North

[Note: If you have not read yet the pages about the Circle and Directions, please consider doing that now, before you read this page. Those pages should ideally be read in this order: Circle, East, South, West.]

CIRCLEnorthWinter’s north winds bring snow and deep silence to many parts of the land in North America. Some creatures burrow down beneath the frost and sleep. Flowers and grasses die and wither, and hardwood trees drop their leaves and become dormant. Humans gather indoors around warm fires, sharing stories and dreaming dreams.

These are times of deep quiet, of rest and renewal, of death in which new life stirs unseen — seeds in frozen ground beneath the snow. In this silence, stories grow like flames of a warming fire and are shared from person to person. Dreams fall like flakes of snow onto the shelter over a human heart.

Continue within the North, to Mythic Ways of Knowing and Learning.

Go to the next direction, the Center.

You may use the table below to explore the directions, their associated ways of knowing and learning, and an example of each type of learning as applied to understanding tornadoes.

Directions on the Circle Ways of Learning and Knowing Tornado Example
East Intellectual Ways of Learning and Knowing Intellectual Ways of Learning about Tornadoes
South Experiential Ways of Learning and Knowing Experiential Ways of Learning about Tornadoes
West Spiritual Ways of Learning and Knowing Spiritual Ways of Learning about Tornadoes
North Mythic Ways of Learning and Knowing Mythic Ways of Learning about Tornadoes
Center Integrated Ways of Learning and Knowing Integrated Ways of Learning about Tornadoes