The Ripe Berries Moon fills Father Sky from July 23 to August 22. It is the second moon of Shawnodese (Coyote) who is the Spirit Keeper of the South Direction. Iron and garnet are the mineral totems for this moon. Raspberry is the plant totem. The sturgeon is the animal totem. The color is red. Fire is the element and the elemental clan is Thunderbird.
Iron teaches people about their strength and garnet shows them their heart is the source of that strength. From the raspberry people learn about their sweetness and the thorns they project to protect this part of themselves from other people. The sturgeon shows people their depth and their need to teach. The Ripe Berries Moon teaches people how to work from the heart center, how to demonstrate affection, how to face fears, and how to develop leadership abilities. Ripe Berries Moon helps develop courage and power. People born with the Sturgeon totem need to guard against impulsiveness, arrogance, and a tendency to dominate any scenario.
The medicine of sturgeon will teach you about your determination, perseverance, depth, knowledge, generosity, strength, and sexuality.
Garnet and iron are the mineral totems of the Ripe Berries Moon. Garnet helps to balance your sexual energies. Associated with the heart and blood, Garnet can stimulate the free flow of emotion for the person wearing it.
Garnet helps to strengthen those who carry it, it can warn of danger, and helps you to lead a good and honorable life. Garnet can help you to penetrate the heart of any matter.
Iron is good for the blood and heart. It reminds you of the necessity of being tempered by life’s experiences. It encourages you to have a discriminating hardness that will allow you to know when no is the answer that will promote the highest good for all that are involved.
~Mitakuye Oyasin~ We are all related
I am not a native person. My heritage is Irish and German/Dutch. My birthday is in January, which bears the stone garnet. I had an intensely, vivid dream where a large, female, taking sturgeon carried me from danger. Would you be willing to offer any insight? Graciously, Eric
I would be interested in finding out about any Medicine Wheels specific to Creek Indians of Gwinnett County Georgia or Lumbee Indians of North Carolina. I assume that the common practice is to adorn a wheel with totems that are related to one’s own birth for personal use, or using the birth information for the person in need of healing in that instance.
There are two kinds of medicine wheels. The literal kind that were built by ancient peoples and were constructed of stones in a circle with spokes that could be as large as 75 feet wide. These were mostly used by the peoples of the plains. I don’t know of any specifics that might have been used by the Muscogee (Creek) or the Lumbee in ancient times. I am not from either of those tribal nations, so am not familiar with whether they follow the Medicine Wheel type of healing and knowledge or not. Many tribal traditions follow a more modern concept of the medicine wheel reflecting on the messages (medicine) that comes from each of the 4 winds… North, South, East and West. Each would be tribe specific and would be best understood by the Shaman or Medicine Person of that tribe.