Further Steps Course:
THE WHEEL OF LIFE
THE SHAMANIC GUIDE TO THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR AND THE STAGES OF LIFE.
Dates: Jan 30, Mar 20, May 1, June 19, Jul 31, Sept 18, Oct 30, Dec 18 (following the eight “sabbats” of the year).
- What is ‘Medicine Wheel‘ and how to 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.
Closed
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 things 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.
MORE ABOUT THE MEDICINE WHEEL
Medicine wheel is based around the cycle of the year. So it is a subtle and immensely 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 seasons. From this follow all the other correspondences like seasons of the year, time of the day, stages of life, life of a plant and the element correspondences: spring with air, summer worth fire, autumn with water and winter with earth.
In addition, the elements relate to a whole host of factors, including emotions, mental processes, learning styles and so on.
Understanding the meaning and the pattern of the elements can up a whole world of understanding our inner processes. Most importantly, it can show us how, why and where we get stuck on a cycle, and most importantly, what we can do about it.
JOIN US!
To attend the course, you need to have completed one of the college’s First-Steps courses, and ideally at least one of the Next-Steps courses (although having done a Next-Steps course is not essential).
The course consists of eight Sunday, 10 am (UK time) morning meetings, each roughly 6 weeks apart, following the eight “sabbats” of the year.