Cardinal Direction of the West

The magic hour of sunset, the time when the day is fading and the night is beginning, where we start to hear the arrival of the sounds of the night. This is the place where we start to reap what we have sown through the Summer, the time of harvest, the time where we start to prepare to go inwards for the winter. This is the place of man and woman, where man and woman come together to create family and unity. Here in the West is our deepest place of healing. This is the place where we call on all our strength and all our wisdom, where we call on the medicine of the great bear. The bear that journeys into it’s cave, where we start to look within. When we call on the medicine of the bear, we call on the ability to face our deepest challenges and healing.

The element of the West is the Earth. We are drawn into our physical bodies, through the groundedness and the heartbeat of the Earth. The stone of West is Obsidian, this is the mirror stone and the stone for men and warriors. The colour for the West is black.

The plant of the West is Cedar leaf, for visioning and healing. The ceremony of the West is the sweat lodge, for purification and rebirth. The medicine tool of the West is the Medicine Drum, which shares the heart beat in me, the heart beat in you and the heartbeat of all that is living. The sacred sound of the West is oooooohhhhh.

The West is the place where we meet the Black Road, the black road that runs from East to West. This is the path of facing our ego, where we must let go of our fears and surrender our deepest wounds. We all must walk the black road before we walk the Good Red Road. We honor and give thanks to the Grandmothers the Grandfathers and all allies of the West.