Pachakuti Mesa Apprenticeship – Part II: A Balance of Power (Transforming the Present)

The Pachakuti Mesa Apprenticeship is an 18-month ceremony of initiation and transformation, unfolding through five in-person apprenticeship weekends at Star River Sanctuary. Between each weekend, participants have 3–6 months to practice, reflect, and integrate what they have learned.

This is a profound journey of personal and collective evolution, rooted in resource-based and empowerment-centered teachings. As each group moves through the process, the depth of care, devotion, and commitment to this living tradition continues to grow.

Pachakuti means “world reversal” and speaks to the transformational time we are living in now. A mesa is both an altar and a tool for self-inquiry, growth, and transformation, offering a new relationship with the Self and the Universe. Through this evolving tradition, participants engage in inner and outer practices that help restore balance and harmony in relationship 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 weaves the traditional shamanic arts of Peru and the wisdom of its heritage with the needs of the present moment.

Open to all who wish to be of service, this apprenticeship welcomes both experienced mesa carriers and those new to the tradition. Participants are invited to deepen their relationship with nature and the unseen world while exploring pathways of self-discovery, empowerment, and meaningful personal growth.

Benefits of Being a PMT Practitioner

• Learn to move with grace 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 sacred and powerful altar. Students learn to create their own mesas and use them for self-empowerment, transformation, and supporting others. Through shamanic journeying and visionary states of consciousness, participants explore the three worlds of the Andean cosmovision, sacred reciprocity, the foundations 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 offers initiation 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, to work with the unseen world and deepen connection to their own spiritual resources.

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

Students experience the upper world and its lightning-bolt illumination, as well as 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, dimensionality, time, the three suns, and the hampikamayoq process—ancient breathing techniques for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being and transformation.

All weekends take place at Star River Sanctuary, a beautiful eco retreat on Crystal Mountain, just above Nelson, BC. Guests can enjoy delicious meals, pristine air and water, stunning natural surroundings, 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

“Last year I completed the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition Apprenticeship with Robin + Darcy, and because of who they are and what they stand for, I continue to be a student on this Shamanic Path of their Plant Spirit Medicine Apprenticeship~ suffice to say, they are the living practice of this sacred work.”

Melanie Berndt, Nelson, BC

“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!”

Kathy P, Nelson, BC

“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...”

Tim, Castlegar, BC

“I am unable to name the number of things that has changed in my life since studying PMT with Robin and Darcy...”

Nancy, Nelson, BC

“Darcy and Robin are wise, approachable and gentle facilitators with a genuine caring for humanity and Pachamama...”

Reneigh