Celtic
medicine
wheel

The Celtic Medicine Wheel follows the ancient path of the sun as it moves through the seasons.

The tradition we have come to call Celtic has its roots in a time when people lived in seasonal awareness. They had to. If they did not, they would starve or die of exposure to the winter elements. Their spiritual guides, the Druids, would have used practices that today we associate with shamanic principles. They worked with the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and became the bridge between our planet and the starry realms.

These elements are associated with the seasons of our year. Earth is best understood as the season of Winter, Air is the season of Spring, Fire for the Summer months, and Water in the misty days of Autumn. These form the cross of the Celtic Medicine Wheel.

The cross quarters mark the points where these seasons change from one element to another. At the juncture of Earth and Air, the land is beginning to show signs of waking, this is called Imbolc. At the junction of Air and Fire, the energy is more frantic like flames blown by the wind. This marks Beltane, or May Day. At the junction of Fire and Water we mark the first harvest, the grain is gathered in and the first loaf is cooked over the Lammas fire. The last cross quarter is celebrated now as Hallowe’en, but is more traditionally known as Samhain, when the harvest is over and the leaves have fallen from the trees.

The wheel symbology is there to help us visually understand the eight seasons of the year. As we walk this circular path, we also walk our life path, our ancestral path, our dream path. In this way we find perspective and answers to our questions about life. Often we find that we have the assistance of the deer spirit who understands the ancient migratory pathways.