MY SACRED CIRCLES OF appreciation embrace the creators of the ancient medicine wheels and their descendants. My gratitude to the ancestors who first created sacred space and imbued it with a power that continues to inform and inspire.
I am grateful to my circle of family and relatives who support this work. My admiration to Kim and Mike, Chris and Fran, and my four grandchildren, Derek, Sarah, Jeffrey, and Brooke, who share our passion for the earth. Special love to my mother, who helps create these visions.
Heartfelt gratitude to my many students over these past thirty-five years. You have also taught me a good deal. I am particularly grateful to the many institutions where I have offered courses, talks, and seminars. The Institute for American Indian Studies, the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the American Museum of Natural History, various botanical gardens, Teva Learning Center, Mohonk Mountain House, Mercy Center at Madison, the Norwich Inn and Spa, and many different colleges, universities, schools, and American Indian reservations deserve special praise.
My great thanks to the initial collaborators and guardians of this book: Betsy Amster, Toni Burbank, and Peggy Cooper for trusting, cultivating, and believing in this whole process, and sculpting and guiding it through to completion. Everyone at Bantam has earned my enduring gratitude and praise, especially Toni Burbanks superb team. Special appreciation to Peter Dubos for spiritual guidance and moral support all along the way. Georgia Middlebrook, Beth McCormick, and everyone at the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, Connecticut, have long shared the visions and compassion to make the creative processes even richer and more educational. My immense gratitude to the various libraries and helpful librarians who have worked tirelessly with me to gather fine details.
The Medicine Wheel Garden would not have been possible without the help of many supportive friends who have enriched my work throughout this long, creative process. Foremost, my praise to Dr. Rolf Martin and Barrie Sachs of Happy Rainbows Tea and Apothecary Shoppe, Dr. Mary Miller, Sandra and Maya Cointreau of Earthlodge Horse Herbals, Audrey O’Connell, Kim Kavasch of Body Wisdom, Ellen Carr, Georgia Middlebrook, and the Herb Society of America. Mother Catherine, Mother Placid, Mother Margaret Georgina, and everyone at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, along with Sister Eugenie Guterch and everyone at Mercy Center Madison, all deserve great praise for their support, time given, and helpful energies. My gratitude also to each member of our IAIS Drumming Circle, Native American Spirituality Circle, Medicine Wheel Study Circle, and Shamanic Drumming Circle, as well as our special Healing Circle. You continue to enrich my pathways in more ways than you could know.
My gratitude to Peg Streep, Laurie Stein, and John Glover for your wonderful treatment of the IAIS Medicine Wheel Garden and my work in your book Spiritual Gardening: Creating Sacred Space (Time-Life, 1999). I also want to thank the thousands of visitors who come to the medicine wheel gardens we have created and feel the magic.