If you’ve spent any time around Indigenous-inspired spiritual practice, you’ve probably heard the phrase “medicine wheel.” In my Andean path, the medicine wheel isn’t a trendy diagram or a personality test; it’s a living map. A way to organise prayer, healing, learning, and daily life around balance.
It helps me remember something simple (and easy to forget when life gets loud): I’m not meant to live from just my head. I’m meant to live in relationship, with the directions, with Father Sky and Mother Earth, with my own inner seasons, and with the unseen supports that keep me steady when my mental world gets shaky.
This blog is my attempt to share the wheel in a grounded way: what it is, what the four directions mean, the animal allies often associated with each direction in Andean-informed teachings, and, most importantly, how I use these teachings to help people meet real challenges: anxiety, overwhelm, rumination, grief, low confidence, and the “I can’t think straight” fog that modern life loves to produce.
(Quick respect note: Andean traditions are diverse and community-based. Teachings can vary by lineage, region, and teacher. I’m sharing the way I’ve been taught and the way I work with it, without pretending it’s the only “official” version.)
What the Andean Medicine Wheel Is (in plain language)
Think of the Andean medicine wheel as a framework for balance and transformation. It’s a way of stepping into sacred relationship with four primary directions: North, East, South, West. Each carries its own medicine (lesson), energy, and invitation.
Where modern culture often asks, “How do I fix myself fast?”, the wheel asks a different question:
“What direction is calling me back into balance?”
Instead of seeing life as one long straight line of productivity, the wheel sees life as cyclical and directional. At different times you need different medicine:
- Some seasons ask you to release what’s weighing you down.
- Others ask you to face fear and reclaim personal power.
- Others invite you into vision, new beginnings, and a fresh relationship to possibility.
- Others bring you home to wisdom, humility, and the long view.
In practice, I use the wheel in ceremonies, in prayer, in healing sessions, and in the smallest daily moments, especially when someone’s mind feels like it’s racing ahead of their body.
Father Sky and Mother Earth: The Two Great Anchors
Before the directions, there’s a foundation: Father Sky and Mother Earth.
- Mother Earth (Pachamama) is grounding, nourishment, embodiment, the reality of “here.” She’s the reminder that healing isn’t only insight, it’s safety in the body, support, and belonging.
- Father Sky (Pachatata), often held as a presence of vastness, clarity, perspective, light, and guidance, reminds me that I’m not trapped inside my personal story. There is a larger mind, a bigger sky above the weather of my thoughts.
When people struggle mentally, they often feel either:
- ungrounded (too much sky, spinning thoughts, anxiety, dissociation), or
- heavy and stuck (too much earth, fatigue, depression, feeling buried).
Working with Sky and Earth is a gentle way to restore balance without forcing anything. A simple practice I use (and share with others) is:
- Inhale “Sky”: feel spaciousness, perspective, breath moving across the chest and collarbones.
- Exhale “Earth”: feel weight dropping into the pelvis, legs, feet.
- Do that for 6–10 breaths and notice: the mind usually softens because the body finally feels included.
That’s the wheel in action already: not abstract beliefs, but usable anchors for the nervous system.
The Four Directions: A Working Map for Healing
Different Andean teachers and modern lineages map the animal allies differently. What I share below is a common Andean-informed directional teaching used in many contemporary practices (especially those influenced by the Q’ero tradition and related ceremonial lineages, which I have studied with my teacher). The animals act as archetypal allies, not mascots, each carrying a medicine you can apply immediately.
South: Serpent (Sachamama) — Shedding and Release
The South is often associated with the Serpent, the medicine of shedding skin. This direction teaches letting go, not as a vague self-help slogan, but as a deep energetic skill.
Serpent medicine asks:
- What am I carrying that isn’t mine anymore?
- What identity is too tight?
- What story am I rehearsing that keeps me in the same emotional loop?
For mental challenges, Serpent is powerful because the mind loves old grooves. Rumination is basically a worn-out trail in the brain. Serpent practice helps people loosen their grip on the thought-loop without needing to “win” against the mind.
Daily-life application (simple):
- Choose one thing to release today:
- a grudge,
- a compulsive scroll habit,
- a harsh self-talk phrase,
- one unrealistic expectation.
- a grudge,
- Say (out loud if possible): “I release what is not for me.”
This isn’t denial. It’s boundary-setting at the level of energy and attention.
West: Jaguar or Puma (Mighty Otorongo) Courage, Shadow, and Personal Power
The West is often held as the place where we face the setting sun, symbolically, the place of shadow. Many teachings associate the West with Jaguar (or sometimes Puma, depending on tradition/region/translation). Either way, the medicine is similar: courage, integrity, and the willingness to face what we avoid.
This isn’t about being fearless. It’s about being honest.
When someone’s mental capacity is under strain, panic, avoidance, procrastination, or self-sabotage. West medicine is often the turning point. It asks:
- What emotion do I keep pushing away?
- What truth do I already know but don’t want to admit?
- What boundary do I need to set?
- What am I protecting, and what is it costing me?
Jaguar/Puma medicine helps people reclaim energy that gets trapped in avoidance. And that reclaimed energy often looks like clarity, confidence, and a steadier mood.
Daily-life application (simple):
- Pick one brave action that’s small enough to complete today:
- send the message you’ve been avoiding,
- make the appointment,
- tell the truth kindly,
- take the first 10 minutes of the task.
- send the message you’ve been avoiding,
- The practice isn’t “do it perfectly.” It’s “walk toward it.”
North: Hummingbird (Sawakenti) Trust, Endurance, and the Sweetness of Life
In many Andean-informed teachings, the North is associated with Hummingbird. It’s one of my favourite medicines because it’s not about force, it’s about heart, persistence, and finding sweetness even when the road is long.
Hummingbird medicine says:
- Don’t underestimate small steps.
- Follow what nourishes your spirit.
- Drink from the flowers: beauty, meaning, connection, without waiting for everything to be fixed first.
For mental resilience, this matters. When people are depressed or burned out, their inner world often goes grey. Hummingbird doesn’t demand positivity. It invites micro-nourishment, tiny moments that remind the nervous system, “Life still has taste.”
Daily-life application (simple):
- Each day, intentionally take in one “sip of sweetness.”
- sunlight on your face,
- music for 90 seconds,
- a warm drink,
- a kind message,
- a brief walk.
- sunlight on your face,
- The key is not the activity, it’s the conscious receiving.
East: Condor or Eagle (Haton Apuchin) Vision, Spirit, and New Beginnings
The East is the direction of sunrise, often associated with Condor (and sometimes expressed as Eagle in some blended teachings). Condor medicine is big-picture: vision, spirit, higher perspective.
When someone’s mind is overwhelmed, it tends to zoom in on threat and detail. East medicine helps people zoom out:
- What matters most?
- What is this situation teaching me?
- What is the next right step, not the whole staircase?
This is where hope becomes practical. Not wishful thinking, orientation.
Daily-life application (simple):
- Ask one “East question” each morning:
- “What am I moving toward today?”
- “What would the wisest part of me choose?”
- “What is one small beginning I can make?”
- “What am I moving toward today?”
East reminds people that change starts with a first light.
How I Use the Wheel in Healings and Ceremonies
When I bring the medicine wheel into healing work, I’m not trying to impress anyone with mystical language. I’m trying to create a container, a felt sense of order and support, so someone can meet their inner life without being overwhelmed.
Here are a few ways the wheel shows up in my practice:
- Four-direction opening: calling in the directions as a way to establish grounded attention and intention. Even if someone isn’t “spiritual,” the structure itself can calm the mind because it organises space.
- Directional diagnosis (gentle): noticing where someone is out of balance:
- too much West = stuck in fear, carrying heavy emotion alone
- too little South = can’t release, keeps repeating the past
- too little East = no vision, feels hopeless
- too little North = no sweetness, can’t receive nourishment
- too much West = stuck in fear, carrying heavy emotion alone
- Ceremony as nervous-system support: repetition, rhythm, and symbolic actions can reduce mental overload. We calm down when there’s meaningful structure.
And importantly, I keep it practical. If a session ends with someone feeling inspired but unable to function on Monday morning, I haven’t done my job. The wheel should make life more livable, not more complicated.
Using the Medicine Wheel for Mental Challenges in Daily Life
Here’s how I translate the wheel for common mental struggles, without making it a “spiritual chore list.”
When anxiety is loud
- South (Serpent): release the urge to control everything.
- East (Condor): zoom out; find the next right step.
- Practice: 6 breaths Sky/Earth + one East question.
When you’re depressed or emotionally flat
- North (Hummingbird): take in one sip of sweetness daily.
- South (Serpent): shed the shame story that says “this will never change.”
- Practice: micro-nourishment + one gentle release statement.
When you’re stuck in avoidance or procrastination
- West (Jaguar/Puma): one brave step, small enough to complete.
- East (Condor): reconnect with why it matters.
- Practice: “10-minute courage” + big-picture reminder.
When your mind is overthinking and spinning
- Mother Earth: ground first; bring attention into the body.
- East: choose one priority.
- Practice: feet on floor + one task, one step.
These aren’t rigid rules. They’re handles, simple ways to work with your state instead of fighting yourself.
A Simple Four-Direction Daily Practice (5 minutes)
If you want a practice that’s easy enough to actually keep, this one works:
- Stand or sit. Feel your feet (Mother Earth). Feel the space above your head (Father Sky).
- Turn your attention to each direction and speak one sentence:
- South: “I release ____.”
- West: “I face ____ with courage.”
- North: “I receive ____.”
- East: “I move toward ____.”
- South: “I release ____.”
- Close with: “May I walk in balance.”
That’s it. No props required. No pressure to “feel something big.” The power is in repetition.
Why This Wheel Matters to Me
The Andean medicine wheel gives me a language for things people feel but can’t always name: overwhelm, stuckness, fear, disconnection, loss of meaning. It reminds me that healing isn’t only about insight. It’s about direction. About returning to balance again and again, in a way that’s gentle enough to sustain.
When I use the wheel to help others, I’m not trying to fix them. I’m helping them remember they have options. They can release. They can face. They can receive. They can begin again. And in a world that constantly pulls us into mental fragmentation, that kind of simple, directional wholeness is medicine.
The kind of shamanism I study and practice is rooted in Andean cosmology and the living wisdom of the medicine wheel. For me, it isn’t about chasing mystical experiences or escaping everyday life, it’s about becoming more present inside it.
The directions, the animal allies, and the relationship with Father Sky and Mother Earth give me a steady framework for healing that feels both ancient and immediately practical. When I’m overwhelmed, the wheel helps me find my footing again. When I’m stuck, it helps me move. When I’m carrying too much, it reminds me how to release with respect rather than force.
What I love most about this path is how grounded it is. The teachings don’t ask for perfection; they ask for sincerity, consistency, and balance. I’ve come to see the wheel as a compassionate guide for the mind, especially when mental health challenges show up as anxiety, spiralling thoughts, emotional heaviness, or a sense of disconnection from meaning.
In my work with others, I draw on the wheel’s ceremonies and energetic practices as tools for clarity, resilience, and inner steadiness. My intention is simple: to help people reconnect with their own strength, soften what weighs them down, and walk forward with a little more courage, sweetness, and trust, one direction at a time.
I often find my days are more harmonious when I start them the right way, even with just a simple practice or lighting some incense at my alter, pulling an oracle card and saying my morning gratitude. I like to start my day with a short meditation as well but there isn’t always the time for that, and that’s ok. Whether I do a full embodied morning routine or simply find the time to say a prayer of gratitude whilst on the bus to work, I find a moment for myself and bring my thoughts together, so that I can find that special place just for me when I need it.
If you would like to work with me or speak to me about Shamanism why not book a call or a session with me on my contact page.
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