Visit to a Healing Circle or Medicine Wheel, Part 3.
Read Part One here and Part Two here.
Designs, rituals and stories to model off and provide inspiration
One friend’s story: Having determined that a part of his life wasn’t working right, especially in relationships, he determined to undertake the process.
He sat down in a quiet part of his yard and prayed for guidance and gave thanks in advance for whatever the outcome. He continued to sit in meditation and a vision came to him of a circle he was to prepare.
He was drawn to a local park were he gathered pine cones, and from his backyard, four house bricks were collected. Then he went to his shed and pulled out a tarp and an old abalone shell that had belonged to his grandfather.
The tarp was placed on the ground and the cones laid in a circle about twenty feet in diameter. In the center he placed the bricks, making a square with the points directed toward the compass points. He was drawn to place cones in a line from these points, out to the circumference, creating four wedges. In each corner of the brick square he placed a candle.
A little sand was put into the shell, as insulation on the bottom and white sage herb placed in it.
Now that his circle was ready, he prepared himself by lighting the sage and smudging himself and the circle. The 
smudge was then placed in the middle on the bricks to provide smoke to carry his prayers heaven ward.
He was drawn to sit quietly in the northeast corner and wait. After about thirty minutes his grandfather appeared to him and revealed or rather reminded him of some forgotten parts of his childhood. These were not good memories, but they were now there to be discussed between them, healing the issues.
Now with this understanding and wisdom he could see the blocks he created in relationships and how he would now conduct himself in a different manner.
After a while he thanked his grandfather and Great Spirit and his guides and exited his circle, which he then dismantled.
As you can see from his story your circle and ceremony can be simple. Or you may go on to make it as complex as you desire.
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A simple crystal circle was created by a client to overcome his depression. Many times a month he would bring them out and rearrange them on his lounge room floor. A task completed with lots of reverence. Sometimes he would just sit within, and other times he would chant or drum. After a couple of months he found his depression lifted and now when he feels it’s descent he seeks out his crystals and sits within for healing and the return to happiness.
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One morning an obnoxious and hard woman in her late 50’s arrived at our centre for healing. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was told she had six months at best left to live. Talking with her for just a short time, I thought ‘to exist and wallow’.
She was disappointed when told there was little we could do physically, but probably much we could do for her disposition. We then conducted a session in our healing circle at ‘Akasha Keep’, and advised a course of action.
Over the coming weeks she spent several hours a day at the beach, where she gathered up 32 stones to be used in her own circle. This was laid out on her back patio or veranda, with 7 stones placed in the middle, an outer circle and 4 
spokes coming into the center.
Daily she would come to her circle and having smudged, she would sit on a chair on the outer perimeter. Here she would do her best to clear her mind and prepare for her journey into her circle. Once she felt the right vibe she would enter and sit on her chair taken in with her until she was advised by those present with her to leave.
After a couple of weeks she was coming to terms with her prognosis, but more importantly was undertaking a massive journey of forgiveness and the allowance of grace. Following instructions received within her circle, she set out to contact and make right her grievances with family, friends and associates. She was not actively seeking their forgiveness, but where given it was gladly accepted. In all cases though she was there to forgive them the trespasses, real and imagined, she perceived were against her.
Drawing on her early upbringing, she daily began reciting “The Lord’s Prayer’ just before entering her circle. On one of her visits with me she told me of her understanding of these words and what they meant to her and the way she now lived her life.
Her “Healing Circle” certainly did that. Her last months were full of joy and she used all her energy to express the best of what she had to offer. She was no longer that mean, horrible women, that no one had time for. A person afraid of her death for she had a great fear of living, transformed to a wonderful human being, prepared for her transition into the next life.
One day, sitting in her circle, she changed her overcoat. The physical pain in those last days, one would imagine to be bordering on intolerable, yet she passed fully at peace with herself and her world due to the energies of her circle.
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A bag of pebbles is used regularly to create a circle, by Jonathon, a sales rep who spends most of his time on the road. He said he needs to travel light, so pebbles are ideal for his purpose.
In his travels he will often replace one with another from some new location. He does this as he is inspired to do so, conducting a little ceremony of thanks for the one being replaced for sharing part of the journey with him, and to welcome his new companion.
This changing of the guard, so to speak, he believes keeps introducing new and interesting energies and personalities into his energy sphere.
He likes to meditate and give thanks on a daily basis and finds that when he does so inside his circle set up on a motel floor or a local park, his efforts are all the more profound. When I fail to do this I find I lose the sacredness and strength of connection, he said.
Also my energy is maintained at a high level due to my ritual which helps to keep me at the top in my profession. Interestingly I haven’t had a ‘sickie’ over the years since I started meditating in my circle, he said.
Ron Windred
Tags: healing ceremony, healing circle, healing drums, medicine wheel, metaphysical, shamanic healing, wholly metaphysical
