Spiritual Travel in Guatemala and Mexico:
Entering the Maya Mysteries
Rescheduled to Jan 2021
Immersion in Maya Cosmology, Medicine, Arts
and Sacred Ways of the Living Maya
Co-sponsored by Kenosis and Kenosis Spirit Keepers.
A portion of tuition is tax deductible.
This program is community-based. Tuitions help support Maya spiritual guides,
healers and their families with whom we engage during our travels.
See detailed itinerary for this program.
Read travelers’ stories from previous journeys.
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.
We are honored to offer a special program focusing on the sacred traditions of Maya peoples. Through the timing of our travels we are fortunate to immerse ourselves in Maya Mysteries showcasing the spiritual strength of the Living Maya connected with their ancient origins. We offer you an intimate opportunity, unlikely to be found on your own, engaging with spiritual leaders and healers who serve their people — with the intent that we are all transformed and carry the beauty home.
In this program we experience the beauty of the land and Maya traditions of the southern Guatemala highlands and Chiapas, Mexico. This is an opportunity for in-depth exposure to a number of Maya peoples and how they are linked through belief and practice. Our opening takes place in Guatemala City then quickly moves to Iximche, the Kaqchikel Maya ruins and ceremonial site, before coming to rest at the shores of Lake Atitlán.
Lake Atitlán, created from an enormous crater surrounded by volcanoes, provides the magnificent backdrop for our time in town of Panajachel and Tz’utujil Maya village of Santiago Atitlán with their fervent Indigenous identity. Wisdom Keeper Dolores Ratzan Pablo is our host, providing entry into the sites and ceremonies of spiritual significance to her people. At this special time, we are present at the Cofradias’ (Brotherhoods) ritual blessing of the corn for the coming year and offer our prayers in the Maya church that holds the navel of the world. In his home, we pay our respects to Maximón, the somewhat scampish diety and mediator between the Creator and the people, who may be asked to handle problems relating to health, love, business, money, fertility and other matters.
Moving on we come to stay in the isolated K’iche’ Maya village of Sij’ja’, as it’s known to locals, nestled in the Sierra Madre mountains. During our time in his familial home, Tat Apab’yan Tew, Maya Daykeeper and spiritual guide, offers the fire ceremony of his native land, connecting with the ancestors. We have audiences with Elder Wisdom Keeper Catalina Xum Mas and Tat Apab’yan, who share stories of their lives and sacred K’iche’ Maya ways. Our hosts Tina, a master weaver, and daughter Amarilis inform us on women’s arts. A traditional temazcal, or sweatbath, is available to experience.
Transitioning to Mexico, we arrive in the lovely 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. Here we are introduced to the elements of Maya culture and traditions. We also meet Don Sergio Castro, known as the saint of San Cristóbal, and learn of his humanitarian healing work. Through a collaboration with Galería MUY, specializing in Maya and Zoque contemporary art, we meet the artists who share their work and influences from cultural roots, relationship with Ch’ll Balamil (Mother Earth) and threats to their traditions have on their art.
In a small hamlet above the village of San Juan Chamula we are invited into the home of Don Xun Calixto. Here he holds an audience telling of his curing methods. After a special ceremony of prayers and offerings, we share a meal in the family compound. We experience the religious festivals of San Sebastián. In San Juan Chamula, we enter the Maya church, where curanderos conduct healing sessions, and are witness to religious preparations and deeply moving processional — and many travelers have spiritual experiences. In Zinacantán, the festival takes on a raucous atmosphere where jaguars climb a tree, insults are hurled ⎯ all in good fun⎯horses race and political dramas unfold. All the while we appreciate the incredible textiles all around us.
In the Lacandón Maya rainforest village of Nahá, we meet Don Antonio Martinez, the last elder faithfully practicing his Indigenous rituals. He has graciously consented to share his traditions, and the sacred balché ceremony, so that they may be witnessed and live on. A short walk through jungle brings us to Lake Nahá, meaning the Place of Water as the village was named, where we linger, taking in the serenity of this holy site. We drop in on Kayum Ma’ax Garcia, son of the late spiritual leader Chan K’in Viejo, who documents the lifeways and spirituality of his people in his artwork. As we depart town we visit the godpot burial caves, where godpots are ritually retired and rest in perpetuity. Before we leave the Lacandón Biosphere behind, we spend time at Lake Metzabok, another hallowed body of water. Here Tat Apab’yan conducts a haunting ceremony in which he speaks to the waters and the spirits resident there through his flute.
Against the dramatic backdrop of Palenque, we learn of Ancient Maya Cosmology and the extent that the Living Maya are still shaped by their ancestors. Enter the curing room of Doña Yolanda, curandera serving her people in Palenque, and receive an optional private limpia, or clearing ritual.
Throughout our time together, spiritual mentor Carla Woody offers teachings and some means to integrate your experiences to carry the beauty home. An utmost aspect of our journey… knowing that commitment to such an undertaking is life-changing, unfolding on multiple levels, informing our future and those we touch.
All this and more. For complete details, see the day-to-day itinerary.
Sponsored Guest
These sponsorships funded through your tuition and private donations are tax-deductible.
Spirit Keepers Journeys: Since 2007 Indigenous Spirit Keepers of the Americas have been traveling with us during our spiritual travel programs in Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico and the US. Kenosis Spirit Keepers, as the nonprofit extension of Kenosis, provides Indigenous “bridge builders” in the Americas, who have shared interests, parallel traditions or overlapping geographic roots, ways to connect with each other on an intimate, small group level. Through these interchanges it is our intent that Indigenous traditions are strengthened and sustained.
The Native American sponsored guest for the 2020 Maya program is TBD. Check back for more information.
Group Size Limited. Reserve Your Space!
Contact us at 928-778-1058 or info@kenosis.net to arrange
a Spiritual Travel journey for your group.
Program Guides
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, energy medicine and world sacred traditions. 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 journeyed 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, a 501(c)3 organization, working to preserve Indigenous wisdom traditions threatened with decimation.
Apab’yan Tew is an Ajq’ij, a Day Keeper, spiritual guide, dancer and musician, of the sacred K’iche’ Maya tradition from the village of Nawalja’ in Sololá of the Guatemalan highlands. His ceremonial work most often takes place in caves, engaging the resident energies of the natural site and timing of the Cholq’ij calendar in conjunction with needs of communities or individuals. During these times he becomes a living mirror and spiritual conduit. Sought after as a speaker and consultant, we are fortunate to have Tat Apab’yan traveling with us as translator, not only for language but also of Maya traditions in a way we may experience them more deeply.
The Tzutujil and K’iche’ Maya of the Guatemala highlands hold strong Indigenous pride. Santiago Atitlan is the largest Maya town in Central America, and their traditions are mostly sustained. Even if you notice Catholic saints in the churches, rest assured the local people have transferred their own dieties into the representations. The K’iche’ Maya are a pre-Columbian people whose religious cosmology appears in the Popol Vuh, recorded by royal members of the K’iche’ lineage to ensure the Maya Creation Story survived the invading conquistadors. Both are known for their sacred ceremonies and beautiful textiles.
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.
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 mid-1990s their spiritual traditions are nearly lost.
During our time in the rainforest village of Nahá, we are privileged to spend time with Don Antonio Martinez, the last elder faithful to his traditions, and engage in the balché ceremony, a prayer offering.
Video filmed by Janet Harvey during our 2015 Maya program.
Photos ©2010-2020 Carla Woody. All rights reserved.
Tuition
Registration discount $3697 until August 21. After August 21: $3797. Includes an automatic donation (tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers) of $400 supporting travel sponsorship of an Indigenous Wisdom Keeper and the humanitarian healing work of Don Sergio Castro. Ask about our referral fee.
Please note: Kenosis LLC is a philanthropic organization that limits normal profits in order to fundraise for Kenosis Spirit Keepers, its nonprofit extension. The tax-deductible donation is passed to you so that you become an integral part of this important work. No additional funds have been added to your tuition costs. See Other Information below.
Tuition covers 15 nights/14 days and includes all group work with Carla Woody, programs in Guatemala City, Iximche, Santiago Atitlan, and Sij’ja’ in Guatemala, audience and curing ritual with Totik Xun Calixto, fire ceremony and teachings with Tat Apab’yan Tew, noted religious festivals, visits with artists and Don Sergio Castro, balché ceremony with Lancandón Maya Elder Don Antonio Martinez, other activities as noted in Nahá and Palenque, any entrance fees, program guide services, simple lodging in double rooms or other shared arrangements depending on location, all breakfasts, 1 lunch, 2 dinners, all meals in Sij’ja’ and Nahá, and all transport in Guatemala and Mexico during formal group time.
Single supplement, if available, in Guatemala City, Panajachel, San Cristóbal and Palenque: $470.
Tuition does NOT include airfare to Guatemala/from Mexico, or transportation between the airport and the starting/ending points (Guatemala City/Palenque), or Mexican border tourist fee (approximately $30 equivalent). Neither does it include travel insurance (minimum emergency medical/evacuation required), beverages, snacks, meals not mentioned above, tips, or personal expenses incurred at lodging or elsewhere.
Also includes a pre- or post-trip Lifepath Design session — complimentary — with Carla Woody regarding intent or re-entry. Participants of spiritual travel programs are offered a special discount for the six-month mentoring program Navigating Your Lifepath. This deep discount is not available to others but offered as an add-on to further support integration of the spiritual travel journey.
For complete details, contact us. Detailed logistics document sent upon registration.
Deposit
Non-refundable deposit of $500 made out to Kenosis LLC to hold your place. Remainder due in full by October 15, 2019. Send final payment in two checks (or money orders) as follows: One check for $400 made out to Kenosis Spirit Keepers and the remaining registration amount to Kenosis LLC. Mail both to: Kenosis, PO Box 10441, Prescott, AZ 86304. To pay by credit card or PayPal go here.
Cancellation Policy
Up to 90 days prior to the trip start: full refund (less non-refundable deposit). Between 89-70 days prior: 50% (less non-refundable deposit). Less than 70 days: no refund.
Please note: Cancellation policy strictly enforced. We suggest travelers obtain travel insurance that covers trip cancellation for any reason.
Cancellations impact the viability of the group, and negatively affect the Indigenous leaders and healers who depend on the support our work brings for their families and communities. This program also involves costly upfront expenses incurred by Kenosis in order to secure arrangements, which are passed on to travelers should cancellation occur as shown above.
Other Information
We believe in the sacred sense of reciprocity. Your tuition includes a financial contribution to support the welfare of the Maya people with whom we engage, as well as other Native traditions.
For this year’s Maya program, your donation goes to support:
• Sponsorship supporting a Native Wisdom Keeper to make connections with Maya relations.
• Don Sergio Castro’s textile museum and his humanitarian healing work with poor Maya communities.
Automatic donations from tuitions for Spiritual Travel Programs are forwarded to Kenosis Spirit Keepers, the nonprofit arm of Kenosis LLC, in order to give back to traditional Indigenous spiritual leaders, healers and communities who hold the fragile threads of their sacred ways. We fully believe: If these traditions continue to die, we all lose.
To learn more about Kenosis Spirit Keepers’ mission and projects, go here. Your donations are recognized as a charitable contribution by the State of Arizona, and by the US Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3).
When you engage in our programs, you sponsor continuation of Indigenous lifeways.