Writer's Forum

Balancing Power: A Core Practice in a Complex World

Life is complicated, an ironically simple fact. When I want to describe a situation that...

Authenticity: The Alchemy of Living Free of Trauma

“Right action, borne of compassionate, spiritual wisdom, unites.” This is the core axiom of the...

The Apple of the Amazon: An Ethnography of Pijuayo – Part 4

Calling pijuayo the ‘apple of the Amazon’ is also a limited comparison deserving caveats. There...

The Apple of the Amazon: An Ethnography of Pijuayo – Part 3

In the Peruvian Amazon, many jungle dwellers are reluctant to call palms ‘trees’. They are...

The Apple of the Amazon: An Ethnography of Pijuayo – Part 2

Some believe the Inkas maintained a kind of obsession with entering the rainforests to the...

The Apple of the Amazon: An Ethnography of Pijuayo – Part 1

Every year in the high Andes of Peru, tens of thousands of pilgrims walk a...

Intention: A Journey Not a Destination – Part 2

It has been nearly a year now since my wife and I embarked on our...

Stay Connected: To Breathe as The Great Mother Breathes

It has been written that to control one’s breath is to control one’s life. Initiates...

Fly, Sweetheart, Fly: A Portal, an Owl and the Birth of a Book

When I began writing The Evolutionary Empath three years ago, I had the most unbelievable...

Ceremonial Alchemy

We arrived quite early that October morning; the second car in the Anacortes ferry line...

Intention: A Journey, Not a Destination – Part 1

We seek transformation at every level of our being in our connection to the greater...

Conscious Living as a Ritual Artist

Ceremony sets the stage for us to be fully present and engaged with ourselves and...

Pilgrimage to Huascaran: Part 5, the Grand Finale

Walking down did have its easier aspects, and I felt some hope that I would...

Pilgrimage to Huascaran: Part 4

It had been blessedly cloudy for most of the day which meant protection from the...

Ritual as Remembrance

We are remembering and being re-Membered when we enact a ritual bridging the seen and...

Finding Calm and Clarity at the Center of the Storm

There is just something about spring here in the Canadian Rockies, these majestic apus. I...

Pilgrimage to Huascaran: Part 3

Revitalized by the magic of Royal Hummingbird, I loyally followed my guides up the mountain...

Link-Up: Connecting in Service to the Web of Life

Under the spell of the New Moon I was drawn to commune with my sacred...

A Wakeup Call

I recently saw an advertisement for a t-shirt that had the slogan “Woke!” on the...

Pilgrimage to Huascarán: Part 2

I kept thinking I would adjust, acclimate, hit a stride. I could hardly look around....

Pilgrimage to Huascarán: Part 1

They say a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. What they don’t...

The Further Adventures of Paqo Piet: Episode 6

Starlight is fading. I feel the apus embracing me, their massive, deep resonance. Marvelous realms...

Prelude to an Apacheta

Our first sight of the majestic Apu Tahoma (Mt Rainier) overwhelmed me with tears of...

The Further Adventures of Paqo Piet: Episode 5

It’s said that life is about making choices. Right now I’ve got two. I alternate...

Plant Spirit Compacto

Our plant spirit allies offer a beautiful way of uniting nuna (our soul) with the...

The Further Adventures of Paqo Piet: Episode 4

It’s June in the Adirondacks, typically hot and buggy, but this summer solstice in the...

The Great Year and the Cycle of Ascension

Do you ever suspect that we are not as intelligent nor advanced as we have...

The Further Adventures of Paqo Piet: Episode 3

It’s Day 2 of my Paqo Wachu, the day I embark on an overnight into...

In the Presence of Beauty

In the presence of Beauty the mundane becomes magical. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. We get...

The Further Adventures of Paqo Piet: Episode 2

When seen from the lake, Apu Sawteeth is like a sleeping dragon. I, paqo, on...

Honoring the Dark: Becoming Hollow Bones

As Winter Solstice returns, I feel in my bones the ancient ones guiding me to...

Puma Medicine In the ‘Heart’ of Peru

Chattering happily with one of my travel mates, I suddenly stopped talking and proclaimed with...

The Further Adventures of Paqo Piet: Episode 1

A no moon night in the North Woods is as dark as it gets. I’m...

The Sanctity of Food and the Web of Life

As a practitioner of the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, I have learned that one of the...

The Mesa as an Anchor of Soul in Rough Times

“Batten down the hatches!!” She cried out in her mind. The world had gone rough...

Rise of the Sacred Feminine

The rise of the Spirit of the Feminine is now. She is a weaver of...

As Within, So Without: Adjusting Our Outer World to Harmonize With Our Inner Frequency

Most recently, after completing and submitting my book manuscript, I reorganized my entire office, which...

Destination Manifestation: A Dance of Re-Membering

We mere mortals don’t come into this world fully formed and complete. Our entry into...

Sacred Relationship: Living in Ayni

Sacred relationship. Two simple words that can have a profound and transformational impact on life...

The Sacred and the Dance with Destruction

The other day I went to visit a newborn apacheta built this summer solstice on...

Embracing our Divinity: Thoughts on the Upper World

Previously, I wrote about the Ukhupacha (the Lower World) and the Kaypacha (the Middle World)...

Death and Rebirth: Just Another Day in the Shamanic Life

There are numerous “themes” a shamanic adept encounters in embracing the shamanic lifestyle. One of...

Grief – Grace – Gratitude

All journeys are unique when death comes calling. Grieving is individual and universal. One’s journey...

Uniting with Source: A Dance between Form and the Formless

The most difficult of strife and struggles that occur in our lives often bear the...

Re-Membering Self: Mesa as Mirror

Holding Space: The Gift of Presence

The magnificent journey that we take in life as a human being can be heartbreakingly...

A Pachakuti Mesa Prayer for the Journey

The Pachakuti Mesa altar ground is many things. Among them, it is map and mirror,...

Wisdom from the Mountain

Human beings have been drawn to sacred places on this lovely Earth for generations. To...

Shamans: Chosen or Self-Selected?

In traditional shamanic cultures, shamans were selected in specific ways, often through a near-death experience,...

Journey into Q’ero Tradition: Exploring the Energy Field

Since I began my journey with the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, I have been studying more...

Ofrenda: A Love Offering

One simple gesture, the K’intu – enough, nothing and everything. I am a prayer walker...

On Suffering and the Kaleidoscope of Love

“Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence...

The Art of Artes: Connecting to Spirit through Objects

I have always loved collecting beautiful objects and infusing them with special meaning. Long before...

Initiation: Claiming Power from Our Past

As daughters and sons of Pachamama, our birthright is a marvel, and it is ours...

Know Thyself: You are the ONE that you seek

I warn you, whoever you are, Oh! You who want to probe the arcana of...

Embracing Relationship: Thoughts on the Middle World

Previously, I wrote about the Ukhupacha (the Lower World) in conjunction with teaching the first...

A Practice In Sweetness with Royal Hummingbird

Most anything can be medicine or poison, depending on relationship and respect. I have known...

Facing Compassion: A Look Inside a Weekend Death Mask Ritual

I was inspired by a non-linear, matter of fact series of events to enact a...

Hollow Bone: The Challenge of Non-Attachment

It has been suggested to me that if I want something powerfully transformational to be...

Embracing Darkness, Gathering Light

Om Klim Kalika yei Namaha… I chanted it again and again over an impromptu fire...

Open Your Mesa, Open to Love

Reclaiming Our Ancestral Roots and Our Natural Rhythms

As we begin to take the steps to understanding deeply the people we come from,...

Homage to Red Bear Who Sees All Worlds

As I pause and listen to the heart and presence of our Pachakuti Mesa Tradition...

Shadowplay

In the deeply angled sunlight of an Autumn afternoon, two farmers wearing overalls and baseball...

Embracing the Darkness: Thoughts on the Lower World

“You really like the dark, don’t you?” one of the recent participants of the Pachakuti...

Vista: Re-Membering to Trust

As an aspiring adept, I was moved to write this article out of a desire...

Medicine for An Age of Endless Ache

It has been one year since I first chanted the directions and breathed into my...

Abuelo Sagrado – Medicina para mi Alma

I touch the hallowed cup of the Divine Feminine principle to my lips and drink...

One Sixth Will Do

In PMT training we are taught our mesa is a reflection of us. It is...

The Gathering of the Mesas

Three years ago, we in the Heartland Ayllu – the local Kansas City community of...

Holy Terror

Dancing in the Dark, I’ve been firming up, digging deep into what lies below. The...

Ayni: Moving from Doing to Being

Frustration, Hopelessness, & the Dance of the Mesa

Along our individual journeys and our collective one toward ultimate healing for ourselves and the...

Invitation to Ghost Child from a Home Fire

Crying over a mess of herbs and alcohol stirred into an inert slop before my...

The Universe is Always Speaking to Us

I never cease to be amazed at how the natural world is continually communicating with...

Ritual is a Technology

The power of the ritual is calibrated by our ability to surrender. When we do...

The Sweetness of the Sting

Just recently my family and I vacationed to some sites up north, one of them...

Words Between Void and Universe

I went to school to learn the rules and uses of the language I loved....

The Healing Power of the Mesa

Throughout my life I have searched for a myriad of ways to bring healing to...

The Mesa 101

Despite how far you go with something you must always revisit the basics, to reinforce...

ReBirthing self through Self

This is the third installation of my writings regarding my mystical experiences with Vulture and...

Journey through Death, Part 2

This is a continuation on my last offering up of my experience with Vulture, and...

Journey through Death’s Doorway

In my most recent sojourn to the latest class with my teacher, she stated to...

11 Things I Learned from a Shaman that Changed My Life

I never really expected shamanism to be my path… let alone transform my relationship to...