Tradition Of The Four Directions

[Miguel Sague Jr]

On the walls of a cave located on a tiny island off the southern coast of Cuba, our Taino ancestors depicted a number of figures in the form of concentric circles in red and black paint. Not far from the images of the circles, they drew an image composed of two rectilinear shapes, also in red and black paint, placed perpendicular to each other and crossed together at the enter to form an "x" shaped design. 

We in the Caney Circle have adopted these two images and combined them into one figure that represents the well-recognized, iconic design of a circle with two crossed straight lines inside, known by Indigenous people all over the Americas as Medicine Wheel.

 

In combining these two design elements to create our familiar Medicine Wheel we have adopted these ancient traditional images  indicating our reverence for the sacredness of the four direction; North, South, East and West wich play such an important role in our spiritual legacy.