Introduction to Shamanism and The Medicine Wheel Course, Starting 22nd September
Aho is honoured to offer a course that is close to it's heart. In collaboration with Gareth Hughes and Miguel de Silva an Introduction to Shamanism & The Medicine Wheel is a journey of self discovery.
It All Starts and Ends with You
Shamanism is more than a spiritual path — it’s a journey back to yourself. A path of self-discovery, healing, and profound connection with the natural and unseen worlds.
In a world that often feels disconnected and chaotic, the ancient wisdom of the shamans reminds us that we are part of a living, breathing web of life. They see the world not as a static place, but as a vibrant, conscious force — filled with guidance, energy, and the potential for deep transformation. And now, more than ever, that wisdom is needed.
Through this course, you’ll learn to perceive the world as alive and responsive, offering constant messages to guide your healing, growth, and sense of purpose. Shamanism teaches that real, lasting change begins within — and ripples outward to affect our communities, the land, and even the collective future.
A Journey of Remembering
Our Introduction to Shamanism & the Medicine Wheel course is a powerful and practical path into this ancient tradition. Based on universal principles found in shamanic cultures around the world, we’ll explore tools and teachings that have supported healing and transformation for thousands of years.
You’ll learn how to reclaim your power from past traumas, shadow aspects, ancestral patterns, and even karmic threads — transforming your story into one that serves your soul’s journey.
What You’ll Explore
Meeting once a fortnight over 15 sessions, this course weaves together foundational practices with direct experience.
Topics include:
What it means to be a modern shaman
Shamanic journeying: accessing wisdom through altered states
Healing the self and others using ancient techniques
Opening and closing sacred space
Working with the archetypes of the Medicine Wheel
Energetic clearing and removing attachments
Connecting with nature spirits and allies
Using icaros and medicine songs for healing
Crystal healing and the creation of sacred tools
Crafting despachos (ritual offerings)
Living with integrity, love, non-judgment, and respect
Our Teaching Philosophy
We believe true empowerment doesn’t come from gurus — it comes from your own lived experience. Our role is to support and guide, not dictate or define. There is no hierarchy here. Just a community of seekers, remembering who we are and walking each other home.
This course is inspired by our own journeys around the Medicine Wheel, and by the teachings generously passed down to us by our mentors. It's an honour to now share them with you.
Course Structure:
15 fortnightly lessons, each centred around a specific theme in shamanism.
Every session includes:
Opening Space – grounding, intention setting, and energy alignment
Lecture/Discussion – explore teachings and stories from the tradition
Experiential Practice – journeys, meditations, energy work, rituals
Integration Time – space for connection, reflection, and sharing
Course Goals
By the end of the course, you’ll:
Understand the core principles of shamanism
Be confident in opening sacred space and working with energies Learn to journey safely and meaningfully
Develop your own relationship with archetypes, spirit allies, and nature beings
Practice techniques for healing yourself and supporting others
Cultivate inner stillness, presence, and connection with life
Venue
All sessions are held at Akasa, a beautiful healing space in Hackney Wick, just a few minutes’ walk from the Overground station. Location: E9 5LX
Resources Provided
Handouts covering course themes and techniques
Recommended reading list and online resources
Guided meditations and journey audio tracks
Support between sessions from your mentors
Assessment & Integration This isn’t about grades — it’s about embodiment.
To help you integrate the teachings, you’ll be invited to:
Complete reflective journaling and homework
Participate in class activities and discussions
Practice techniques between sessions and share insights
Reflect on your growth throughout the Wheel
Materials to Bring
A drum or rattle (if you have one)
Smudging tools (sage, palo santo, incense)
Crystals and other sacred items
Notebook and pen for journaling
Recommended Reading:
Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide – Sandra Ingerman
Shaman, Healer, Sage – Alberto Villoldo
Plant Spirit Medicine – Eliot Cowan
Your Mentors Gareth Hughes – fluffycarrot222@gmail.com
Miguel da Silva – mysticus.22@gmail.com
Have questions or want to know if this course is right for you?
Reach out — we’re happy to chat and support you however we can.
Ready to walk the Medicine Wheel?
Come and join us in the 1st Lesson, with no obligation. The first 3 lessons are open to join. On the 4th, the group closes and we ask for your comitment to the course.
Join us, and step into a path that’s ancient, powerful, and deeply personal. It all starts — and ends — with you.
Dates (all mondays apart from 3 feb which is a tue)
Sept: 22
Oct: 6, 20
Nov: 3, 17
Dec: 1, 15 xmas and new year break
Jan: 5, 19
Feb: 3, 16
Mar: 2, 16, 30
April: 13
See additional Information sections containing the course Syllabus
You are welcome to join the first lesson with no obligation. After lesson 3 the group will be closed to any newcomers. If you miss a lesson, you can catch up with the course content.
£35 per lesson. Payment plans are available.
Please contact darenellis@aho.community
Lessons 1-4 in the South.
Lesson 1: Stepping into The Shaman's World. Date: 22 September 2025
Objectives:
Learn to create and maintain sacred space, understand the three shamanic worlds, practice communicating with spirits, receive intuitive guidance, and discover the use of various shamanic tools.
Topics:
Meet Your Guides: Introduction to Gareth and Miguel.
Sacred Space & The Three Worlds: Understanding how to open and hold energetic space, and an introduction to the shamanic cosmology of the three worlds.
Spirit Communication: Exploring techniques for conversing with and receiving messages (channelling) from helping spirits.
The Power of Tools: A deep dive into traditional shamanic instruments and their roles, including smudging, rattles, drums, Aqua de Florida, incense, sacred stones, plant spirits,
divination tools, and shamanic adornments.
Closing Circle: Reflecting on the session and preparing for integration.
Homework: Acquire a rattle.
Lesson 2: Embracing the Wisdom of Serpent. Date: 6 October 2025
Objectives:
Explore animism, grasp core ethical principles, understand the power of intention, and delve into the transformative energy of the Serpent archetype.
Topics:
Animism & Shamanism's Journey: Discovering that the world is alive with spirits and tracing shamanism's past, present, and future.
Core Shamanic Ethics: Understanding the fundamental principles of love, trust, honesty, respect, and integrity.
Intention as Your Tool: Learning that your conscious intention is the most potent instrument in shamanic work.
The Medicine Wheel & World Keepers: An introduction to the archetypes of the medicine wheel and the guardians of the three worlds: Huaska Inca, Quetzalcoatl, and Pachacuti.
Serpent Medicine: An in-depth exploration of the Serpent archetype, including fun facts, and perceiving the world from Serpent.
Serpent Journey: For deeper understanding of non-attachment, projection, and release.
Homework: Create a piece of Serpent Art Work.
Lesson 3: Walking Softly on the Earth. Date: 20 October 2025
Objectives:
Cultivate a reciprocal relationship with Pachamama (Mother Earth), master grounding techniques, practice environmentally conscious engagement with nature, and explore global Earth energies.
Topics:
Connecting with Pachamama: Establishing a relationship based on mutual respect and reciprocity with Mother Earth.
Grounding & Attunement: Practical exercises for grounding your energy and learning to journey through a visualisation exercise.
Eco-Conscious Practice: Principles of leaving no trace and making biodegradable offerings in nature.
Earth's Energetic Grid: Understanding ley lines, sacred sites like Avebury and Glastonbury, standing stones, crystal earth grids, and the chakras of the Earth.
Communing with Nature: Techniques for working with Earth energies, spending conscious time connecting with trees, and a guided plant life meditation.
Homework: Practice the Tree Chakra Meditation at home.
Lesson 4: Stepping onto The Healer's Path. Date: 3 Nov 2025
Objectives:
Define the role of a healer, reflect on the motivations for healing, understand the commitment to service, receive the sacred healers' rite, and practice energy healing.
Topics:
Defining the Healer: A discussion on the diverse forms a healer can take.
The Why of Healing: Exploring personal and collective reasons for engaging in healing work, and the importance of service to Pachamama.
The First Healers: Learning about the ancient lineage of earth keepers, Muni Ki and Laika.
Receiving the Healer's Rite: Understanding the significance of this sacred initiation and experiencing its reception.
Hands-On Healing & Self-Care: Practising energy healing techniques on other students, learning principles of self-healing, and embarking on a Self-Healing Journey.
Homework: Practice a healing session on someone outside of class.Lessons 5-9 in the West.
Lesson 5: Welcome to the Jungle with Jaguar. Date: 17 November 2025
Objectives:
Explore the Jaguar archetype, focusing on embodying presence and confronting fear, and learn to establish healthy personal boundaries and release energetic attachments.
Topics:
Open Space & Homework Share: Beginning the session and discussing insights from previous lessons.
The World of Jaguar: An introduction to the Jaguar archetype, its rich history, mythology, and its place in the medicine wheel.
Jaguar Qualities: Jaguar fun facts, perceiving from Jaguar.
Confronting Fear: Distinguishing between genuine fear and illusionary fear.
Energetic Boundaries: Understanding how to set and maintain personal boundaries, recognising triggers, practising "no attacking, no defending," respecting personal space and energy fields, and the critical principle: "If it's not a yes, it's a no!"
Cord-Cutting Exercise.
Homework: Undertake a Jaguar Journey.
Lesson 6: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Part 1. Date: 1 Dec 2025
Objectives:
Learn and perform the Bands of Power ritual for energetic protection and identify various forms of negative energy, psychic attack, and black magic.
Topics:
Open Space: Opening the energetic container for the lesson.
The Bands of Power: A detailed explanation, sacred ritual, and practice for feeding these powerful energetic protections.
Introduction to Dark Arts: Exploring the concept of the "dark side of the force" in a shamanic context.
Recognising Psychic Attack: Discussion on negative energy, psychic attacks, and understanding "energy weapons."
Understanding Black Magic: Identifying and discerning different aspects and manifestations of black magic.
Homework: Continue to feed your Bands of Power.
Lesson 7: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Part 2. Date: 15 December 2025
Objectives:
Understand diverse entity types, learn principles for safely removing entities, and practice practical extraction techniques.
Topics:
Open Space: Setting the stage for sensitive topics.
Understanding Entities: Exploring different classifications: self-grown, ancestral, travellers, eggers, as well as witches, disembodied spirits, cursed souls, hungry ghosts, bad fey, and dark nature spirits.
Entity Manifestations: Discussion on how entities can manifest as possession, psychological illness, poltergeists, depression, daemons, through dark magic, drug use, sexual encounters, and even as teachers.
Extraction Principles: Learning the fundamental guidelines for safe and effective entity removal, including Crystal Programming.
Practical Extraction Techniques: A hands-on demonstration and practice of the "Bicycle Pump Technique" for entity removal, followed by a Q&A session.
Homework: Continued practice of extraction principles and techniques.
Lesson 8: Illuminating Shadows and Conspiracies. Date: 5 Jan 2025
Objectives:
Explore personal shadows and collective conspiracies, develop awareness through projection and mirroring, and engage in intuitive card readings.
Topics:
Open Space & Shadow Card: Beginning the session by intuitively selecting a shadow card.
Defining Shadows & Conspiracies: Understanding what personal shadows and collective conspiracies represent.
Impact & Awareness: How these unseen forces affect us personally and methods for cultivating awareness.
Projection & Mirroring: A powerful exercise to identify mirroring in interactions (e.g., with someone who annoyed you), recognising that what we perceive in others often reflects aspects of ourselves.
Words, Thoughts & Insight: Discussion on the creative power of our words and thoughts, followed by practical Shadow Card Readings and Conspiracy Deck Readings.
Homework: Find a red, yellow, or black stone.
Lesson 9: Embracing Death as an Advisor. Date: 19 January 2026
Objectives:
Confront the fear of death, explore pre-life existence and past lives, understand factors preventing a peaceful transition, and journey to connect with past lives.
Topics:
Open Space & Share: Creating a supportive environment for sharing personal insights.
The Ultimate Fear: Addressing the inherent human fear of death and its significance in shamanic tradition.
Beyond This Life: Exploring the concepts of life before life, past lives, and the idea of choosing our parents and life path.
Dying Well: Understanding how trauma, karma, and energetic attachments can hinder a peaceful transition.
Journey to Past Life: A guided shamanic journey to access and integrate insights from past life experiences.
Homework: Complete the Death as an Advisor exercise.Lessons 10-15 in the North & East.
Lesson 10: Welcoming the North with Hummingbird. Date: 3 Feb 2026
Objectives:
Be introduced to the Hummingbird archetype and the direction of the North, explore expanded consciousness, and connect with benevolent upper-world beings.
Topics:
Welcome & Open Space: Greeting participants and opening the sacred space.
Share: An opportunity to share experiences and reflections.
Hummingbird & The North: Introduction to the Hummingbird (including fun facts) and its association with the Northern direction, symbolising the journey where the impossible becomes possible.
Hummingbird Consciousness: Exploring the perspective of Hummingbird – finding the nectar of life, releasing limiting roles, embracing magic and joy, seeing on a soul level, accessing knowledge of past and future, and transforming the future.
Beings of the Upper World: Connecting with benevolent entities such as angels, archangels, ascended masters, and various gods and goddesses.
Homework: Write a prayer to a god/goddess of your choice.
Lesson 11: Honouring The Ancestors. Date: 16 February 2026
Objectives:
Delve into the significance of ancestors, journey to connect with a healed ancestor, understand the importance of honouring living ancestors, and gain experience in building a
shamanic altar.
Topics:
Opening Space & Ancestral Wisdom: An in-depth discussion on ancestors, distinguishing between healed and unhealed lineages, and understanding ancestors in suffering.
Journey to the Last Healed Ancestor: A powerful guided journey to connect with your ancestral lineage and seek blessings.
Living Ancestors: The crucial importance of honouring your parents and grandparents, and recognising your role as a future ancestor.
The Sacred Altar: A comprehensive talk on the purpose of altars, their connection to the upper world and spirits, and a practical Altar Building session, covering major components and aesthetics.
Magic, Nature & Plant Spirits: Fun facts about magical creatures, the reality of intention as magic, the living awareness of the world, understanding nature spirits, and the profound role of plant spirits as medicine teachers (e.g., tobacco, ayahuasca, peyote, coffee,
cacao), emphasising respect and offerings.
Homework: Yes Week, acquire a chakra crystal set, conduct ancestor research, build an altar, complete the ancestral journey.
Lesson 12: Activating the Power of Crystals!. Date: 2 March 2026
Objectives:
Engage in a discussion and activation of crystals, learn crystal healing principles, gain hands-on experience, and explore creating crystal grids.
Topics:
Opening Space: Preparing the energetic environment for crystal work.
Crystal Consciousness: A comprehensive "crystal talk" covering various types, properties, and uses, followed by a powerful Crystal Activation Meditation.
Crystal Healing Principles: Learning the theory and foundational concepts of crystal healing.
Demonstration & Practice: A live demonstration of crystal healing techniques, followed by practical hands-on healing sessions with peers.
Crystal Grids: Understanding the powerful application of crystal grids for global healing and creating personal grids for enhanced sleep and positive dreams around your bed.
Homework: Practice meditation on a crystal and crystal healing.
Lesson 13: Archetypes and Timelines. Date: 16 March 2026
Objectives:
Explore positive archetypes, engage in archetype readings and journeys, learn to find purpose through archetypes, and grasp the aspects of soul retrieval.
Topics:
Opening Space: Beginning the session.
Positive Archetypes: Discussion and exploration of various positive archetypal energies.
Archetype Connection: Engaging in Archetype Readings and undertaking a guided Journey to a Positive Archetype to embrace its energy.
Purpose Through Archetypes: Learning how to align with archetypal energies to find clarity in purpose, including career paths and life direction.
Timelines & Soul Retrieval: Understanding timelines as streams of past, present, and future, and delving into the theory and meditative Journey of Soul Retrieval to reclaim fragmented parts of the self.
Lesson 14: Dreaming the New World into Being. Date: 30 March 2026
Objectives:
Examine societal roles, participate in a ceremony to release limiting roles, and engage in a collective visioning ceremony to dream forth a new world.
Topics:
Opening Space: Setting a reflective and expansive energetic space.
Roles & Identity: Discussion on what roles are, how they define us (both positively and negatively), and identifying those that no longer serve our highest good.
Releasing Ceremony: A powerful Releasing Ceremony using candles and sticks to symbolically let go of outdated roles.
Dreaming a New World: A collective visioning session focused on manifesting a future of peace, love, and acceptance, with an emphasis on choosing your unique contribution to
this dream.
White Despacho Ceremony: A sacred closing ceremony to send intentions and offerings for the new world.
Lesson 15: Embracing the East with Eagle & Condor. Date: 13 April 2026
Objectives:
Explore the Eagle and Condor archetypes, learn to perceive from their consciousness, journey to Eagle, and understand the unification of all directions in preparation for the next steps in your shamanic path.
Topics:
Opening Space & Share: Beginning the final session and sharing profound insights.
Eagle & Condor Wisdom: In-depth discussion on Eagle and Condor (including fun facts), and how to perceive from their high-flying consciousness.
Journey to Eagle: A guided journey to connect with the expansive perspective of the Eagle archetype.
Unity of Directions: Understanding the profound concept of "Flying Together" – the unification of North, South, East, and West, bringing all directions into wholeness.
Next Steps & The Mesa: An introduction to the continuation of the shamanic path, including the sacred practice of carrying a Mesa and the broader Big Medicine Wheel that awaits.