photo by Sami Knowles Botanical name: Salvia apiana Family name: Lamiaceae, subfamily Nepetoideae Common names: white sage, we’wey (Chumash, pronounced waykway), sacred sage, bee sage, grandfather sage, buffalo sage, and many more native names… The Gabrielino-Tongva tribe “traditionally called it kasiile… The inland Luiseno tribe referred to this plant as qaashil. To Kumeyaay peoples who were…

The number 4 has long been considered a sacred number in shamanism and Native American spirituality. All events and actions are based on this number, because everything was created in fours. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four winds, four seasons, four elements, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity’s spiritual evolution, and so on.

For instance, the Native American sweat lodge ceremony (Inipi) is usually carried out in four rounds. The whole process is modeled after the Medicine Wheel, which is a universal symbol that can be found in many indigenous cultures around the world. The Medicine Wheel represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. The Medicine Wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify completion, wholeness or fullness.