In this artwork, Chief Marvin paints the elements of the 7 Directions Way of Life. Important aspects of the Lakota mythos are depicted such as the horse, tipi, buffalo, sweat lodge, spotted eagle, and heavenly bodies. In connection with the work, Chief Marvin describes White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman, a prophet who talked about the coming together of the different colored races of the world. These colors are portrayed in the medicine wheel at the bottom of the painting, which also represents the 4 directions. Each direction has its own relationship to the seasons and cycles of life. To the left of the image we see the Chanupa, or sacred pipe. Like many spiritually charged objects in the Lakota way of life, there is a deeper meaning; the bowl represents the woman, and the stem represents the man, thereby referencing and honoring the sacred and creative relationship between woman and man. The prayers made with the smoke of the holy plants used in the Chanupa provide protection and healing for all the 7 generations before and after the current generations on the earth.
Other important symbology within the work include horses, which represent elements of the weather like rain and hail. The spotted eagle flying toward us gained his spots delivering messages to the sun. The waterbird contains the holy Peyote cactus on his wing. The frame of the sweat lodge is made of stars, with the morning star guiding the earth and receiving prayers, also overlapping with the beak of the eagle messenger. The two buffalo skulls in the image represent grandma and grandpa buffalo. The Lakota are buffalo people, and consider them great teachers. Chief Marvin shared that there was once a group of people who followed the buffalo until all that was left were their bones. They followed the buffalo into the spirit world, he said, where "traildust turned to stardust". The milky way, or "the spirit road going south" is depicted at the top of the painting. "We've all been here before," he says, emphasizing that the things we love, we can't take with us. Unlike many cultures that hold onto and bury their sacred items with the dead, the Lakota way encourages giving away what we love the most.
Finally, Chief Marvin states that the overarching message of the painting is "Wichoni." The Lakota language, Dine, often combines and shortens words of various meanings. A literal interpretation of the word is "living, breathing, beautiful under the sun," the equivalent of "heaven" Chief Marvin says. This is the 7 Directions Way of Life that Chief Marvin illustrates in his artwork.