Shamanic Practice

"A shaman is one who develops a personal and intimate relationship with the unseen world for the purpose of being of service as a healer. This relationship is cultivated experientially through self-induced altered states of consciousness, ceremony and refined energetic awareness.

"Shamanism is not a religion. It is a spiritual practice grounded in a reverent awareness that the world is animated, conscious and energetically interdependent. The shaman’s task is to come into right relationship and reverent communion with the seen and unseen world so as to mediate between worlds on behalf of the community or individual."

~ Don Oscar Miro-Quesada

Don Oscar Miro-Quesada and Stephanie during a Shamanic ceremony

"The role of the shaman throughout time has been to delve fearlessly into the underworld to retrieve our wholeness. There in the world of the unconscious the shaman uncovers the missing pieces of our personal life’s puzzle, gracefully recovering each missing piece; and when we place it carefully into its rightful place in our life, we watch transfixed as all the other parts of the puzzle re- assemble themselves into a whole new life’s map that spreads out before us." ~ Chris Waters

Shamanic Consciousness

"I believe that we are all born with a powerful shamanic spirit. Like the rest of the natural world that we are so deeply related to, we are given many wonderful shamanic gifts from our divine source. One of the most powerful gifts of all given to us from the creator is the inner knowing and wisdom that informs us when it is time to let go, to die, and to be reborn into a whole new level of consciousness.

"Walking in shamanic awareness in the Aquarian age is not necessarily about knowing the 'correct' order for calling in the four directions or the 'exact' number of stones to be placed in the medicine wheel, or the "right" way to behave in a particular ritual or ceremony. Awakening the shaman within is much more about learning how to heal oneself by knowing oneself."

~ Linda Star Wolf

Stephanie receiving her Master's Degree from Linda Star Wolf

Don Oscar Miro-Quesada

Creator of the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition of Peru

Don Celso Palomino Rojas

Don Oscar's teacher from 1969 to 1982

Northern coastal curanderismo

Don Benito Qorihuaman Vargas

Don Oscar's teacher from 1982 to 1986

Southeastern Andean Paqo tradition

Paying homage to my shamanic lineage and teachers

Rev. Dr. Gary Langston

Co-facilitator of my two-year Pachakuti Mesa Tradition apprenticeship, personal guide and mentor

Carol Rydell

Co-facilitator of my two-year Pachakuti Mesa Tradition apprenticeship; the most influential woman in my life next to my mother and sister

Linda Star Wolf

Creator of Shamanic Breathwork, Venus Rising Association for Transformation and Venus Rising University; spirit granddaughter of Seneca wolf clan grandmother Twylah