Medicine Wheel

Its been one day since I have returned from our annual Sisters of the Craft yearly trip/get together.  This year we chose to venture out West and visit a few Sacred and National Treasures.

The main highlight and what I wanted to do most was to visit the Medicine Wheel in Big Horn National Forest.  It's always been a dream of mine to visit this special and sacred place.  When I first started out on my path I was most drawn to spiritual concepts I found in Native American History.  Though I am a devout daughter of Herne (still to this day even with not being able to eat alot of the hunt because of my medical issues) the respect for the cycle of life remains intact.

Last year when I was diagnosed with Kidney disease my first diagnose was not the greatest.  My doc originally thought that I would be on dialysis sooner than expected.  Here we are a year later!  I currently do not need dialysis and do not see the need for it in the immediate future (ok so the 2 years has turned to 5 years).  If we are able to control both my Lupus (recently diagnosed earlier this year and the current thought of the cause) and stop the regression of my Kidney Disease I can live a long, healthy and normal life span as most people not sick at all.  At least that is my ultimate goal.

When I was in the hospital last year, both myself and a few of my Covenmates were going through some really hard medical times.  We decided together that if we got thru this past year we would reward ourselves with a Sacred Journey.  As we discussed the many options, Wyoming kept coming up.  One of us had family there that could offer an offset of financial obligations such as extra hotel rooms.  We agreed that this would be our next sacred journey together.

So last week we packed my car and headed out West.  Here are a few photos.

The Medicine Wheel

Various Prayer Bundles and Ribbons tied to the Wheel's safety barrier.

The first challenge of the journey is making it up the mountain because you have to walk the 1+ miles up and down the mountain's path just to get to the wheel.  It included up the mountain, down the mountain, up the mountain once again, plus a final very steep incline to reach the top where the wheel is located.  Thankfully there were a few benches we could stop, rest, and take in the spectacular view.

Even with some snow present in places the climb up left me very hot to where I took off my jacket to make it up the mountain and give my back a chance to breathe.  It was very cloudy and also hazey that day from the many Forest Wildfires in the area and the surrounding states that caused the sky to be covered.

As I was walking around the Wheel (counterclockwise which is a sign of respect for those visiting the wheel as the current tribes still using the wheel request) I received many messages and thoughts of things I needed to take of in my life.  Most of them involved with Healing, Cleansing and Swifting.  I also aquired a new energy that was not present before and also made it down the mountain with only one stop on the way down.  The Ranger at the bottom of the mountain who was switching shifts (she was coming down from being at the top of the mountain once we got there) was able to time me on the way down.  She said that for me being a big girl I made it in great time.  It takes her 45 minutes a day one way to make it either up or down the mountain.  I know it took us alot longer getting up the mountain because of the amount of inclines but on my final way down it took me one hour to get down the mountain.  I am very proud of myself physically being able to do this much less be only 15 minutes behind the ranger that walks it several times during the day (therefore being much fitter than I am).


I felt that visiting this Sacred Place was very important to my well being both medically and spiritually.  I do tend on blogging more about this place and trip later on when I have recovered from the journey.  We had many "little sleep" nights as we tried jam packing as much opportunities into our daily schedule that involved waking up very very early to going to bed very very late. (Roughly we were sleeping from midnight to 5am if we were lucky, LOL). 

If you are able to make a spiritual journey or are looking to visit a Sacred Place, please consider visiting the Medicine Wheel.  You won't be disappointed! 

Blessed Be,

Crystal T.