Join us for a year-long journey around the Inca Medicine Wheel
Message from Hopi Elders
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered…
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
Oraibi, Arizona
Hopi Nation
The Inca Medicine Wheel is a spiritual and perceptual journey through the four directions, brought to the West by Alberto Villoldo after studying for decades with the Q’ero shamans of Peru, whose wisdom has been transmitted orally for thousands of years. The Inca Medicine Wheel honors the luminous, spiritual dimension of all creation, as well as the timelessness that links ancient ancestors with our own lives here and now. The Medicine Wheel brings us into “ayni”–right relationship–with all things, including our past, our present, and our future.
To journey around the wheel means meeting intensely for three days each quarter, followed by a period of practice and integration between gatherings. You’ll learn shamanic breathing and how to open sacred space. You’ll begin to understand the Inca Way of Being, gain tools for shifting your perception, receive powerful initiation rites, spend time in ceremony and alone in nature, and, with each phase of the journey, build your “mesa,” your personal medicine bundle and shamanic altar.
Our gathering place is Skalitude, a magnificent 160-acre off-grid retreat center, located in the Methow Valley of north central Washington, approximately 4 hours east of Seattle and west of Spokane.
Participants will come together for three full-day periods, four times throughout a one-year cycle to complete the four directions of the Medicine Wheel. Because of our remote location, we’ll open each session mid-afternoon on Thursday (save for the first gathering, which begins on Friday), then close after lunch the following Sunday (or Monday, in the case of the first session). The first gathering is Friday, February 10 through Monday, February 13, 2017. Subsequent gatherings are scheduled for Thursday-Sunday, May 4-7, Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 7-10, and Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2017.
The Four Directions of the Inca Medicine Wheel
The South: The Way of Healing
We begin our journey in the south, where we learn to shed our past the way Serpent sheds her skin. We examine the stories that have kept us tied to our wounds and transform them from sources of suffering into wellsprings of power and compassion. We’ll empower the first three stones–kuyas–of our mesas and receive the Ayni Karpay rites.
The West: The Way of Transformation
The West is the direction of the Jaguar, the spiritual warrior, who has stepped beyond fear, violence, and death. We delve more deeply into ancestral patterns and cultural conditioning, freeing ourselves to be in service to the highest good of humanity. We continue building our mesas, empowering three more kuyas, and receive the Pachamama Karpay rites, initiating us as guardians and keepers of the Earth.
The North: The Way of Initiation
In the North, the place of the Hummingbird, we begin to explore the mystery teachings–the ancient knowledge that takes us out of linear time and into sacred circular time. Through ceremony, we reconnect with our spiritual lineage and our timeless true nature. We add three more healing stones to our mesa–one of which we have transformed through fire. We receive the the Apu Karpay initiation rites and the Mosoq Kuna Karpay rites of the Time to Come.
The East: The Way of Co-Creation
The East is the place of the Eagle/Condor, the visionary who sees the big picture, who flies with Creator. In the East we journey to the Upper World to dream the world into being through pure awareness and intention. We understand that the purpose of our healing is not for ourselves alone but to serve as stewards of creation, experiencing the sacred in every moment. We receive the Star Being (Chaska Kuna Karpay) and Creator (Taitanchis Ranti) rites. We empower three more kuyas for our mesa, and receive a lineage stone–one linking us to our Q’ero ancestors.
The wisdom of these transmissions will change the way you walk upon the Earth. As our Hopi elders admonish us: We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!
Our leader, Lynn Berryhill, is an artist, shaman, healer, and graduate of the Four Winds’ Healing the Light Body School, where she has been a senior teacher for over 15 years.
To register: Participation in the Inca Medicine Wheel is limited to 14 people and costs $795/session ($495/training and $300/room and board). A $200 deposit will hold your space in the first session; full payment must be received by January 25, 2017. Payment be made via PayPal, or by check to Leslee Goodman, mailed to 205 Upper Beaver Creek Road, Twisp, WA 98856. I look forward to journeying with you!
Original painting by Lynn Berryhill.
