FAITH

At the centre of ourselves, at the centre of the Medicine Wheel, at the centre of the universe lies faith. It is the all-encompassing pillar that supports life, the world-tree on whose branches can be found the multiplicity of life. Faith is the sense of the sacred, of that which has highest value. It is the prioritising of what the Lakota call Wakan Tanka - the 'holiest of everything'. Keep that priority, and you will remain fundamentally on track.

Faith is something we have lost, that we even look down on as irrational. But you look at the faith that went into building the old churches, the huge resources and sacrifice over hundreds of years. It was deep ceremony. Sure, there was a fair bit of nonsense around it as well, and the requirement to believe in a miraculous ancient event. But the sheer power and centrality of it to people's lives is evident, and it is the normal state of affairs for humanity. 

Shamanic faith is like this: it is the sense of the sacred power within the natural world, that is its foundation, that continually dreams it into being. Life is sacred. We can give thanks for our life, just for the simple fact that we exist, many times every day.