What Is a Medicine Wheel?
Reclaiming Sacred Relationship with Land, Spirit, and Self
There’s a question I’ve been asked many times over the years — sometimes directly, sometimes in more nuanced ways.
What is a medicine wheel?
At first glance, it may seem like a simple question. But in truth, it’s one that invites a much deeper exploration of land, lineage, spirit, sovereignty, and sacred space.
As an artist and shamanic practitioner, I’ve created many visual interpretations of the medicine wheel. One in particular — a watercolour painting featured in The Ultimate Guide to Shamanism — continues to spark conversation every time I share it. In that illustration, each direction holds a different spirit ally: Jaguar, Orca, Serpent, Eagle, Owl, and others. And with each post, questions arise:
“Why is the jaguar in the west?”
“Why the orca?”
“Shouldn’t there be a hummingbird?”
These are good questions. But they also reveal something deeper — something that points to a misunderstanding, or perhaps a forgetting.
The Medicine Wheel Is Not One Thing
There is no single “correct” version of the medicine wheel. It exists across many cultures — Native American, Andean, Celtic, and others — and within each lineage it carries unique teachings, spirit relationships, and elements.
But here’s what I believe: The most powerful medicine wheel you can work with is the one rooted where you are — in the land beneath your feet, the plants and animals around you, and the spirits you are in true relationship with.
Location Matters: Who Lives Around You?
If you’ve never seen a jaguar, never met an eagle, never encountered a coyote — why are you calling them into your sacred space? Have you done the work to build that relationship bridge with them, or watched their cyclical ways of how they move through life? In Shamanism, it is one great way to retrieve medicine, and that is through observing. Once we have observed and understood these spirits that meet us in physical form, we actually begin to understand new ways of what medicine they are personally bringing to us at any given moment (not just the one version of what specific animals or spirits mean).
That’s not a criticism. Many of us have learned from Indigenous and other teachers who do work with these spirits, and their medicine is rooted in something beautiful, real, and holy. But we must also ask ourselves: What spirits live here, where I am now? Where my feet are planted.
I live in England. There are no jaguars here. But there are foxes, and one of them became a teacher for me when she appeared sick and vulnerable, suffering from mange. I cared for her, treated her, and in doing so, I built a physical relationship. That fox — a living being in my landscape — carries medicine that no textbook can teach. It was through experience that I witnessed the nuances of this incredible animal, which is often (in my area) regarded as a pest.
The same is true for the Grandmother Sage plant outside my healing room in the garden. She is more than a herb — she is a guide, a guardian. When I call her into sacred space, I do so with reverence and relationship, particularly because the work I engage with is in HER space too!
Much of Shamanic practice is about sacred relationship.
Sacred Space Is Not Just an Idea
To create sacred space is not to mimic something from a book. It is to build a container of awareness, safety, and sovereignty — a circle where only the energies you choose are welcomed in. And lets be honest here, you do not want to call in any and all spirits into your sacred space! The very idea of the sacred circle is to provide protection and a boundary for sacred work to commence.
So… that begins by knowing who you’re calling in.
Are they true allies?
Are they local, rooted, present — or distant, symbolic, and abstract?
This is not about abandoning traditional teachings – and maybe what I propose here is to deepen your relationship with those spirits even if you’ve never met those animals in physical form. Really, it’s about weaving them with your lived experience. It’s about walking your path with mindfulness — not from ego, but from a place of soul evolution.
How to Begin Your Own Medicine Wheel Practice
Here are some gentle starting points:
Trust what arises — Sometimes a spirit appears because it carries the medicine you need, even if it isn’t local to your land. But begin by deepening your relationship with what is already around you, before reaching outward.
Look around you — What animals, plants, and elements live where you are?
Spend time with them — Watch the cherry tree in your garden. Listen to the fox — or even the neighbourhood cat — at night. Observe the sage or dandelions as they grow, with patience and presence.
Ask permission — Before calling spirits into sacred space, ask if they wish to work with you.
Spirits often recognize when we are in training. If your words feel clumsy, that’s okay — every step on this path is a learning. If you’re unsure whether a spirit has said yes or no, pause. Wait until you genuinely feel that call or connection before continuing the work.
Some spirits, like the elements or directions, are often a-moral — not good or bad — and tend to be more readily accessible. But others carry sovereignty. They do not exist solely to serve us, and it’s important to approach them with respect. Honouring their autonomy helps build genuine, reciprocal relationship.
Give thanks — Gratitude is the bridge that strengthens connection.
The Wheel Is Yours to Create
Medicine wheels are not rigid diagrams — they are living, breathing expressions of your relationship with spirit, nature, and self. No two wheels will be the same, because no two souls are the same.
When we start with presence — to our bodies, our land, our lives — we begin to create not just a medicine wheel, but a circle of life that is sacred, sovereign, and true.
With love and gratitude for your presence here today,
Roberta
You can find her as a fine art print in my Etsy Shop.