Garden Design – Medicine Wheel | Living in Natures Love

Medicine-Wheel- Calendar

Each quadrant of the North American Aboriginal Medicine Wheel reflects a cardinal direction and time of year. In an earlier post I introduced a Personal Healing Garden design in the shape of a Medicine Wheel.

Following this plan in your own Healing Garden integration can begin with the laying of the cardinal directions as suggested in the original post. To deepen the connection and further integrate its symbology, one could consider the four seasons and align them with the plants you choose for these quadrants! As example could be to plant feature plants that would come into bloom or fruit during that season. In spring it could be your early bloomers, in summer you veggies, in fall your harvesting plants and in winter your winter garden.

The purpose of a Personal Healing Garden is to enjoy and have fun with what you create. This garden reflects deepening your connection to nature, and life force. This includes creativity, adventure and beauty.

My personal recommendation is to not overwhelm yourself to get instant results. I would suggest taking your time to consider plants that you want to integrate into your daily lifestyle. Eliminating the over processing of your fruits, veggies and teas by growing your own can give you a new way of health and wellness. It can help you cut your appetite by providing you with a more balanced infusion of minerals and vitamins that are easier for you to absorb. I have found that using garden plants as a source of food and drinking flavoured teas and water that it has support a healthier lifestyle change that weight loss was an outcome. It wasn’t the focus it was a result.

Berries, Edible Flowers, Garden Plants, Trees, Veggies & Weeds for your Healing Garden

Contact Renee for Healthy Landscape Consultation – Explore the messages of your landscape design!

Life Balance Garden Design – coming soon
Relationship Garden Design – coming soon

Traditional uses and properties of herbs are for educational purposes only. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Every attempt has been made for accuracy, but none is guaranteed. Any serious health concerns or if you are pregnant, you should always check with your health care practitioner before self-administering herbs.

by Renee Lindstrom

This is a design that could be used for deepened personal healing. It reflects your personal well-being and health. It is a universal circular pattern that is designed like our North American Aboriginal’s Medicine Wheel.

This shape was a spontaneous one that came to me during a time when I was deepening my own personal healing journey. I was studying my relationship connection to nature and the environment, while at the same time seeking healing ways for a serious health condition and abusive relationship. With a deepened meditation practice and a longing to heal, this pattern took shape in my garden. I simply built the shape with earth mounds. It was not until years later that I realized it was an exact replica of a medicine wheel design. In the center I placed a table and two chairs. This was a space for sitting and reflection and to drink teas infused from the plants growing around in the four quadrants.

This Medicine Garden was under a stand of tall Cyprus Trees that was visited regularly at different times by Blue Heron, Owls, Hawks, Robin, Crows, Eagles, Raven, Otters, Raccoons, Pheasants, Deer and Cats.

Cardinal Directions

To deepen the benefits of this Medicine Wheel pattern one could align the cardinal directions with the true Cardinal Directions of the property.

Entrance

The true entrance to the garden could align with the traditions of the Medicine Wheel. This direction is from the East. The above design I created in October of 2014 with colored fabric robes. It was for a portable meditation experience and the same design as what I created for my healing garden Medicine Wheel in 2001. A pathway circled the quadrants so one could enter from any direction after circling the wheel.

Size

The size will depend upon the space you choose and have to work with. I do recommend that it is large enough for you to walk the pathways and to have a space for sitting in the design.

Types of Plants

Planting Design

This is a wonderful design that one can begin to integrate a deepened intention. The plant colors can co-ordinate with the seasons and symbology of the quadrants and/or represent the 12 astrological signs of the Medicine Wheel itself. To keep it simple one could begin to plant types of edibles and medicinal plants that have a featured splash of color for every season.

Purpose

One does not want to forget the purpose and that is for picking, eating and drying, leaves, stems and roots, for adding to recipes, making teas and personal products!

Plants for your Medicinal Garden
Oregon Grape

I recommend that you choose plants you can integrate into your every day life along with considering plants that your don’t want to see lost in the future. Scientists base their new medicines on the discovery and imitation of natures natural healing elements. This has led to the loss of passing home remedy knowledge on to future generations and in some cases the plants are becoming extinct as developers try to patent them! One example is over picking of Oregon Grape in the United States and Chaga in Canada! Above in the picture is an Oregon Grape that you may recognize from your Pacific Northwest nature walks. This is a wonderful shrub to have in your healing garden yet a growing fear across North American is that it will disappear with careless picking practices.