I was lucky enough a few years back to serve as a Circlekeeper in a Restorative Justice for Juveniles program in Wisconsin. It required me to operate Peacemaking Circles as an alternative to prosecution of juvenile offenders in the formal court system. If you’ve ever read the book Spirit Bear you know just what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, here’s the short course.
Native Americans and other indigenous cultures around the world lived in close knit communities where everybody had a vested interest in the actions of others. Their spiritual beliefs centered around the ideas of circles, and in this country this belief reached its zenith with the development of the Native American Medicine Wheel. They had noticed that the natural world often came in groups of four: the four directions (east, south, west and north), the four winds, the four seasons, the four stages of life (infancy, youth, adulthood and old age), the four elements (earth, sky, water, fire). They perceived of such things as a vast, unending circle, with all parts connected to and complimenting each other.
Thus was born the medicine wheel, a round hoop, divided by string or animal tendons into four quadrants, representing physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. It was their belief that a warrior on the good path had to keep all four of these areas strong and vibrant at the same time, or else the wheel would be unbalanced and sickness of some sort would develop. When an individual did something that offended the community, these peacemaking circles of elders, family members and other interested parties would gather to inquire into the health of the four areas and try to set the wheel in balance once again. Sometimes talking was all that was necessary; sometimes a form of active restitution was required.
(Interesting to note here that a bicycle wheel operates much the same way: if all the spokes are not properly tensioned the wheel wobbles and is said to be out of true, or out of balance. Wonder who first came up with the phrase out of true?)
At any rate, when these peacemaking circles gathered a “talking device” such as an eagle feather was used, and passed from member to member. Only the person holding the feather was allowed to speak, forcing everyone else to listen with attentiveness until the feather reached them and it was their turn to speak. (One can only dream about adopting such a practice into some of our local government and talk show show formats.)
The main point of these circles was to inquire into the offenders medicine wheel balance, and imbalance could come from any of the four quadrants. Perhaps someone’s physical balance was off because they’d become lazy and fat, no longer doing their share of community work. Perhaps their emotional health was impaired because they had deeply buried hatred or resentment they could not shed, or had such low self-esteem they kicked dogs and abused other animals; perhaps they had become mentally imbalanced as well from too much liquor or peyote or some other substance, or their ego had run amok; and, finally, perhaps they had become spiritually imbalanced because they no longer adhered to the teachings of the old ones or their personal practice of the sacred rituals had ceased. Whatever the case, as the talking feather passed around the circle, everyone had an opportunity to address these imbalances as well as ways to restore balance, both for the offender and anyone he may have harmed. Until white culture overran their efficacy, these circles kept the peace within individual tribes for hundreds of years and were in many ways much more effective than our criminal justice system today.
But my work in Wisconsin led me to the sad realization that such “communities” rarely exist in our culture anymore, red or white. Small pockets exist here and there, but generally we’re too isolated and afraid to get involved in some of the most basic situations. For example, if you were entering Wal-Mart and overheard a parent berating his or her child for no apparent reason, would you intervene? If a gang of boys was shouting obscenities at a poor solitary gay guy, would you speak up? Sadly, most of us would not, and would simply get as far out of the area as quickly as we could. As I traveled around Wisconsin I found it hard to find “elders” and other interested parties willing to participate in these circles anymore. This was particularly true with law enforcement and other juvenile justice workers, even those in the legal profession like me. They all thought it sounded good, like homemade ice cream from the past, but preferred the easier and more familiar products of the present. Less time, less uncertainty, less need to challenge their thinking. And the kids? It took them FOREVER to grasp what we were trying to do. We’d give them copies of Spirit Bear, which helped some, but for them it was mostly an alien concept, unknown to their older siblings and friends and only brought up in school by dedicated counsellors like my dear friend Suzanne Milkus.
So it’s kind of up each of us to tend our own medicine wheel balance now. Yoga, meditation, prayer, body scans, an active spiritual practice, reading, loving and empathizing with others are just some of the tools that have replaced the healthy community with a healthy sense of self. But it’s up to each of us as individuals anymore, unless we’re lucky enough to have found a new sense of community in a congregation of some sort.
But don’t be bashful either way. Go ahead and check those spokes as often as you can. We can get back “in true” with less effort than you might imagine. We were born with mind/body balance, so all we need to do is recover it.
Woodpecker
Woodpecker Writes
It’s All About Balance
Native Americans and other indigenous cultures around the world lived in close knit communities where everybody had a vested interest in the actions of others. Their spiritual beliefs centered around the ideas of circles, and in this country this belief reached its zenith with the development of the Native American Medicine Wheel. They had noticed that the natural world often came in groups of four: the four directions (east, south, west and north), the four winds, the four seasons, the four stages of life (infancy, youth, adulthood and old age), the four elements (earth, sky, water, fire). They perceived of such things as a vast, unending circle, with all parts connected to and complimenting each other.
(Interesting to note here that a bicycle wheel operates much the same way: if all the spokes are not properly tensioned the wheel wobbles and is said to be out of true, or out of balance. Wonder who first came up with the phrase out of true?)
At any rate, when these peacemaking circles gathered a “talking device” such as an eagle feather was used, and passed from member to member. Only the person holding the feather was allowed to speak, forcing everyone else to listen with attentiveness until the feather reached them and it was their turn to speak. (One can only dream about adopting such a practice into some of our local government and talk show show formats.)
The main point of these circles was to inquire into the offenders medicine wheel balance, and imbalance could come from any of the four quadrants. Perhaps someone’s physical balance was off because they’d become lazy and fat, no longer doing their share of community work. Perhaps their emotional health was impaired because they had deeply buried hatred or resentment they could not shed, or had such low self-esteem they kicked dogs and abused other animals; perhaps they had become mentally imbalanced as well from too much liquor or peyote or some other substance, or their ego had run amok; and, finally, perhaps they had become spiritually imbalanced because they no longer adhered to the teachings of the old ones or their personal practice of the sacred rituals had ceased. Whatever the case, as the talking feather passed around the circle, everyone had an opportunity to address these imbalances as well as ways to restore balance, both for the offender and anyone he may have harmed. Until white culture overran their efficacy, these circles kept the peace within individual tribes for hundreds of years and were in many ways much more effective than our criminal justice system today.
But my work in Wisconsin led me to the sad realization that such “communities” rarely exist in our culture anymore, red or white. Small pockets exist here and there, but generally we’re too isolated and afraid to get involved in some of the most basic situations. For example, if you were entering Wal-Mart and overheard a parent berating his or her child for no apparent reason, would you intervene? If a gang of boys was shouting obscenities at a poor solitary gay guy, would you speak up? Sadly, most of us would not, and would simply get as far out of the area as quickly as we could. As I traveled around Wisconsin I found it hard to find “elders” and other interested parties willing to participate in these circles anymore. This was particularly true with law enforcement and other juvenile justice workers, even those in the legal profession like me. They all thought it sounded good, like homemade ice cream from the past, but preferred the easier and more familiar products of the present. Less time, less uncertainty, less need to challenge their thinking. And the kids? It took them FOREVER to grasp what we were trying to do. We’d give them copies of Spirit Bear, which helped some, but for them it was mostly an alien concept, unknown to their older siblings and friends and only brought up in school by dedicated counsellors like my dear friend Suzanne Milkus.
So it’s kind of up each of us to tend our own medicine wheel balance now. Yoga, meditation, prayer, body scans, an active spiritual practice, reading, loving and empathizing with others are just some of the tools that have replaced the healthy community with a healthy sense of self. But it’s up to each of us as individuals anymore, unless we’re lucky enough to have found a new sense of community in a congregation of some sort.
But don’t be bashful either way. Go ahead and check those spokes as often as you can. We can get back “in true” with less effort than you might imagine. We were born with mind/body balance, so all we need to do is recover it.
Woodpecker
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