The Circle and the Centre
Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
John Neitardt, Black Elk Speaks , quote by Black Elk.
The circle is one of the most ancient universal sacred symbols known and appears in ancient art and ritual across time and culture. 'Mandala' is the Sanskrit word for circle, expressing the unity and wholeness of all creation, reflecting the expanding universe, inside and outside, the meeting of inner and outer worlds. We stand in the centre of our own circle, spiralling outward and inward through the cycles and seasons of our life, ever deepening into our nature. Our life is our mandala.
Each of the courses I offer is a gateway through which the ceremony of the four directions initiates us into the circle of our own lives, the centre of our own being.
Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
The sky is round, and I have herd that
the earth is round like a ball, and so are the stars.
The wind, in its great power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles,
For theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle.
The moon does the same, and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing,
and always come back again to where they were.
The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood,
and so it is in everything where power moves.
John Neitardt, Black Elk Speaks, quote by Black Elk.
The sky is round, and I have herd that
the earth is round like a ball, and so are the stars.
The wind, in its great power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles,
For theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle.
The moon does the same, and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing,
and always come back again to where they were.
The life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood,
and so it is in everything where power moves.
John Neitardt, Black Elk Speaks, quote by Black Elk.
