Kenosis Spirit Keepers - Maya Trip page

Spiritual Travel to Mexico
Entering the Maya Mysteries

January 13-25, 2012

The roots of all things are connected.
When a tree is cut in the forest,
a star falls in the sky.

— Chan K'in Viejo
Spirit holder of the Lacandones

An Immersion Experience in Maya Cosmology, Ritual, Medicine and Arts

Recommended in Maya 2012: A Guide to Celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras by Joshua Berman as responsible, community-based travel (October, 2011 by Avalon Travel Publishing, one of the USA's leading independent travel publishers).

SEE THE COMPLETE ITINERARY.

Photos from Previous Maya Trips
Travelers' Stories: Testimonials from Previous Trips

Few traditions have lived their spiritual mythologies in so graphic a manner and left behind such abundant clues of the great leap to life beyond this one, and the places in-between, in their magnificent temples and symbols just now being decoded.

Palenque Codices

How can we find meaning in the Ancient Maya world that we may translate into our own lives? What Maya rituals and stories survive — connecting the filaments from long ago? In a present-day Western culture bereft of such richness, how might we take a cue from this age-old culture and develop metaphoric pathways to enliven our own being? These are the questions that will frame our experiences and journey into timelessness.

Palenque Temple Join us as we enter the Maya Mysteries through travel to temple ruins, some deep in the jungle, explored by few. Learn about Ancient Maya cosmology, or world view, and how it manifested at these locations. Experience the very rare opportunity of engaging in Lacandón Maya ceremonies and storytelling, that are all but extinct, through Don Antonio Martinez, the last elder faithfully practicing his indigenous rituals. He has graciously consented to share his traditions that they may be witnessed and live on.

We will begin against the dramatic backdrop of Palenque and move into the Lacandón Rainforest village of Najá where we will meet our Lacandón host and participate in the sacred Balché Ceremony and more. After a visit to Tonina, we arrive in the colonial town of San Cristóbal de las Casas, surrounded by high mountains, with its stately architecture, narrow streets and markets replete with beautiful Maya weavings and handicrafts. We will participate in the colorful religious festivals of nearby Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya villages San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán, and town Chiapa de Corzo. Along the way we experience curing rituals of the Indigenous peoples of these lands, learn about Maya medicine, arts and everyday social issues... and make room for what else may show up.

Throughout, we will be focused on the space between these moments where the intent of our travels takes shape...

In places like Palenque... life slows down. The humidity and the soft energy of these rainforest spaces won't allow you to move too fast. In that lessening and more languid movement, distracting internal voices gradually hush. When silence is given space, elements of living that you keep at bay are allowed to be freely present. Things we believe unreal or mystical begin to emerge.

— Carla Woody
Standing Stark

A Spirit Keepers Journey co-sponsored by Kenosis Spirit Keepers and Kenosis LLC.
Hopi emissaries will join us as invited guests to reconnect with their Maya relations.
Read more about their important role.

Read an article on Chiapas and the Lacandón Maya.

GROUP SIZE LIMITED. RESERVE YOUR SPACE!

Carla Woody, MA, CHT... author of Standing Stark and Calling Our Spirits Home... is the founder of Kenosis LLC, an organization based in Prescott, Arizona, supporting human potential through workshops and spiritual travel opportunities. She leads retreats internationally sharing an integration of NLP, subtle energy work and world sacred traditions, with a special emphasis on the mysticism of the Andes. Carla is the developer of "The Re-Membering Process", a model for spiritual growth, and works with individuals and groups in areas of transition, relationships, spirituality and whole health. She first came to Palenque in 1995 and has been drawn back again and again by the resident mysteries of the region. In 2007, Carla founded Kenosis Spirit Keepers working to preserve indigenous wisdom traditions.

Alonso Mendez, born in the highlands of Chiapas and raised in San Cristóbal de las Casas, is an archeo-atronomer of Tzeltal Maya heritage. Alonso grew up among anthropologists, botanists and ethnographers, including famed photographer of the Lacandón, Trudi Blom. This childhood influence translated to later work as an archaeologist, surveyor and guide to Maya sites that continues today. His reproductions of Maya ceramics and reconstructive drawings of the ruins have gained him respect. Alonso is known for discovering previously unknown solar alignments in the temples at Palenque in 2002 and has been involved in programs about the Maya produced by the Discovery and History Channels. He appears in the documentary "2012: Science or Superstition" alongside scholars and scientists.

Carol Karasik is a poet, writer and editor who has worked on books and films in the fields of anthropology, art, ecology, and educational philosophy. For the last fifteen years she has lived in Chiapas in order to experience her passion on a day-to-day basis — Maya culture. That immersion has recently produced a novel set in nineteenth-century Chiapas, as well as the text for Corazon Abriendo, a multi-media dance piece based on Maya weaving which is now being performed in the US and Mexico. She received a National Endowment for the Humanities award for her script on Maya civilization. As editor she has been involved in many publications such as Maya Tales from Zinacantán, Living Maya, and available in July 2008, Every Woman Is a World: Interviews with Women of Chiapas. She is also conducting research on archaeoastronomy at Palenque. Carol is a quintessential storyteller who conveys the lives of the present-day Maya in a way that is mesmerizing.

Walter F. Morris, Jr. (Chip) was born in Boston. In 1972 he arrived in Chiapas as a lost tourist. He was fascinated by the Maya and decided to stay in order to learn Tsotzil as well as the Maya textile and their symbolic meanings. He is a founding member of the Sna Jolobil weaving collecive and compiled the Pellizzi Collection of Chiapas textiles. He was awarded a MacArthur Prize for his work in archaeology and anthropology, and he has published several books on folk art, including A Millenium of Weaving in Chiapas, Living Maya, and Hand Made Money: Latin American Artisans in the Marketplace.

Grandmother Mona Polacca, a Hopi/Havasupai/Tewa elder, is an honored member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. She serves on several United Nations committees on indigenous people's issues and is a featured author, speaker, and educator on indigenous people's human rights, aging, mental health, addiction and violence. She is also the President/CEO and faculty of the Turtle Island Project, a non-profit program that promotes a vision of wellness by providing trans-cultural training to individuals, families, and healthcare professionals.

Grandmother Mona says, "Indigenous people have come through a time of great struggle, a time of darkness. The way I look at it is like the nature of a butterfly. In the cocoon, a place of darkness, the creature breaks down into a fluid and then a change, a transformation, takes place. When it is ready and in its own time, it begins to move and develop a form that stretches and breaks away from this cocoon and emerges into this world, into life, as a beautiful creature.

We grandmothers, we have emerged from that darkness, see this beauty, see each other and reach out to the world with open arms, with love, hope, compassion, faith and charity."

To learn more about the mission of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers see their website.

The Lacandón Maya live deep in the rainforest now known as the Lacandón Biosphere. Some anthropologists claim they are the direct descendants of the Ancient Maya who built Palenque, while others conjecture they came from the Yucatan to escape the conquistadors. Wherever their origins, the Lacandones have been rooted in the jungle for hundreds of years in relative isolation. Their appearance and native practices, which closely parallel the Classic Maya mythologies, set them apart from the Maya in other areas of Mexico. Their numbers are growing fewer, merely a few hundred, and since their t'o'ohil, or great one, Chan K'in Viejo passed in the late 1990s their spiritual traditions are nearly lost.

The Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya of the Chiapas highlands hold a rich tradition of religious festivals, curing rituals, herbal remedies and women’s sacred medicine ways. Their healers are called through dreams and their everyday lives are infused with the esoteric metaphors that are documented in Classic Maya art. We will be fortunate to sample it all.

Cost:	Early registration discount $2595 by October 22. After October 22: $2695. Registration cost includes an automatic donation (tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers) of $295 toward Kenosis Spirit Keepers programs. Tuition includes all group work with Carla Woody, instruction in Maya cosmology by Alonso Mendez, discussion on present-day Maya with Carol Karasik and Chip Morris, Balché Ceremony with Lancandón elder Don Antonio Martinez, any included curing rituals, simple lodging in double rooms or other shared arrangements depending on location, six meals in Najá and two meals in the Chiapas highlands, any entrance fees, pre and post-trip interface with Carla Woody regarding intent and re-entry, transport in Mexico during formal group time. Tuition does not include airfare to/from Mexico or transportation between the airport and the starting/ending points (Palenque/San Cristóbal). For complete details, contact us. Limited number partial young adult sponsorships available. Detailed logistics document sent upon registration. MC/Visa accepted via PayPal here. A limited number of partial young adult sponsorships are available. Applications due by November 1, 2011. Your participation in this journey helps support the Hopi Spirit Keepers and young adult sponsorships who will accompany us.
Deposit:	Non-refundable deposit of $500 made out to Kenosis LLC to hold your place. Remainder due in full by November 30, 2011. Send final payment in two checks or money orders as follows. One check for $295 made out to Kenosis Spirit Keepers and the remaining registration amount to Kenosis LLC. Mail both to: Kenosis, PO Box 10441, Prescott, AZ 86304. Credit card or PayPal payment go here.
Cancellation:	45 days or more prior to the start of the trip, full refund (less $500 deposit). From 44-30 days, full amount (less deposit and tax-deductible donation, if applicable) is transferable to any Kenosis offering within two years. From 29 days to trip start 15% of tuition is transferable within two years. This policy reflects our need to cover expenses in the case of cancellations. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: December 5, 2011.
For more information:	Contact Kenosis Spirit Keepers for more info. Call 928-778-1058 or email info@kenosisspiritkeepers.org.