Pachakuti Mesa Apprenticeship – Part IV: The Hummingbird's Ascent (Living the Mystery)

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 separated by 3–6 months, allowing time for practice, reflection, and integration between sessions.

This is a deeply transformative path that continues to evolve each year as groups are guided through the process. Rooted in resource-based empowerment, the training invites participants into a powerful journey of personal and collective renewal. “Pachakuti” means “world reversal,” pointing to the profound time of change we are living in now. A mesa is an altar for self-exploration, transformation, and growth, helping create a new relationship between the Self and the Universe.

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.

Open to all who feel called to serve, the apprenticeship welcomes both experienced mesa carriers and those new to the tradition. Participants are supported in deepening their relationship with nature and the unseen world while receiving meaningful opportunities for self-exploration, empowerment, and growth.

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

In this apprenticeship workshop, students enter the upper world and explore its lightning bolt of mystical 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.

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 the support of 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