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A circle divided into four quadrants, often coloured.
Also known as: Sacred hoop, Medicine wheel symbol, Four-quarter circle, Circle divided in four
The medicine wheel is a circle quartered at the cardinal directions, used by a number of Plains and other Indigenous nations. The colour assignments and the meanings differ substantially between nations — there is no single medicine wheel, and treating one version as the version is the common error.
Denotes a circle divided into four quadrants at the cardinal directions, used in the traditions of several Indigenous nations of North America.
Contexts: History
Varies materially between nations in its colour assignments and in what the quadrants signify; there is no single canonical version.
Accounts presenting one set of colours and meanings as 'the' medicine wheel flatten several distinct traditions into one. Which nation's practice is being described should always be stated.
Contexts: History
Also names physical stone constructions on the northern Plains, some thousands of years old, of which the Bighorn Medicine Wheel is the best known.
Contexts: History
A circle divided by a cross into four equal quadrants, each quadrant filled with a distinct colour, sometimes with the whole set within an outer ring.