Medicine Wheel part two
Picking up the thread from yesterday…
https://debra152.substack.com/p/medicine-wheel-with-hyemeyohsts-storm
Picking up the thread from yesterday…
In the Medicine Wheel teaching, old age is regarded very differently than in our culture. Instead of being a time of decline, it becomes a time of greatest responsibility, fruition, power…and purpose.
We are heavily programmed throughout our lives for sickness, aging, decay, and death. Our lives are laid out before us in relentless and ruthless detail…and the body follows the mind.
In my travels, I have discovered that Americans have the worst expectations on aging…and then we go on to fulfill them! I had the opportunity to taste life outside the confines of America and it opened my eyes to better possibilities.
There is a part of me that has always rejected our sour outlook.
Death and taxes..inevitable they cry! Alright…so I pay taxes, but I really think that fallen society gets it wrong.
The Easter message says that death is the final enemy… It says also that ‘death could not hold him’.
The great Teacher and Way-shower inviting us into Sonship…into our full potential.
(you see how the message was hi-jacked…)
Medicine Wheel teaching is more aligned with those ideas…
Maturity / old age as a time of coming into power. A time when you gather up what you have learned in your experience of Life…A time of using your accumulated power to shape the future for the next generations...and the ones to follow. It is also a time to become stronger…not weaker…certainly not feeble, beyond what is absolutely necessary. A time for turning those things into medicine…and not poison.
Contrast these ideas with what we, as a culture, have absorbed… Without going into tiresome detail, we have lost our way...and we unknowingly turn our backs on the most dynamic snd potent chapter of Life. Instead we throw our hands up helplessly and bemoan the state of the world. We create an undertow…Life’s opposite. I could go on, but I’d rather not…
Another dimension of Medicine Wheel teaching is hugely helpful here!
Think of yourself as that embryonic self entering into the Medicine Wheel of Life…a tiny dot at the center. You begin your journey around the Wheel, day by day. season by season and year by year. Just like a tree… Each year is another ring of your tree…your life experience.
You grow into a baby, then a child, a youth and then a mature human. You pass through each season, again and again. Each with its lessons, tasks and challenges.
You go from seedling to tender and vulnerable sapling, then on to a mature tree. You weather every kind of storm, heat, cold, and welcome warmth in ongoing cycles. Seasons of growth, bearing fruit, shedding of the old and rest before beginning again.
We are formed of all these things. Nature is an apt Teacher. A generous Provider.
Now let’s take this into a certain setting…
This could be any place in America, but, in my case, it was the Midwest…
As I mentioned in the first part of this post, I went through an upheaval and a stripping away of my old life. There was a time of healing, rest and then preparation for the next chapter…at the age of 50. I didn’t realize until later that 50 is a pivotal marker in one’s spiritual life. You begin to learn service from a deeper part of self.
A lot of my earlier experiences were now woven into a new form…and a new classroom. I opened a Thai massage practice in a once-thriving town in Indiana…
I witnessed the decline of the GM factories and their town. People had been very successful and were looking forward to their ‘golden years’. But things were not turning out as they expected
Factories closed earlier than expected, There were forced buyouts. Their jobs were heading south. They had not planned or saved. They thought that they could keep taking advantage of the perks. They took vacations at every opportunity, they bought new cars every two years….and all the rest. They failed to support the companies so their children would have jobs in the future. The seasons of life were turning.
Just as they were ‘living the dream’ and lusting for more, things took a series of turns. Their parents now needed care and it fell to them to provide for them. It wasn’t long before their kids and grandkids were moving back in with them after their divorces. In other scenarios, the kids were on drugs and they suddenly had to adopt the grandkids. There were no jobs for the next generation.
They hated their lives! They couldn’t reconcile their pursuit of happiness with the harsh realities they were now facing. Their dreams were evaporating. Harsh stuff that they weren’t physically, emotionally or financially prepared for.
They felt bitter, sometimes suicidal, angry that their ‘disney world’ plans were being so hideously deconstructed.
I’d been through that process myself and I had to find a way to begin again and have strength and will to live. I prayed for some way to help them. What came to me was the Medicine Wheel teaching…
Again…We enter the Medicine Wheel of Life as a dot in the center. We begin to move around our wheel...like the rings of a tree. Each of us has 3 or 4 core issues to
develop in this lifetime. Identify them...your core issues.
For instance, it could be marriage and family, serving your community, the Body (sports, dance, being a doctor or nurse, etc.), developing gifts of music, literature, arts, science, philosophy. Earth-based studies, science, archaeology. Spirituality might be a teacher.
Concentrate on learning those lessons. You don’t have to bother with the rest. As you go round and round, year by year, you will revisit each in turn, growing a bit more each time around.
It’s like going from 1st grade math to 5th grade math to calculus and higher math. It
is learned layer by layer…from simplicity to complexity.
Add into the mix that we are eternal souls. This life is a stage of growth on a much larger continuum.
In our limited minds, we might think “Damn! Here I am AGAIN dealing with the same old crap. It’s wearin’ me out! Will I ever get past these things?! This is not fun! This is not the way I want my life to go! “
In actuality, you are simply making your way around your medicine wheel again…learning and growing a little more each time. Nothing to feel bad about!
It doesn’t help that the pursuit of happiness has been drummed into us as the ideal. We naturally want that. But that may not be the soul’s agenda or the best plan.
In the surrounding culture, most people just want to be big, spoiled, fat, self-centered babies. They want to be coddled, taken care of and live on a diet of mindless entertainment and junk food.
Definitely missing the Big Picture.
They don’t like growing up! They are intent on regressing to babyhood again as they grow older.
They get pretty gnarly when it doesn’t go that way for them.
But, from the perspective of Reality,...
We are eternal, tireless and ever growing into the magnificence that is still somewhat hidden from view. Each time we go around the Medicine Wheel, we revisit the same core issues, learn a little more and continue on.
Like the tree’s rings, each trip around the core issue is longer...and the lessons a little more challenging and complex...all as it should be. Divine Beings are being formed.
You learn to shift your perspective, embrace the next challenges and rely on the fact that we are eternal and tireless in this world of energy.
Our finite minds (what the Thai people call the ‘monkey mind’) will fuss and fume
and cry ‘What about MEEEEEEEEE???!!!
The monkey mind part of us will never understand. But a better part of us knows that struggle brings growth and forges character.
Each student is in their own classroom. Like classrooms anywhere, you have fast learners, slow learners and kids that don’t want to learn at all.
Go at your own good pace and don’t give too much thought to the others. Just do your
classroom well. Don’t let the others grieve your spirit. They will have some making up to do by shirking their work. None of our concern... Karma is pretty reliable..
Scripture says that “we go from strength to strength and glory to glory.”
(‘glory’ translates as Light)
Our culture teaches the opposite!
Many times in Scripture we are presented with a choice…
We are invited to “Choose Life!”
I spent a little time re-wiring my approach to Life! I realized that I couldn’t have it both ways…nor could I afford to be sloppy about it!
I had to choose…and keep learning and choosing. I had to unlearn the culture and work on the livelier side of the equation.
I would reap the results either way!
I felt Spirit’s prompting and help all along the way. There were many unexpected, sly and comedic moments…much gentle encouragement, as well.
It was as if I had finally started asking the right questions…and answers flowed in.
I hope these teachings have helped… Thanks for reading! Feel free to like, share, subscribe, comment and restack…
I’ll leave you with one more of Hyemeyohsts Storm’s teachings
The Twenty Great TeachersDebra Robinson·November 14, 2025
For those of you who are interested in the study of humans, this is what our Zero Chiefs Discovered about the Twenty Great Teachers of Life.
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