Larrybenedict's Fotothing

I met Jody Bergsma at a small informal gathering in Tallahassee several years ago. She is one of the most impressive women I've ever met. At the time, her studio was in Bellingham, Washington.....Here is what Jody has to say about this piece: She calls it the medicine wheel of the four directions. "The four directions have been honored in original peoples' traditions around the world for centuries. When the four directions are acknowledged with a circle of twelve stones, Native Americans refer to such an object as a medicine whee. The term "medicine" can mean healing or spirit.
EAST is the direction of air, dawn, spring, mind, illumination and new beginnings. East is represented by eagle, Eagle's medicine is freedom; freedom to fly above ignorance and see with greater perspective. It is often called the golden door or the window between the great spirit and this world. Its colors are golds and pastels.
SOUTH is the direction of fire, noon, summer, childhood and the spark of spirit. Its colors are firey reds, oranges, and magenta. Different tribes have varying animal interpretations of this direction; coyote, wolf, mouse and porcupine to name a few. This is the directions of childhood and its lessons. It is said that in the presence of fire, no negativity can exist. It is in this direction the road to innocence and purity are re-found.
WEST is the direction of water, dusk, fall, maturing, wisdom, introspection and courage. It is the void where future lives. West is the dark cave of the bear and the deep ocean of the whale. Its colors are blacks, blues, sea greens and purple. The answers to life come from the west, teaching us that when we learn to be still like bear, the power to find our own answers will come.
NORTH is the direction of earth, winter, midnight and silence. It is the sacred place of elders, the horned animals, the star kingdoms and the great white buffalo, bringer of the pipe and keeper of the mysteries. Its colors are white, browns and greens. It is the direction of the forests, trees, mountains and rocks. To be attracted to north is to be connected to the earth at the place where the medicine wheel to the stars begins.".

Original Americans have many prophetic stories that speak of the healing of the broken wheel. We are its healers. They say that when it is healed it will become the whirling rainbow of peace, the forbringer of the fifth world.