Dagara medicine

The African Medicine Wheel: Numerology Explained

Those whose years of birth end with 2 or 7 are the fire keepers, the keepers of the fire, the link between the village and the ancestors’ world. His/Her role or task, what he/she does for the village has to do with something pertaining to helping people link up to something about ancestors, about Spirit, and so forth. Fire is the first element in the order. It is called the primal energy and is associated with the emotional self, the intuitive self, the dream self, and the instinct. Fire people walk on a thin line between the ancestors’ world and this world. They must pay careful attention to dreams and visions.

Birth years which end in 1 and 6 are about water. Water is the peacemaker and reconciler. Water is the second element, and water is essentially about reconciling within the self and with other individuals. It’s about making bridges—between two cultures for instance, or between two people. It’s about bringing out wisdom. It is also about focusing somebody so that they can see beyond their turmoil. For the sake of the community, water people need to be together and work together as one entity.

Born into a 0 or 5 are earth elements. They are the care-takers and the home providers. As the third element, earth is about nurturing, grounding, taking care of one another and unconditional love. It is also about empowerment, providing a sense of home and identity.

Years ending in 3 or 8 are Nature. In Dagara medicine they are referred to as the witches and wizards. Nature is about magic. It is about major changes—life, death, rebirth. It is about dropping the masks and coming into the true self. It is also about joy and laughter.

Last of the elements are those born with 4 or 9. They are mineral. Mineral is about communicating, the ability to translate things, the ability to converse. It has a lot to do with social connections. In the indigenous world they are the storytellers, the great communicators. They remind individuals of all the memory stored in the bones and the importance of minerals to the human body. Mineral people are also recognized as stone people—not that they are stone but because the stone is seen as the one that stores information.

With that brief introduction to the Akashic and the medicine wheel, here are five basic ritual ideas which can be used in the home. For each of the five elements create a shrine. A shrine makes an elusive concept concrete. When the Akashic identifies a blockage or pattern in an individual’s life, the shrine can be referenced for clarity on the process necessary for removal or change.