Having been recently married, I found I wanted to make something for my beautiful new Wife, that represented my feelings not only for her, I also wanted to share my feelings about our marriage.
Some of you know both myself and my new Bride Cindy from here on the site, what you don't know is, we have known each other for over 18 years and by Grandfathers Grace, after 8 years loss of communication and seperation we were able to find each other once again and begin our life together denied us for reasons I am not at liberty to discuss. Also, for the record, I have been a devout Christian all my life, Cindy is not. I had better get this right. Cindy is akin to the Aboriginal Spiritualism.
That being said....
I have taken some time to study Cindy's Spiritualism and found many things interesting that fit in with my own Spiritualism. One thing however I found that isn't in any of my Christian teachings ( there are more of course) is the Medicine Wheel. Very interested am I. What I have found is this. The Medicine Wheel is a circle ( that which neither begins, nor ends) with 4 directional spokes within it's ring. Generally representing North, South, East and West, all meeting in the center or hub if you will to create a middle ground. It's called balance or harmony. Those directions or spokes have many meanings to many different folks. Some of these meanings are, Stages of Life, The Seasons, Aspects of Life, Animals, The Elements of Natural Life and so on. All explainations are in groups of 4. The 4 meanings I have given to my gift to Cindy have meanings only to the two of us, but I see them as fitting all around. Those meanings are Love, Respect, Trust and Passion.
All of these are needed for a balanced and meaningful marriage right? So here we go!
Right after our Wedding and way to short honeymoon, we came home to Canada to begin our path together. We went on our first ( of many I hope) long 10km or better walks together in one of the beautiful Conservation areas. In our path I found a vine, detached from the main root system dying, yet alive still. So my creative thought began, and home it went. We had some Hemp twine at home and the creation of our Medicine Wheel was born. I decided that I wanted to make the spokes out a boondoggle. The boondoggle is a weaved pattern of any string like material usually woven with 2 strands of material. I decided to use 4 strands to encompass all 4 aspects of my meaning, Love, Respect, Trust and Passion. All 4 points connected by weaving them together in the center hub or what I like to say is our Middle Ground or Marital Harmony point. The Wheel is complete right? Not yet.......We had gone to Michaels Craft and Hobby store and found some Natural small stones and some Turquoise figures along with some thin Hemp twine. On the East spoke outer rim I attached a string of the Natural stones with feathers at the base and A Turquoise Turtle for Cindys Aboriginal Beliefs for Mother Earth, Fertility and of course the Trust Aspect. On the West spoke I did the same with the exception of I replaced the Turtle with a Turquoise Cross symbilizing my Christian Faith and the Passion aspect...( After all I am da Tazzie) On the South spoke I strung fewer stones to a base of A Mountain Bluebird feather and a Turquoise Owl, This is for not only the Wisdom and Guidance needed to enjoy a healthy marriage, it also is attached to the Respect aspect of the Wheel, for without mutual Respect there is no marriage. The North spoke is the point where it is mounted to the wall, firmly and solid to represent the Love aspect attached with another binder....a Silver nail.....
From the Vine to the Hemp to the Silver Nail and everything in between all represent the bindings needed for a marriage. All Natural and all things used since the beginning of time to present as bindings. After all isn`t marriage a bond between two people whom Vow themselves to each other forever. Bound together....When Cindy and I may find ourselves in a moment of question, we can both look at the Wheel and once again find our Middle Ground, our Marital Harmony.....so that we may maintain our bond of Love, Respect, Trust and Passion.............
