BEFORE WE HOLD SPACE FOR ANOTHER
A free teaching on using the Medicine Wheel to recognize when we move away from our center.
Welcome.
Before we can hold space for another, we need to learn to recognize what is happening within ourselves.
In this teaching, I invite you to explore the Medicine Wheel as a map for self-awareness. To become curious about your own wheel, what each direction represents for you, and how you recognize when you are moving away from your center.
As you listen, notice what arises for you. There is no right way to experience the wheel. This is an invitation to begin building your own relationship with it.
That makes the promise at the very top match exactly what they're about to receive.
I know I’m away from my center when I’m no longer fully present, when I haven’t paused to acknowledge life around me, and when the frequency I’m carrying begins to move through the shadows of my archetypes.
Those moments invite me into self-reflection. To stop. To listen. To tend to what is arising within me, rather than trying to hold space for others when I am not centered within myself. The medicine wheel is going to help me get back into my own center.
Go deeper into the Medicine Wheel
In this teaching, I share more about the Medicine Wheel, its directions, elements and how we can begin developing our own relationship with the wheel.
The Medicine Wheel is an ancient symbol of harmony and wholeness found in many Indigenous traditions around the world. It represents the cyclical nature of life: birth, growth, death, and renewal and reminds us that all directions, elements, seasons and beings are connected.
The Medicine Wheel is an ancient symbol of harmony, relationship and wholeness found in many Indigenous traditions around the world. It reflects the cyclical nature of life: birth, growth, death, renewal and the relationship between the directions, elements, seasons and all beings.
When we work with the Medicine Wheel in preparation for holding space, it can also become a map for noticing where we are within our own cycle.
Before we arrive to hold a circle for others, we first need to fully arrive to ourselves.
Where am I in my wheel today? What is happening in my body? What emotions am I carrying? Which archetypes are present, and are they expressing through their gifts or their shadows? Am I beginning something, growing, letting go, grieving, completing, or moving through a process of death and rebirth?
These questions matter because there may be moments when what is happening within us asks for our own attention. We may need to stop, listen, receive support or tend to our own process rather than step into the responsibility of holding space for another.
The Medicine Wheel does not ask us to always be perfectly “centered.” It asks us to notice where we are, recognize what we are carrying into the circle, and become responsible for how it may influence the space we are about to hold.
Each wheel is unique, but most share the same sacred orientation:
East – The place of the rising sun, beginnings, clarity, fire, and the energy of vision and inspiration.
South – The direction of water, passion, transformation, and growth; it invites us to act, create, and embody courage.
West – The direction of earth, introspection, and letting go; it teaches us about healing, surrender, and the cycles of death and rebirth.
North – The place of air, wisdom, ancestors, and completion; it brings stillness, grounding, and the clarity of truth.
Sky- honoring all connection to the cosmos, our father sky and the unknown
Earth- all life is birthed through Irìrîa, we honor all life here, the creepy crawlers, wing ones, insects, mammals, all life.
The entrance of most wheels opens in the East, symbolizing the dawning of awareness and our conscious choice to step into ceremony. As we move through each direction, we walk the spiral of life, meeting ourselves in every season, element, and lesson.
Each direction may also be connected with animal allies or guardians, eagle in the East, serpent in the South, jaguar in the West, and buffalo or hummingbird in the North — though this varies between lineages and also what you identify as your symbols for each gate. These are energetic archetypes rather than fixed rules.
When we open and close a ceremony using the medicine wheel, we are aligning with the rhythm of creation, acknowledging the presence of all life seen and unseen. The closing is as sacred as the opening; it brings gratitude, integration, and completion to the energy we have stirred.
Ultimately, the Medicine Wheel is a living relationship. It is your own resonance with the directions, elements, and animal spirits that activates its power. When we walk the wheel with awareness, we move energy through our lives in balance, remembering our place in the web of creation.
Arriving to the Circle
Before opening a ceremonial space, take a moment to locate yourself within your own Medicine Wheel.
Notice the season you are moving through. Notice your emotions, your body, your relationships, the archetypes that are present and the places where you may have moved away from your center.
Ask yourself:
What am I carrying into this circle?
What needs my attention?
What belongs to me and should not be carried into another person’s process?
Do I have the capacity to hold space today?
What would help me return to my center before I begin?
Holding space begins here: not with having everything resolved, but with the awareness and responsibility to know where we are before we invite another person into our care.
Invitation Practice: Draw Your Own Medicine Wheel
Using my Medicine Wheel as an example, I invite you to begin drawing your own wheel. This is not about copying someone else’s map, but discovering the relationships, symbols and wisdom that carry meaning for you.
Begin with the four directions and explore each one slowly. Ask yourself: What does this direction mean to me? Which element lives here? What does it represent within my inner landscape, and how do I recognize it in the outer landscape around me?
Then allow your wheel to deepen. Where do your ancestors live within it? Where do you place the mysteries of life, death and rebirth? Which animals carry teachings for you? Which seasons belong to each direction? What ceremonies, celebrations, stories, songs or rituals from your own lineage might have a place here?
You may also explore:
Where am I in the wheel right now? What feels alive and in balance? What feels neglected or asks for attention? How do I recognize when I have moved away from my center? What helps me return?
There is no need to complete your wheel in one sitting. Let it become a living map. As your relationship with yourself, your ancestry and the natural world deepens, your Medicine Wheel can continue to reveal itself and change with you.
Learning to hold space begins long before we sit in ceremony with another person. It asks us to continually observe ourselves, our relationships, our patterns, our capacity to listen, and the places where we move away from our own center.
The Magic Mushroom Facilitator Program continues this exploration, not simply through learning how to facilitate, but through developing the awareness, responsibility and relationship with ourselves needed to hold space for others.
Continue the journey
One partial scholarship is available for the 2027 cohort.