Co-Creating with the Medicine Wheel
Variations of elements, colors, and spirit helpers for creating a medicine wheel altar
My 8-week my Medicine Wheel Workshop starts on March 6th! Explore a deep way of working with archetypes that connects with your love of nature. Payment plans available. Reply to this email for more info.
The medicine wheel is a system with set prescriptions AND it is a co-creative process. The structure AND fluidity of the medicine wheel are what make it a brilliant channel for spiritual guidance. In my article on “The Archetypal Medicine Wheel”, I shared the fixed associations with each of the compass directions. For example, the east is always associated with dawn and birth.
Now we get to explore creative and organic ways for working with the medicine wheel to connect with nature and the Divine.
There are three themes within the medicine wheel with varying associations. This depends on who is using the medicine wheel, where they are, and how they are using it.
These themes are:
Elements
Color
Spirit Helpers
Working with the Elements
The elements are the basic forces that comprise the natural world. In the Hermetic Qabalah, three elements, fire, water, and air come together to create earth. In other belief systems such as paganism, there are four elements to begin with: fire, water, air and earth. In Taoism, the IChing and Feng Shui, there are five elements: wood, earth, water, fire and metal. There are also five elements in Tibetan Buddhism, but they are different (see table below).
There is no universally agreed upon list or number of elements.
It gets even more complicated when we endeavor to assign the elements to the directions of the medicine wheel. These assignments are tied to certain places in the world, traditions, and cultures, and they are far from consistent.
Here are different examples of associations of the elements with the four compass directions:
This variation can be seen as incredibly frustrating to untangle or understand OR it can be viewed as an opportunity. There’s an opportunity to learn more about a culture you come from and/or that you resonate with. By adopting the associations of this culture, you embrace the beliefs and rituals therein.
The other option is to work intuitively with the medicine wheel and choose elements for the directions that make the most sense for you and for where you live. You can adapt the medicine wheel to your geographic location. For example, in a four-season climate, the east and spring-time may signal a huge eruption of life from the earth. Thus, you may choose to place the element of earth in the east. Someone else may live in a place that is especially windy in the spring. They might associate springtime, and the east, with the element of air.
This is where working with the medicine wheel is fun! It comes alive in an organic, co-creative process.
Colors in the Medicine Wheel
Things get even more complicated and fun when we bring color into the equation.
Again, you can go with the colors a specific tradition or you can create your own associations. I prefer to go with my own associations and shift them intuitively because it delights the artist in me. This creates a living, breathing conversation with the medicine wheel.
When building a medicine wheel altar, I have certain colors that represent certain directions for me, but I allow those definitions to shift and change depending on what feels right at the time.
For example, I often use black to represent the west and the season of autumn because it speaks to me of the void and hibernation which are potent archetypes of this time of year. However, when I have a plethora of fall leaves in the forest around my house, I am likely to use oranges, yellows and reds. I often bring leaves inside and put them in the position of the west on the altar (see photo at the top).
Typically white signifies the north in my medicine wheel altars because of the connection between north, the winter, and snow where I live. On the other hand, during the Christmas holiday season I might place evergreen boughs or a sprig of green rosemary there. This means that sometimes green shows up in the north instead of the east (where I usually place it).
Spirit Helpers in the Medicine Wheel
When working with the medicine wheel, a beautiful way to invite in the sacred is to include images of spirit helpers. Here the term “spirit helpers” is broad and includes spirit animals, goddesses/gods, angels, spirit guides, saints, spiritual teachers, and more.
Spirit animals are one of the first spirit helpers people think of in relation to the medicine wheel.
There are traditions that assign specific animals to the directions. For example, in Peruvian shamanism, the east is the domain of the puma and jaguar, the south is the domain of the boa and anaconda, the west is the domain of the dolphin and whale, north is the domain of the condor and eagle, and center is ruled by the llama and alpaca.
If you go with prescribed associations, I recommend remaining open to other animals coming in over time or adding your own spirit animals in addition to the prescribed ones. Prescriptions can provide powerful connections to a tradition as well as add layers of insight to your practice. They can also cause stagnation of organic communication between yourself and the spirit world. So, keep things open as much as you can.
In Tibetan Buddhism there are whole “Buddha families” that are associated with the directions. Dozens of goddesses, gods, dakinis, etc. are a part of these families. This provides a nice blend of a prescribed system with a living one. We can intuitively include the spirit helper we need from the larger family associated with a given direction.
One week I may choose Ushnisha Vijaya for the south and another week I may gravitate towards Tara Shabari. They are both in the Ratna Buddha family which is associated with the south, abundance and the color gold in the mandala.
Learn More About Medicine Wheel Altars
In my “Medicine Wheel: Your Archetypes In Nature’s Cycles” workshop, students receive guidance on creating their own medicine wheel altars that support the deep inquiry we do into personality archetypes. Each student sets an intention for the wheel and casts their own personality archetypes into the medicine wheel. We then spend a week on each direction looking at the answers that come through. More details are below!
References
Embodying Tara: Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom by Chandra Easton
Move Your Stuff Change Your Life: How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness by Karen Rauch Carter
Peruvian Shamanism: The Pachakúti Mesa by Matthew Magee
Tarot Deciphered by T. Susan Chang and M.M. Meleen
The Animal-Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews
8-Part Medicine Wheel Workshop
Your Archetypes in Nature’s Cycles
Thursdays starting March 6th at 4:30pm Mountain
Payment plans available! Reply to this email for details. Combine the wisdom of the medicine wheel with the insight of personality archetypes in this small-group, online workshop with Spiritual Advisor and Archetype Analyst Stacey Couch. The medicine wheel is a universal map of the cycles of nature. It maps the seasons of our inner nature. The medicine wheel guides us through important life challenges and grounds us in the fabric all life. In this workshop with only five students, Stacey shares the qualities, stories, and associations with the cardinal directions that are universal to working with the medicine wheel. She guides students through the landscape of personality archetypes, helping you identify which are yours.
Archetypal Medicine Wheel
Want to learn more about what seasons, times of day, and meanings correspond to which directions? I recommend reading this post.
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Creative Refuge Hour
Our next meetup for PAID subscribers is February 13, 2025 at 4:30pm Mountain Standard Time. This is an hour set aside for a contemplation, meditation, and creative pursuits such as journaling, drawing, or collaging! Stacey leads the first 15-20 minutes with a reading and guided meditation. You get to choose how to spend the rest of the time in a quiet creative space with a beautiful group of soul seekers. This is a fulfilling way to invest in your creative self.
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About the Author
Stacey Couch is a Spiritual Advisor who supports creative seekers learning as they go on the spiritual path. She serves beginner and life-long students of the soul. Her compassionate and collaborative approach honors the humanity and value of each person. Through meeting with Stacey, lost souls find refuge. Connection to the Divine is realized. Belonging comes. She is the author of Gracious Wild: A Shamanic Journey with Hawks. Learn More about working with Stacey