The Pachakuti Mesa Apprenticeship is an 18-month ceremony of initiation and transformation, unfolding through five in-person apprenticeship weekends at Star River Sanctuary. Each gathering is spaced by 3–6 months, allowing time for practice, reflection, and integration between the weekends.

This is a deeply powerful path of personal and evolutionary growth. Year after year, as groups move through the process, the devotion and care behind this resource-based, empowerment-centered training continue to deepen.

Pachakuti means “world reversal” and speaks to the era of transformation we are living through now. A mesa is a sacred altar for self-exploration, transformation, and growth, supporting a new relationship with the Self and the Universe. Rooted in an evolving tradition, this work brings inner and outer practices together to restore balance and harmony in our relationships with all that is.

The Pachakuti Mesa Tradition: Cross-Cultural Shamanic Arts for Personal and Planetary Renewal is a five-part series of intensives in the shamanic arts of restoring harmony, health, and earth stewardship. It brings together the traditional shamanic arts of Peru and the wisdom of its heritage with the needs of the present moment in human and planetary history.

Participants are invited into a deeper relationship with nature and the unseen world, while receiving meaningful opportunities for self-exploration, empowerment, and profound personal growth. This apprenticeship series is open to all who wish to be of service, whether they are experienced mesa carriers or completely new to the tradition.

Benefits of Being a PMT Practitioner

Learn to move gracefully between the spiritual and material worlds as a shamanic initiate of the Great Work
Receive heartfelt apprenticeship in pre-Columbian Andean cosmology, earth-honoring ceremony, and healing arts
Join a diverse global family devoted to compassionate self-transformation and the celebration of life as a sacred gift
Awaken your sovereignty as a child born of Pachamama’s sanctity and love

The Apprenticeship

Weekend I: The Call to Heal (Releasing the Past)

This opening workshop initiates participants into the Pachakuti Mesa, a powerful and sacred altar. Students learn how to create their own mesas and work with them for self-empowerment, transformation, and service to others. Through shamanic journey and visionary states of consciousness, participants explore the three worlds of Andean cosmovision, sacred reciprocity with all that is, the core ingredients of ceremonial mastery, sacred sound and ritual language, healing and curanderismo, and the inner world of the Ukhupacha.

Weekend II: A Balance of Power (Transforming the Present)

In this intensive, participants apprentice in the center of the mesa, traditional Peruvian healing practices, and the Kaypacha, the middle world. They explore the Kaypacha’s elemental matrix and magico-spiritual power, along with the moon’s presence in the middle world, mapping the cosmos on Earth, and celestial death and rebirth.

Weekend III: The Condor's Quest (Creating the Future)

This workshop initiates participants into the Paqokuna, the mystical path of the Andean Shaman/Priesthood, the lineage of the sacred mountains, and the five virtues of the mesa. Participants also journey into the Hanaqpacha, the upper world beyond the physical, where they work with the unseen world and deepen their connection to their own spiritual resources.

Weekend IV: The Hummingbird's Ascent (Living the Mystery)

Students experience the upper world and learn about its lightning-bolt illumination and the flow of kamasqa, the power of Creation. They work with the elements, the forces of the universe, the body of Mother Earth, and sacred healing objects. In sacred reciprocity, participants create despachos to honor Mother Earth, the sacred mountains, the elements, and the unseen world, and prepare for a paqowachu, a sacred pilgrimage.

Weekend V: The Shamanic Self (Serving the Earth)

This final workshop deepens participants’ experience of soul and spirit through ritual process, including the spiritual creation, activation, and care of an apacheta. Students work with the power of creation in the kaypacha or middle world, dimensionality and time, the three suns, and the hampikamayoq process, ancient breathing techniques for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being and transformation. Participants are further empowered by evoking both seen and unseen sources of cosmic awareness within their mesa, sacred objects, and their own being, and through initiation into the lineage of this revered tradition.

All weekends are held at Star River Sanctuary, a beautiful eco retreat on Crystal Mountain, just above Nelson, BC. Guests can enjoy delicious meals, pristine air and water, astounding beauty, and kind, knowledgeable hosts.

Nelson, BC Dates 2026 - 2027

Part I: The Call to Heal (Releasing the Past): June 5-7, 2026
Part II: A Balance of Power (Transforming the Present): October 16-18, 2026
Part III: The Condor's Quest (Creating the Future): April 16-18, 2027
Part IV: The Hummingbird's Ascent (Living the Mystery): July 16-18, 2027
Part V: The Shamanic Self (Serving the Earth): Oct 15-17, 2027

“I am so glad I did this! I could not have imagined how empowering and integrative this teaching has been to tie up so many pieces of the Great Mystery puzzle in my life and understanding of life. Thank you to all who have brought this to my consciousness!!! I would highly recommend this to everyone!”

“I am so very grateful for the ancient, and timeless, life-way teachings embodied in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition. It's been an honour to be guided by Robin and Darcy during the five-part apprenticeship series. They are very skilled teachers and facilitators. With deep humility, sensitivity and joy they are adept at sharing knowledge and experiences in ways that have supported me to explore these teachings and practices first hand, helping me to develop my own relationship with this living tradition. These teachings and earth-honouring practices have become a central and guiding light for me. Much gratitude for this opportunity!”

“I am unable to name the number of things that has changed in my life since studying PMT with Robin and Darcy. My life now has a quality to it that I couldn't have imagined to exist prior to the training and my continued daily practices. A huge part of this is being connected to a powerful, light hearted Chaska Mayu. Robin holds the space with severe clarity allowing the ritual and the sacred to arise and deepen. Her humour is an invitation to show up and join in. Darcy, always deeply present and penetrating, is a master at journeying work and stabilizing the group allowing for integration of the incredible, always present mystery.”

“Darcy and Robin are wise, approachable and gentle facilitators with a genuine caring for humanity and Pachamama. They guide us on our evolutionary journey with the highest level of integrity and skill, while providing a safe, joy-filled container for deep connection, miracles and healing to occur. I'm excited for the process of integrating and embodying the profound insights, teachings and tools that I've been gifted through my last ceremony.”

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