JENNIFER WHITNEY / Staff

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On the eve of the first new moon of the fall equinox, Charles Bartholf sat facing west, surrounded by 10 students.

The gathering began a year-long journey to the center of the Lakota medicine wheel, and to their own spirit centers. The group sat cross-legged in a circle inside the Mongolian yurt that Bartholf built in his Golden Gate backyard more than a year ago and shared their innermost thoughts in search of something greater than themselves. As Linda DiGloria arrived, she explained, “I love the work that Charles is doing for the community. I’ve grown so much spiritually and had such a cleansing. It has changed my life.”

The spirit circle began with the burning of sage to cleanse, passed around from person to person and spread with a fan made of feathers from a great horned owl. In Lakota teachings, the owl represents death and rebirth. Its talons come in and kill old lessons, putting them away to leave room for new ones — a symbol that represents the overarching purpose of the spirit circle.

After the cleansing, the circle moved on to a discussion of the Native American’s tribe’s medicine wheel and its meaning, and chose tiny animal totems carved from different colored stones to keep with them along their journey. “Go inside and see what resonates with you, and keep it with you until the next time we meet,” Bartholf instructed.

The meeting peaked with the passing of the talking stick, an age-old Lakota tradition. Bartholf’s talking stick consists of a knotty root he found while exploring Yosemite National Park. As the stick is passed from person to person, it allows an opportunity to speak from the heart and express oneself without anyone responding. It provides a time of self-reflection to experience and release emotions and to feel safe and supported while doing so. “What goes on in here stays in here,” Bartholf explained.

The group will meet at the new moon of every season and walk the circumference of the sacred hoop spiritually, changing directions each quarter. At the end of the journey, the collective will step into the center and become one, feeling whole and seeing their individual purposes in life more clearly.

As the talking stick was passed around, many in the group talked about the negativity in current social, economic and environmental conditions.

“In the physical world it is a time of chaos, but this really is an opportunity for hope, and we have to be the light of the world,” said Suzanne Ayres, a member of the group.

The circle wound down with a reading from “The Art of Being” by Erich Fromm and ended with a rousing flute song played by Bartholf that came to him while inside the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Bartholf was the last to hold the talking stick saying, “I leave behind the hurts and bring in joy and love.”

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E-mail Jennifer Whitney at jwhitney@naplesnews.com.