge keepers. For these activities LaDuke was denounced and picketed by the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police ...

. Graham Harvey, ed. ''Shamanism: A Reader.'' New York and London: Routledge, 2003. . pp.328-330 -

protests Sun Bear's Medicine Wheel Gatherings. Storm and LaDuke have been described as " plastic medicine men". They and others who have used this symbol to introduce their own ideas into what they claim are Native American and First Nations teachings have been accused by traditional Natives and activists of harming and displacing traditional teachings for financial motives. Others using the symbol for profit have added in ideas from Ancient Greek and Persian philosophy, ideas founded in colonialism, teachings from Hinduism, what they claim is Celtic symbolism, or concepts from

New Religious Movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

Wicca Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...

.Aldred, Lisa, " Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality" in: ''The American Indian Quarterly'' issn.24.3 (2000) pp.329-352. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Symbolism

While some of the symbols and teachings used with some versions of the Medicine Wheel may have grounding in some First Nations cultures, and these particular teachings may go back hundreds, if not thousands of years, critics assert that the

context it is usually placed in can too easily displace the unique, traditional teachings of sovereign tribes, bands and Nations, and in some cases even replace traditional ways with new age, fraudulent ones.

writers tend to center the idea of the medicine wheel as an individualistic tool of personal development, and use a stylized version with the circle divided into colored quadrants, with various personal qualities assigned to the colors and quadrants. This redefinition is in stark contrast to the Indigenous view of ceremony and sacred sites being rooted in the community rather than the individual. In most versions, the four quadrants of the symbol are variously said to represent the four

cardinal directions The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are a ...

, four stages of life, four "races" of humanity, some selection of four "important

virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standard ...

s", or almost anything that can be divided by four. The symbol is constantly being reinterpreted for different purposes, however there are many common interpretations to the Medicine Wheel, as shown below: Alice Kehoe writes that Native medicine wheel rites, along with other indigenous observance of the cyclical patterns in

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

and

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

, are one of the reasons natives are supposed " more spiritual" than non-natives.Kehoe, Alice B., 1990 "Primal Gaia: Primitivism and Plastic Medicine Men" in ''The Invented Indian'', ed. J. A. Clifton. New Brunswick NJ: Transaction Books, pp. 193–209.

References

{{Reflist Native American culture First Nations culture Symbols Cultural appropriation

Recent invention

Symbolism

See also

References