Customer Reviews

Dancing with the Wheel: The Medicine Wheel Workbook

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book provides the information needed to get a good understanding of the medicine wheel. Don't read it as a technical manual. Consider it to be your guide on your journey to yourself. It will give you clear info when you're ready for your next step. It is very nicely illustrated and very readable. It enables you to find info on animals, plants and minerals. It is a real workbook that can be used over and over and which doesn't lose its value over time. If you would only buy one book on this subject, this should be it!

This is my first book on medicine wheels and ceremonies. I first became interested when my family and I went to Sedona for Christmas a few years ago and spent the day with a woman who took us on a hike and did a drumming ceremony and visulaization. This book has excellent info that has not only helped me understand more of the background and meaning of the different ceremonies and symbolism but also the grounding to do them myself.

The first chapter (I love the title) is called "The Dance Begins." It steps through things like what a medicine wheel looks like, what it represents and how to make one. Then there is a section on "hearing the earth's song" - this is almost a meditation of sitting quietly and listening to your own heart beat and that of the earth. Then there are pages on the different clans (I especially love the Butterfly Clan). Ceremonies like smudging are described as well as centering through use of drums & rattles. There are chants to sing, discussion of the different pathways, using the medicine wheel for healing, using stones/minerals, totem animals. Plants are also discussed. Oversll quite a comprehensive book - one that can keep you busy for quite a long time because its so full of information and activities.

This book teaches us the how to communicate in a deeper and more personal way with ourselvs and the earth. It teaches us healing ceremonies and songs, it teaches us how to build our own wheels with the help of plants and stones and colors, with wonderful illustrations and instructions to guide us every step of the way. It will teach you how to see the spirit inside each living thing from the single stone on a trail to the mighty hawk high above us. I believe with the help of this book we as brothers and sisters can finially begin to heal our earth.

As with anything I have read by Sun Bear, I come away from this read with more insight than when I started. Explanations, exercises, & a brief history, help to expand my understanding of the Journey. Sun Bear does not take for granted that we know the reasoning or traditions behind ceremony, & takes the time to explain. I am grateful for the knowledge gained from this book, & I feel the bond between Great Spirit & myself has been strenghtened. Thank you.

I enjoyed each and every page of this book. The depth to which he explains the conecepts of and the actual construction of Medicine Wheels is mind boggling! I cannot wait to build my own Medicine Wheel out in the woods! GREAT reference book. Thank you, Sun Bear!

I learned about the medicine wheel many years ago; much of what I know was based on this book. Since I used another person's book those years ago, I needed a copy to review and increase my knowledge. I was most happy to find a used book in good condition for a reasonable price on Amazon.

At a first glance this book seems very cool. It's a lot of book for the money. It's tidy, with picturesque schemes, drawings and pictures. However, at a more careful reading, it sounds like a Native American version of the Western zodiac astrology. The wheel is split into four quadrants (the directions), each quadrant is divided into three sectors, thus making 12 "months" (aren't there 13 moons in the Native American tradition?). Each sector is symbolized by one stone, one plant, one animal. Everything is geometrically boxed. Everything makes perfect sense. Every page is smudged with a little bit of tribal names, a little bit of tribal cosmology, a little bit of the Kokopelli stuff, a little bit of do-it-yourself ceremonies ... Of course, the Great Spirit is there, as are Mother Hearth and the Thunderbird.
Cheesey New Age at its best in my humble opinion.

I was so pleased that the book got to my firend so quickly. Thanks for the great service!

Strong, concise, intellegent, real what more is there to say