First, Best and Always

Chapter 48 Medicine Wheel

Brandon Andrews awakened slowly, the events of the previous day had left him feeling drained. Unfortunately the ominous sense of dread that he’d felt the night before was still with him. He knew that Craig needed help, but what his father was planning on doing terrified him. His dad was an active, vigorous man, at least that’s the way Brandon saw him. But active or not, youth was not something he possessed, and what he was planning was something that was better suited to the strength of a younger man.

The medicine wheel is an intricate part of Lakota culture. Like other ancient healing systems it takes a holistic approach that emphasizes the treatment of body, mind, and spirit. Standing Elk believed that the health of an individual was inextricably linked to the people and objects surrounding that person. The medicine wheel was a way to “link” with those people and objects.

The idea was that the spirit of the sick person “walked the wheel” moving from stone to stone avoiding the pitfalls, winding their way back from illness to health. This walk was usually something that was done alone, but on occasion it was done with a ‘guide’ someone who knew the way back. The elder Andrews sensed that the boy would not be able to do it alone, he would need help; he also knew that the boy’s spirit would not follow the spirit of a stranger. In his mind there was no other choice, he would have to enter the spirit realm, find the boy, and lead him back.

Brandon understood that this was a hard and arduous journey, a journey designed for a stronger man; he knew his father would find the boy…he just wasn’t sure they’d both be able to make it back alive.