THE FOUR SHIELDS OF HUMAN NATURE
An Earth-Based Initiatory Medicine Wheel

The Four Shields of Human Nature is an ancient earth-based medicine wheel, based on the interconnectedness of the cycles and seasons of human nature and the natural world as they both ebb and flow through the passages of birth, life, death and rebirth. It is an oral tradition, handed down, mouth to ear, and is designed to assist us in recalling and reconnecting with our place in nature and in our own lives.

Because it is ‘earth-based’ it is practiced in deep relationship with the larger earth community and the variety of life forms with which we share this world.

This week long experiential seminar will take each participate through the shields of her life, summer, fall, winter, and spring, and the mirror of our own rhythms of change through each of them. There will be teachings and council experience in the mornings, followed by earth-based practices in the afternoon and period of solitude in nature, with listening and story councils and ceremony in the late afternoon and evening. There will also be a 24 hour period of living alone on the earth, to deepen our kinship with the natural world and to strengthen our intentions.

This is an initiatory experience, that is it is designed to assist each participant to mark changes and passages in her own life, and to illuminate particular gifts and strengths which will be incorporated into one’s daily life and community.