Further Steps Course:
THE WHEEL OF LIFE
THE SHAMANIC GUIDE TO THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR AND THE STAGES OF LIFE.
Dates in 2026: Feb 1, Mar 21, May 2, Jun 20, Aug 1, Sep 20, Oct 31, Dec 20 (following the eight “sabbats” of the year).
- What the ‘Medicine Wheel‘ is and how we use it as a road map for our emotional, psychological and spiritual development.
- The five elements of ether, air, fire, water and earth.
- Setting the goals (and following through!) by working along with the cyclic nature of life and understanding where we get stuck in the process
- Journeying deeply into the stages of the wheel and meeting the guardians of the wheel and helpful spirits of each stage.
The course will be a year of journeying and exploring together; of growing and changing; of living more truly and more deeply in an animist way.
Bookings open soon.
Closed
In this course
The Medicine Wheel is based around the cycle of the year. It is a subtle, profound and flexible model for working with our inner and outer lives. It’s not surprising, then, that it is used by shamanic cultures all over the world, with each culture adapting the basic model to apply it to the environment in which they live.
The basis of the Medicine Wheel is the four directions. From this follow all the other correspondences such as the seasons of the year, the times of a day, the life-cycle of a plant, the stages of human life, and the element cycle of air, fire, water and earth.
In addition, the Medicine Wheel can be used as a profoundly useful roadmap for a whole host of other things, including understanding and processing thoughts and emotions, the stages in a healing process and why we can get stuck (and what to do if this happens), why certain illnesses happen in certain parts of the body, different learning styles and much more besides.
THE YEAR WHEN YOU MAKE THINGS HAPPEN!
The Wheel of Life course, and the knowledge in it, is one of the ones that students most often refer to as life-changing and life-enhancing, and one that most brings their shamanic work together.
This course is for you if you want to:
- finally put your plans into action
- change some aspect of yourself
- follow through with your new year resolutions
- come to know and understand yourself more deeply
- develop a more profound connection with the natural and spiritual worlds
- make the positive turning point in your life
MEDICINE WHEEL
The central model we will draw on is the wisdom of the Medicine Wheel. Above all, it is a model that maps out how processes flow in cycles. As such, it shows us the order of things and how different elements and stages of a cycle fit together into a whole.
USEFUL ROADMAP FOR NAVIGATING LIFE
Learning this can not only be of immense help in helping us to reconnect with Nature and the natural cycles of the year, but can also provide us with a profoundly useful road map for our own emotional, psychological and spiritual development too.
IT HELPS US GET UNSTUCK
It can be used when we feel stuck with something by helping show us where we are in the cycle and what we need to do next to move on. Moreover, it can help show us what resources we can draw on when we need help and support.
SETTING THE GOALS AND FOLLOWING THROUGH
This eight-weekend course will follow 8 sabbats of the year, starting on the weekend before Imbolc, a time of planning and preparation.
Firstly, we will start the course by making our individual plans for the year. These may be things that we wish to change in the external world and things that we wish to change in our internal world too.
THE FOLLOWING MEETUPS WILL ALLOW US TO MANIFEST OUR PLANS THROUGH THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR:
- preparing and planning at Imbolc;
- planting the seeds in spring;
- being active and energised in summer;
- harvesting in autumn;
- reaping the rewards, and giving thanks in winter.
MEETING THE GUARDIANS OF THE WHEEL
Identifying and understanding our own patterns of where we get stuck, we can start to befriend and work with our processes.
To do this, through the course, we will use different shamanic practices, including:
- JOURNEYING INTO THE STAGES OF THE WHEEL
Doing this will involve meeting the Guardians of each stage. - MEETING THE DIFFICULTIES
The difficulty we have with a particular part of the wheel can be journeyed on and met, usually in the guise of some kind of adversary, scary figure or dragon. Although it may appear hostile, this adversary is actually an ally in disguise. - MEETING HELPFUL SPIRITS
As we spend the year working through the wheel we will meet animal and plant helpers specific to that stage of the wheel (usually a bird and a spring plant for air/east, a hunter and a summer plant for fire/south, a water animal and an autumn pant for water/west, a herbivore and a winter plant for earth/north). In addition, we will also explore how to work with Plant Spirit Shamanism.
practical DETAILS
The course starts on SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2026 and consists of:
• 6 pre-recorded theory modules. Each module contains a video presentation of between 1 and 3 hours in length, with accompanying learning resources. They will be released in roughly six-week intervals, on every Sabbath of the year, so this will be a year-long exploration:
February 1st: IMBOLC
March 21st: SPRING EQUINOX
May 1st: BELTANE
June 21st: SUMMER SOLSTICE
August 1st: LAMMAS
September 21st: AUTUMN EQUINOX
November 1st: SAMHAIN
December 21st: WINTER SOLSTICE
• As usual, a website forum and an (optional) Signal group, where students can ask questions, discuss topics, share experiences and additional resources, and get support, encouragement, and a sense of community.
• Bonus recordings if and when needed.
In addition, there is the option of adding:
• 6 live shamanic journeying sessions. For each sabbath, there will also be a Live Shamanic Journeying session. Dates for 2025 are: Feb 1, Mar 21, May 2, Jun 20, Aug 1, Sep 20, Oct 31, Dec 20. These are optional, so you can buy the course without these (for £200), or add all 8 live sessions for just £20 more (a saving of 50% on the usual Live Sessions price). Whilst the Live Sessions are optional, people who attend them usually find them of great benefit. The Live Sessions start at 2pm UK time and are two hours long. Click here for more details of our Live Shamanic Journeying sessions.
THE CURRICULUM
(MIGHT BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Module 1: We have an Upper World problem
We begin by looking at a tension that runs deep in our culture – the way the Upper-World has been distorted and used to separate us from animist ways of being. At its heart, animism is profoundly non-hierarchical: there is no myth of human supremacy, no ranking of spirit over soul, of male over female, or heaven over earth.
Yet with domestication and the Fall came the rise of hierarchical, disembodied spiritual thinking. Ascension, perfection, purity, orthodoxy, and heresy—all became tools of social control. Emperors turned into gods, commandments dictated behaviour, and spirituality was pressed into service as a weapon of domestication. From original sin to the belief in being unclean or imperfect, we inherited ideas that keep us small—promising a cure for the very wound they create.
Animism, by contrast, threatens such systems precisely because it empowers us. It tells us there is nothing wrong with us, that we will not be punished, that nature is alive and sacred, and that life is not something to escape from, but something to fully inhabit. Small wonder then that it has been deliberately suppressed, written off as “primitive,” and erased through genocide or buried by missionaries. These distortions live on in our very language, and even in contemporary animist cultures that have become entangled with hierarchy.
In this module, we’ll untangle the difference between animism and contemporary spirituality, and return to the simple but radical truth: everything is alive, everything is sacred – including you.
Practices will include:
- To identify non-animist spiritual thinking in yourself.
- What if you live as if everything is sacred?
- What is you are sacred – there is nothing wrong with you. That becoming human is the thing to be.
- To get grounded in the LW (deepening connection with your PA, connecting to the Standing People, finding a LW Human Guide/Tribe, finding your LW Soul).
Module 2: Deeper into the Realms
- Learning how to ascend from the axis mundi with your Power Animal always beside you.
- Journeying to discover your own Upper World imagery – contemporary or animist, while learning to discern and navigate carefully.
- Exploring the layered, spacious tiers of the Upper World.
Module 3: What animism and shamanism really are
- Meeting your Upper World “Guide.”
- Meeting your Upper World “Self.”
- Exploring disentanglement practices and the Council of Elders.
- Working with colour and sound healing.
Module 4: Magical thinking
What happens when “spirituality” becomes untethered from grounded reality? In this module, we confront the patterns of magical thinking that shape our modern-era personal and collective lives – and explore how beliefs can both guide and mislead us.
We’ll examine pre-personal, personal, and transpersonal layers of experience, unpack the “pre-trans fallacy” that is rife in much modern-day spiritual thinking, and look at the issue of spiritual bypassing—using “spiritual” practices to try and avoid dealing with tough emotions and reality. You’ll see how a divided brain can distort our perceptions, and how ungrounded spiritual beliefs can feed spiritual sickness, co-wetiko, and con-spirituality.
A balanced mind creates grounded spirituality. The left brain has a vital and healthy role to play in spirituality. It does this by keeping us grounded through discernment, fact-checking and healthy scepticism, wanting evidence, and by spotting logical fallacies and secondary hypotheses.
Practices will include:
- Noticing ungrounded spiritual beliefs in yourself.
- Journeys and exercises to explore the balance between insight and discernment.
Module 5: Meditation, rituals, and tradition
In this module, we explore meditation, rituals, and traditions, focusing on cultivating the Witness (or, Aware Self) part of us, the conscious self that observes without bias. Meditation and shamanic practices can strengthen our Witness, helping us step back from wonky stories (including wonky “spiritual” ones), from our middle-world dramas and habit patterns, and connect instead with our healthier Upper, middle, and Lower World selves.
We will also look at stripping away the clutter that meditation practices sometimes come wrapped in, and instead see the underlying mechanisms through which they work. We will see how meditations are in a particular sense (usually either visual, auditory, or sensory/movement), tend to be wide-focus or narrow-focus, and either internal or external. We will see how understanding all this opens meditation up, and how we can then use this to both enhance our shamanic work, and also our meditation practices too, and how to bring the two together and integrate them more.
Practices will include:
- Meditation practices in Middle-World: cultivate deliberate awareness across different senses and channels
- Shamanic Meditation: practice in the Upper or Lower-World
Module 6: Soul Roots, Spirit Branches
- Resources. Not taking more than we needed or more than our fair share.
- Responsibility. Fully owning and taking responsibility for our thoughts, beliefs, choices and actions.
- Power. Not seeking power over others. At the same time, not unhealthily giving our power away.
- Reciprocal living. Only taking the benefits of belonging to community if we are willing to honour and meet the obligations and agreements too.
- Contribution. Trying to be of service and contribute usefully to community. Sharing the knowledge and gifts we have.
- Truth and honesty. Being willing to face things as they truly are.
- Compassionate living. Trying to act compassionately. Trying to practice self-compassion too.
- Tribe. Look after tribe, both human and other-than-human, and caring for the weak and the vulnerable.
- … and more!
We have an Upper World problem
We begin by looking at a tension that runs deep in our culture – the way the Upper-World has been distorted and used to separate us from animist ways of being. At its heart, animism is profoundly non-hierarchical: there is no myth of human supremacy, no ranking of spirit over soul, of male over female, or heaven over earth.
Yet with domestication and the Fall came the rise of hierarchical, disembodied spiritual thinking. Ascension, perfection, purity, orthodoxy, and heresy—all became tools of social control. Emperors turned into gods, commandments dictated behaviour, and spirituality was pressed into service as a weapon of domestication. From original sin to the belief in being unclean or imperfect, we inherited ideas that keep us small—promising a cure for the very wound they create.
Animism, by contrast, threatens such systems precisely because it empowers us. It tells us there is nothing wrong with us, that we will not be punished, that nature is alive and sacred, and that life is not something to escape from, but something to fully inhabit. Small wonder then that it has been deliberately suppressed, written off as “primitive,” and erased through genocide or buried by missionaries. These distortions live on in our very language, and even in contemporary animist cultures that have become entangled with hierarchy.
In this module, we’ll untangle the difference between animism and contemporary spirituality, and return to the simple but radical truth: everything is alive, everything is sacred – including you.
Practices will include:
- To identify non-animist spiritual thinking in yourself.
- What if you live as if everything is sacred?
- What is you are sacred – there is nothing wrong with you. That becoming human is the thing to be.
- To get grounded in the LW (deepening connection with your PA, connecting to the Standing People, finding a LW Human Guide/Tribe, finding your LW Soul).
DEEPER INTO THE REALMS
- Learning how to ascend from the axis mundi with your Power Animal always beside you.
- Journeying to discover your own Upper World imagery – contemporary or animist, while learning to discern and navigate carefully.
- Exploring the layered, spacious tiers of the Upper World.
What animism and shamanism really are
- Meeting your Upper World “Guide.”
- Meeting your Upper World “Self.”
- Exploring disentanglement practices and the Council of Elders.
- Working with colour and sound healing.
MAGICAL THINKING
What happens when “spirituality” becomes untethered from grounded reality? In this module, we confront the patterns of magical thinking that shape our modern-era personal and collective lives – and explore how beliefs can both guide and mislead us.
We’ll examine pre-personal, personal, and transpersonal layers of experience, unpack the “pre-trans fallacy” that is rife in much modern-day spiritual thinking, and look at the issue of spiritual bypassing—using “spiritual” practices to try and avoid dealing with tough emotions and reality. You’ll see how a divided brain can distort our perceptions, and how ungrounded spiritual beliefs can feed spiritual sickness, co-wetiko, and con-spirituality.
A balanced mind creates grounded spirituality. The left brain has a vital and healthy role to play in spirituality. It does this by keeping us grounded through discernment, fact-checking and healthy scepticism, wanting evidence, and by spotting logical fallacies and secondary hypotheses.
Practices will include:
- Noticing ungrounded spiritual beliefs in yourself.
- Journeys and exercises to explore the balance between insight and discernment.
Meditation, rituals, and tradition
Soul Roots, Spirit Branches
- Resources. Not taking more than we needed or more than our fair share.
- Responsibility. Fully owning and taking responsibility for our thoughts, beliefs, choices and actions.
- Power. Not seeking power over others. At the same time, not unhealthily giving our power away.
- Reciprocal living. Only taking the benefits of belonging to community if we are willing to honour and meet the obligations and agreements too.
- Contribution. Trying to be of service and contribute usefully to community. Sharing the knowledge and gifts we have.
- Truth and honesty. Being willing to face things as they truly are.
- Compassionate living. Trying to act compassionately. Trying to practice self-compassion too.
- Tribe. Look after tribe, both human and other-than-human, and caring for the weak and the vulnerable.
- … and more!
JOIN US!
To attend the ‘Wheel of Life’ course, you need to have completed our First Steps course, and at least one other Next-Steps or Further-Steps, course with us (please note, there really are no exceptions to this). There are 2 Next-Steps courses you can take before November:
Exploring the Lower-World
The Animal, Plant, Standing (Tree) and Stone People
The closing date for enrolment is February 1st 2026. The course is highly unlikely to be repeated until 2029 at the earliest, so please do take this opportunity to book (remember, once booked, you can always work through the recordings at your own pace, and with no time limits).
Payment by instalments. We are committed to keeping our courses as affordable as we can, and this course is way cheaper than almost any comparable one. However, please remember that (depending on what country you are from) PayPal offers the option of spreading the payment over 3 monthly instalments. There is no fee at all for this, nor any interest incurred.
£200 for the course
Or just £220 bundled with 6 live sessions
Bookings open soon.
