Pachakuti Mesa Apprenticeship – Part V: The Shamanic Self (Serving the Earth)

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 for practice, reflection, and integration, allowing the teachings to settle deeply into daily life.

Rooted in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, this five-part series offers cross-cultural shamanic arts for personal and planetary renewal. It is designed to support the restoration of harmony, health, and earth stewardship while honoring the shamanic heritage of Peru and its relevance in today’s world. Participants are invited into a profound process of self-exploration, empowerment, and growth, while deepening their relationship with nature and the unseen world.

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 altar for transformation and self-empowerment. Students learn to create their own mesas and work with them in service of themselves and others. Through shamanic journeying and visionary states of consciousness, they explore the three worlds of the Andean cosmovision, sacred reciprocity, 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. The workshop explores 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 weekend offers initiation into the Paqokuna, the Andean shaman/priesthood mystical path, 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, deepening their connection to the unseen world and to their own spiritual resources.

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

Students experience the upper world and its lightning bolt of mystical 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)

The 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 and time, the three suns, and the hampikamayoq process, which uses ancient breathing techniques for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being and transformation. Participants are further empowered through evoking both seen and unseen sources of cosmic awareness within their mesa, sacred objects, and their own being, and through initiation into this revered lineage.

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 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

For more information about the 2026–27 Pachakuti Mesa Training, participants are invited to book a call with the team to explore this powerful journey and whether it is the right fit for them.

“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. 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!”

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. 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...”

Nancy, Nelson, BC

“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...”

Reneigh