Medicine Wheel

Medicine Wheel. The Sacred Circle. The white man called it the Medicine Wheel, but to many Native Americans Indians it is, "The Place Where the Eagle Lands." To many people it is a sacred place, and there are few that leave without experiencing something outside the ordinary. , It is perhaps the location of the Medicine Wheel that contributes so powerfully to a feeling of sacredness and agedness. Lying atop Medicine Mountain at nearly 10,00 feet, the weather here is as wild as the towering crags and sheer cliffs that define the mountain. Sleet, rain and snowstorms are common here, even in July. Streaks of jagged lightning, deafening thunder, and wind scream past the rocky embattlements. These are the forces that confronted the people who came here, ages ago, to build a place of ceremony and worship. , Some people believe that the Medicine Wheel is a vision quest site, a representation of the Sun Dance Lodge, a turtle effigy, or a place to mark the summer solstice. You, too, may find this place of renewal. , Side-bar, right: , "When we want wisdom we go up on the mountain and talk to the creator, four days and four nights without food and water. Yes, you can talk to the creator up on the mountain by yourself. You can say anything you want. Nobody is there to listen to you; it is between you and the creator and nobody else. It's a great feeling to be talking to the creator. In know, I have done it way up on the mountain. The wind blowing! It was dark! It was cold! I stood their and talked to the creator." -- Lakota Sioux , Native American Indian people from over eighty tribes use the Medicine Wheel for prayer and traditional ceremonies. Please protect fragile vegetation by walking only on the road and established paths, leave the site and traditional offerings as you found them. Respect the privacy of those here for meditation, inspiration, and solitude.