Medicine Wheel

Medicine Wheel. Stone Circles. , Thousands of stone circles lie scattered over the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountains. What were they used for? , Over 100 of these stone circles are known as Medicine Wheels. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is probably the most well known and sacred to most American Indian people. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel was formed by laying rocks in a circle approximately eighty feet in diameter with twenty-eight lines or spokes radiating from the center to the outer rim. The arrangement of the stones is in the form of a "wheel." , Circles that are 12 to 18 feet in diameter were used in many cases to anchor the buffalo hide walls of teepees against the wind. Indian people also cleared off smaller plots, by casting rocks aside, creating a place to rest called "sleeping circles." , Even smaller stone rings one or two feet in diameter were used as hearths for cooking. , Side-bar, left: , "Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round. The earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, as so it is in everything where the power moves." , The circle is the essence of Native American life. The Medicine Wheel structure embodies this. It is a place where many have experienced their vision quest, a place of ritual, a place of prayer, a place of lasting vision." -- Black Elk ~ Lakota Sioux , Side-bar, right: , Many circles, like the Medicine Wheel may have ceremonial functions and often possess great significance to American Indian people. Federal Law protects them; please respect both the Law and the traditions beliefs of your fellow citizens.