The Medicine Wheel
(part V)

The East - Kalvgv

The east is of course where the sun rises, and associated with fire, represented by red. It represents the spiritual aspect of our circular path. (And I always love to point out that this is also the direction that Jesus said He would return to the Earth.) However, this is not to be confused with the "Sacred Fire" that I will get to later. The east actually refers to our "spirit" and the growth of our personal spirit. It is believed to be the direction from which our spirit first enters into this world to be joined with our fleshly bodies.

Now the Cherokee start their prayers of a morning facing east, in this way acknowledging our spiritual direction and the “Morning Star” from where could be gathered wisdom. But if the prayer time is more in depth than the morning prayer of thanks, then they would turn and face each direction praying for whatever guidance/strength they need. There are traditions that include immersing one’s self in water (many times on a daily basis), but I will not get into detail here. When the Cherokee’s prayed, they felt they needed to rid themselves of uncleanness that could keep the Creator from hearing them or working with them and this is the importance of water. Even though the “answer” might be right there in front of them, their eyes could be blinded to the fact. Now water was used as a representation of getting rid of filth, just like the baptism ritual today. And all this is backed up with scriptures in the Bible.