In the Lakota Tradition:

I was taught this tradition as an undergraduate at the University of St. Thomas as part of the Student Spiritual Direction department. I studied with original peoples as well as other European Americans. While we researched wheel traditions of Hopi, Ojibwe and Navajo, we concentrated on the Lakota Wheel.

The concept is many fold. The characters sitting in each direction depict universal archetypes relating to the energies of each direction. They live in the cultural conciousness and they live inside each of us. This tool is a way to dialogue with these archetypes externally as they are played out by the individual sitting in that direction and assuming the character. Yet it also serves as a tool for structured internal dialogue as an individual can assume each of these characters and search these aspects and perspectives within.

My Lakota teacher encouraged us to learn the directional characters of the Lakota tradition while honoring similar characters from our own cultural heritage.

These are the basic descriptions of the directions as they were given to me along with my notes relating these characters to my experiences with Celtic and Nordic Archetypes:

North East - The Pattern Keepers - Male then Female in energy.
I think of her as Spider Woman of Hopi traditions. Her job is to keep the integrity of the circle throughout the ritual. These people see the gestalt - the whole. They are the web weavers, the fates, Spider Woman, the ones whose permission is needed and whose final word is law. These people are very intuitive, can sense energy shifts, have an eye and ear for Truth and worthiness. If the questioner is allowed to enter they proceed to the East.

East - The Fools - Two Male Energies
Other names for this character are Coyote, Loki (in Nordic tradition), the adversary. The quick wit of the rising sun, the mirror back on ourselves. The Maiden. Idea hatcher, lover of jolly good fun, the new moon. Spring Equinox.

South East - Tradition - Female then Male Energy
Tradition sits next to the Fool. This is the character within ourselves that holds knowlege of the way things have always been done. Tradition answers the seeker's Fool's question from the standpoint of history. This position gives us the framework, the boundaries, the reference points and the lessons learned from the past. May Eve or Beltane on the wheel of the year. Wheel of the Year

South - The Warriors - Female then Male Energies
The attributes of the South are personified is the warrior. The heat of passion, the heart center, the noontime sun, Summer. The full Moon. The Warrior is the character of action and has the special function of protecting the children's fire in the center of the circle. The Mother protecting her children without thinking, only feeling. The Warrior will answer the question from this place of the heart and with the sacred duties in heart. Summer Solstice.

Center - While the questioner does not go to the center it is important to know that the Grandparents (who are the past) sit on either side of the children (who are the future) at the fire in the center of the circle. The children's fire must never be allowed to die or be threatened in any way. This way we protect the past and the future.

South West - The Shamman - Female then Male Energies
Facing the Pattern Keeper, a shaman is nothing without a community to serve. They are the healers, the interpreters of dreams, the keepers of the faith. They rely on the Pattern Keepers for balance and grounding when they are in their states of ecstasy. The will answer the questioner with psychic insight mixed with the health of the community and the individual in their thoughts. Lughnasaad, the first harvest.

West - The Witches - Two Female Energies
The Crone, the waning moon, wise woman, she doesn't care about community per se. Like the Fool opposite her, she is only interested in her own knowlege. She is in control of the Magick, the dreamtime, the setting sun, the autumn time. She will sacrifice the grain god with no remorse. She is sexuality and opperates out of the sensual where the Fool operates out of the intellectual. Fall Equinox.

North West - The Tribal Chiefs - Male then Female Energies
Sitting accross from Tradition, the Tribal Chief is the one who will weigh the information and give answers/make decisions for the general workings of the Tribe. Where we will hunt in the Fall, when we will travel in the Spring, whether we will make war or peace. They are the diplomats in this great circle of opposites and strong personalities! They are gathering information, listening hard. While the Shamman is concerned with the individual as part of the whole and the pattern keeper is concerned with the whole as part of the universal, the Tribal Chief sits opposite Tradition who has knowlege of the history of the whole and makes decisions about what the whole might be. Samhain, Halloween, the sacrifice of the King.

North - The Creators - Male then Female Energies
First thought woman- The Logos, the sun when it has set, no moon, Winter and the dark secret knowlege of creation, the void womb before conception. The creator will answer questions from the logical and scientific. The Creator can answer the why of things because she creates everything. Sitting opposite the Warrior whose passion and heat are like the woman giving birth, North is the conception. Winter Solstice.

North East - the Pattern Keeper - Male then Female Energies
Addressed at the end of the ritual, he decides whether the participants were truly in their architypal character or answering out of personal opinion. If the integrity of the wheel has been upheld, the seeker is free to depart and ponder the answers given by the archetypes. Imbolc, the blessing of the seeds to start the process again.

Using this tool:

1. Get to know these characters

It is said that we carry the wheel within us. Each of us carries these characters. Indeed I have witnessed over the years that each of my many parts relate to these characters and that taken as a whole, create a whole individual within me. Through the ritual process of meditation, chanting, masking, and art the individual grows a relationship with each of these characters and their aspects. As we study these characters within ourselves and incorporate their lessons we become whole beings. Too many of us are shattered souls, thinking of ourselves as only one or two characters.

2. Seeking the wisdom

The wheel is used to answer questions for individuals, groups, or whole communities. A community can call a circle together for ritual, for celebration, or to seek aid by posing a question to the archetypes sitting in each direction. The wheel and all it's characters live in each individual. Therefore, one can consult all of the characters by becoming each one in turn on their own. This, however, takes a good deal of discipline, practice, and honesty. Traditionally, the members of our tribe or family will take positions in the circle to represent the specific archetype which lives in that direction.

The circle is called. The Gateway to the circle is the North East corner. One asks permission to enter the circle here. Once gaining entrance to the wheel, the seeker poses their question to the Fool in the East. The Fool, who is the mirror of our souls, responds with a question, the real question. The seeker then takes this question to the rest of the wheel.

If there are two people in each direction, each person in the character of their direction answers. If there is only one person in each direction, there is only one answer from each direction in a clockwise manner. As they reach the Pattern Keeper, the entrance and exit to the circle, the sum total of the answers given sheds an amazing light on the initial quandry. The Pattern Keeper has kept track of the circle, the participants, and the integrity of the ritual.

3. The Ego among the Archetypes

The only ego allowed in the ritual is that of the questioner. Those sitting in the positions of the characters are trained to absorb that character completely. Masks are a help to this as well as intensive study of the energies connected to each character. There are stories and songs from the Lakota tradition designed to teach these characters from a young age. Knowing them, understanding and incorporating them into our lives is the process of creating a unified being. If the Pattern Keeper suspects that ego has slipped into a directional character's answer, she will send the questioner out without a final answer and the process will have to be repeated.

In my life, I have constantly referred to these characters to help me understand these aspects of myself. I use this wheel tool in structured self examination and internal dialogue. I use this tool in performance ritual, in writing and have developed a model of hemesphericity and brain composition through this tool.

Circle Exercises

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