Seven Cardinal Directions

Shunkmanytu ho thaine (Howling Wolf that appears like the spirits) taught me something powerful from the Lakota tradition. 

Taylor Cooper with friends at his medicine wheel.

We can go forward, back, up, down, right, and left in life. Science calls it a Cartesian coordinate system with x, y, and z axes. Pilots call the axes vertical, longitudinal, and lateral. Indigenous traditions honor the six cardinal directions as north, east, south, west, up to Father Sky, and down to Mother Earth.

The Lakota medicine wheel, or sacred hoop, honors a seventh cardinal direction. You are the center, between Mother Earth and Father Sky, and you can choose to go a seventh direction, within. You can’t comprehend the seventh without embracing the other six, and you can’t fully experience the other six without tasting the seventh.

The point in the center is infinite, without beginning, end, length, breadth, or depth. That Infinite Center is You. Find your answers by courageously going within.