Date: May 16-17, 2026
Time: Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm
Location: South Austin, TX (address provided upon registration).
Tuition: $340
THIS IS AN APPRENTICESHIP IN THE OLD WAYS
Ancient forms of ceremonial apprenticeship have always been maintained and passed down through direct experience, inside a well-crafted ceremonial container. There are certain things that can only be conveyed through transmission with ceremonial language, and its layered assortment of symbolic forms of communication. Ancient forms of wisdom were transmitted with all of the senses... weaving sacred teachings together into a sacred luminous tapestry of life. These ceremonies were designed to move us into a crescendo that opens a window to view the truths of life directly. From this place of deeper clarity and insight, one can make their own assessments and interpretations of the truth, bypassing their need to be dependent on another person to have a direct encounter with divinity.
Time permitting we will also discuss and experience topics like: Abriendo el portal (the creation of sacred space), limpias (ritual cleansings), karpays (transmissions of healing energy), and florecimientos (flowerings of dormant potentials), etc. Participants will also be exposed to a variety of healing modalities through the use of a Mesa (personal healing altar), and all of the tools that this system employs, such as: varas, khuyas, illas, istrillas, etc., (see more below).
All of these teachings will be passed on in the same way they have been for thousands of years, through an activated ceremonial container.
Deepen Your Understanding Of Medicine Items
This course will discuss many of the medicine items from the Peruvian tradition of both the Northern Coastal Huachuma Lineage and the Southeastern Andean Paqokuna traditions of Peru.
This series will regularly cover what makes medicine items so powerful, and why and how they are able to come to life in ritual and ceremony.
Dive More Deeply Into Key Shamanic Concepts
For example, when a Mesa is constructed, the entire cosmovision of the tradition is rebuilt, piece-by-piece, and its every element is brought into being through the alignment, reflection, modeling, and capturing of kamay.
Helpful Diagrams, Handouts, and Homework
Mateo will break down complex, and often elusive shamanic concepts, and explain them through simple and straight forward exercises. This, being done to better comprehend, and apply these teachings to your everyday life.
If participants are interested in creating an ongoing series, some of the topics we will be able to cover are as follows:
- The Ukhu Pacha – The Inner World (Lower world, Interior Realm)
- Dragon Myths
- Working with adversity.
- The three fields of the Mesa
- The inner voice
- The inner defense system
- Resisted emotional patterns
- The concept of Hucha in the Quechua language
- Mapping the Inner World
- Working with our blind spots
- Issues with the ego
- The incessant chatter of the mind
- The forces of the encanto and calicanto
- Quantum entanglement
- Unhealthy and healthy forms of projection
- Using our personal will
- Shamanic techniques for dealing with troublesome thoughts and emotions
- Growing roots in the soil of Pachamama
- The power of selfless service
- Campo Ganadero – The Field of the Rancher or Livestock Herder
- Tracking the movements of the Inner World ("Rastreo")
- Freeing the Soul from behind the wound
- Becoming the ocean
- Boiling over and becoming a gas
- Experiences of the Hanaq Pacha
- The Wisdom of Autumn
- Archetypes of surrender
- The importance of imagination
- Populating the right side of the mesa
- The guides, and seers, and sages, and prophets, and medicine people
- Bridging diametrically opposed view points
- Right action and spiritual activism
- An awareness of interdependence
- Getting the ego on board with alignment to Divine Will
- Complementary opposites of the Mesa dialectic
- Forgetting and Remembering
- The axis mundi
- Learning to let go of our attachments to the inner world
- What it means to die before you die
- La Cuenta – the history of a medicine piece
- Building the inner temple
- San Cypriano (Saint Cyprian of Antioch) and the devout Justina
- Becoming an embodiment of the Mesa
- Making yourself large enough to hold the whole conversation
- Your life is your shamanic apprenticeship
- The emerging present moment
- The middle field of the mesa (Campo Medio)
- Lessons in vulnerability
- Discovering your inner teacher
- The power of presence
- Postures of receptivity
- Ceremonial protocols from the northern coast of Peru
- Working the left and right sides of the Mesa
- The limpia, suspendida, and florecimiento
- The transformation and transmutation of density (hucha)
- Raising singha
- Giving the soul the space it needs to stretch out
- Working with clients
- Using medicine pieces
Testimonials From Previous Course Participants:
Gabriella Galvan von Twistern
Kathie D'Ariano-Gordnier
"Mateo, Thank you for these wonderful teachings. They allowed me a deeper understanding of our transition/transformation. It gave me a more real sense of letting go. While I am and always will be a work in progress, I can more clearly address these transitions to move forward toward transformation. I found that exploring, researching, and acknowledging those who guide us in unconditional love that this is the path I have always been on. It took me to a place of wisdom imparted to me long ago. It put my re-membering back in view. As I continue on my journey through these Sacred Landscapes I have a better understanding of the process to becoming a hollow bone. I am grateful to have taken this wonderful course work. In greatest appreciation!"
Robert "Scoop" Geisel
"One of the best presentations I, personally, have ever been part of. Mateo has the unique ability to present materials in daily living free of self-aggrandizement and with a noticeable lack of ego. This all allows the participants to use and access their own valuable gifts and knowledge to both enhance, color and enlarge the experience of life that is being offered."
Jacynthe Bernard
"I am great-full and impressed with the amount of teachings you share in one course. It is so well orchestrated, and your stories and personal experiences makes it all come together in a light and easy way for me to let things go and have lots of fun... it is well seasoned and delightful! I feel like something transformed and lifted for me during those three courses."
Paige Ryan
"Your eloquence with words, stories, teachings and poems were amazing to witness. I’m so proud to call you a brother on this walk, and feel a belonging in your tribe. I look forward to any and all upcoming teachings with you."
Elke Savala
"Mateo’s teachings are insightful, original and deep. His poetic way of sharing complex subject matter is enjoyable and thought provoking. Thank you Mateo for another great class."
