MEDICINE WHEEL PARK L2L Group 7 INTRODUCTION TO MEDICINE WHEEL PARK In 1992, Professor Joe Stickler and his students began building Medicine Wheel Park. The project grew tremendously, involving not only the students, but also the entire community of Valley City, ND. The Park features the horizon calendar (the medicine wheel) and the meridian calendar (the noontime calendar). The Park covers a 30- acre area. That area includes Native American burial mounds, a solar system model, the North Country National Scenic Trail, as well as other nature trails, and several overlooks of the Sheyenne River Valley and Valley City. THE MEDICINE WHEEL The Medicine Wheel, located in Medicine Wheel Park in Valley City, ND features a large circle, 213 feet around. There are twenty-eight spokes leaving the center of the Wheel that represent the number of days in the lunar cycle. Six of these spokes extend beyond the Wheel. They are aligned to the horizon positions of sunrises and sunsets that we see on the first day of each season (summer, winter, fall, and spring). The Medicine Wheel in Valley City was inspired by the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. It reflects the elegance of Earths movement around the Sun and the cycle of the seasons. The Wheel stands as a multicultural symbol that celebrates the Native American discovery of the Suns path and cycle of seasons. PURPOSE OF THE WHEEL In Native American spirituality, the Medicine Wheel represents harmony and connections and is considered a major symbol of peaceful interaction among all living beings on Earth. The term "medicine wheel" was first applied to the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming, the most southern and one of the largest in existence. One purpose is to give reverence and thanks to all the four directions of Great Spirit, relating also to the four great kinds of Life - mineral, plant, animal, and human. Great Spirit Sky and also Great Mother Earth all enter into this as well. Another purpose is to understand and balance the four great parts of our own beingphysical, emotional, mental, and soul power. So one purpose is to give respects to Our Relations, while another purpose is to develop balance and harmony in our own self. PURPOSE OF THE WHEEL A Medicine Wheel can be used: as a sacred space as an aid to meditation as an altar as a centering device for one's consciousness as a protector as a framework in which to honor the forces of Nature and the levels of being. BUILDING THE WHEEL The Medicine Wheel is a made up of rock placements used to tell the seasons of the year. With 28 rock lines protruding out from the center representing the 28 days of the lunar cycle. Also the Medicine Wheel has the placement of the planets in our solar system using boulders titled with each planet. All of these formations revolving around the center of the wheel with red rocks symbolizing the sun. DR.STICKLER Was a professor in the Department of Science at VCSU. He has been apart of the medicine wheel for 21 years. From , Joes astronomy class worked at the medicine wheel. He often dressed as a wizard, appearing every spring and fall to kick off the new season with his unique chants to welcome the new season.