Our Elders and Teachers
Somos Sanctuary is held by a network of elders, teachers, and guardians throughout the world. These sacred alliances support and guide our path, grounding our work in integrity and reciprocity. Part of our strong alliances with these teachers, curanderos, and communities involves offering yearly pilgrimages for our participants to experience and learn directly from these incredible leaders, their territories, and their communities. Together, we share in ceremonies, learn ancestral teachings, make medicine, and connect through prayers, stories, song, and dance - remembering our ancient connection through love. We have been described as chakarunas (bridge-people), uniting the ways of the South with the ways of the North, and between the East and the West - like the prophecy of the Conor and the Eagle. Our altar continues under the guidance and blessings of many elders and teachers, and received permissions and initiations from a diverse group of ancient wisdom carriers in many territories throughout the globe, including the following, who have given us permission to share their stories.
Elders & Teachers
Abuela Ana María Hoyos - Colombia
Abuela Ana María Hoyos is co-founder of the Atlántida Eco-village in Cauca, Colombia - a 40+ acre sanctuary recognized as a sacred house of prayer. She is a deeply honored elder, a member of both the Council of Grandmothers of Colombia and the Council of Grandmothers and Grandfathers of Cauca. For more than 20 years, Abuela Ana María has carried the Inipi (sweat lodge) altar, hosted biannual vision quests, and supported the annual Sun and Moon Dances on her land and across North America. She is also a promoter of Sacred Walks throughout Colombia and a guardian of sacred site activations worldwide. She carries the altar of El Tejido de los Clanes, guiding ceremonial work with deep wisdom, humility, and devotion. Among the most powerful gatherings she has helped midwife is El Retorno de la Diosa - The Return of the Goddess - a historic ceremonial convergence guided by three women - Abula Ana Maria Hoyos, Xochi Bucurú, and our Maya Marinez Gomez. This gathering - the first of its kind in hundreds of years, reawakened an ancient lineage of feminine stewardship of the altar, bringing together elders from all over Colombia and beyond to support in the rebalancing of the mother. It marked a profound moment of remembrance. We are greatly honored to have Abuela Ana María as our council and plan yearly retreats on her land. We participate in, and invite our community to join her annual Vision Quest, as well as a yearly Saumadora Training (to learn to work with sacred smoke and clearing).
The Fulni-ô Tribe - Brazil
The Fulni-ô Tribe are one of the few remaining Indigenous peoples of Northeastern Brazil who have preserved their original language, Yaathe, and their sacred traditions. Based in Águas Belas, Pernambuco, the Fulni-ô are the keepers of Ouricuri, a secret three-month-long prayer, where they retreat to their sacred village and perform ritual, where they pass on their lineage and ancient traditions to their younger generation. They are known for their deep connection to the natural world, their multi-layered harmonies and powerful bird-like calls, and are guardians of the Jurema forest. Through their ceremonies, they are committed to passing on their ancestral wisdom through story, song, and dance. It was love at first meeting with the tribe - who confirmed that we are from their tribe and are their family. Many of us from our Altar have remembrances of past lives as part of the Fulni-ô, and being with them always feels like coming home to family. We lead yearly pilgrimages to their territory in Brazil to learn from their beautiful presence and way of life, and look forward to supporting projects to help bring clean water to their village and anchor sustainability for their people. We are honored to share a deep alliance with them and are humbled by their acceptance of us as their family, their gentile guidance, and immense love.
Abuelo Arturo Soto - Mexico
Arturo Soto is a Curaca of the Toltec tradition, carrying the deep wisdom of ancient peoples of Mexico. For over four decades, he has walked this path, studying and practicing traditional methods for the healing of body and soul. His wisdom spans the realms of medicinal plants, sacred songs, ceremonial prayers, and healing rituals that restore holistic health to the body, mind, and spirit. He is also deeply connected to the Wixárika lineage, having lead many pilgrimages into the desert to sit with sacred teachers and walk the path of vision and prayer. He serves as a dedicated pourer of the traditional temazcal (sweat lodge), a powerful purification practice that uses heat, steam, sacred herbs, and prayer to cleanse the body, clear the mind, open the heart, and reconnect participants with Spirit and the elements. Maya and Willa hold a dear and ongoing connection with Arturo, having studied with him in the ways of medicine making, ancestral teachings, and prayer offerings. His guidance has been powerful and deep, and their connection is rooted in a family bond. It is their prayer and intention to offer a retreat lead by their teacher.
Paulo Nacua - Colombia
Paulo Nacua has walked the curandero path for more than 24 years, weaving together ancestral wisdom from the southern highlands, Amazonian lineages, and meditative traditions that traverse East and West. Rooted in the medicine of the Southern Condor, he carries the teachings of plant wisdom, spirit connection, and ceremonial remembrance with humility, devotion, and dedication. In his sacred container, Paulo calls forth prayer, invokes spirit, and downloads tools for self-realization, expansion, and remembrance.
For many years, Paulo has served as a guide, counselor, and mentor to leadership teams and projects. He is a beloved teacher and ally, and has co-led multiple retreats with Somos Sanctuary, holding space for integration, healing, and deep opening. His presence is generous and wise. Paulo’s life is a prayer in motion: one who tends the inner fire and listens to the medicine of land, plant, and breath, and who supports others in remembering their highest potential.
Peter Blum, Woodstock, New York
Peter Blum has spent over forty years exploring the healing power at the meeting point of hypnosis and sound. Author of TranceSonics - The Vital Link Between Sound Healing and Hypnosis (2018), and What Is Your B.S.?: Exploring Belief Systems Through Hypnosis and NLP (2024), Peter is considered a pioneer in weaving the fields of hypnosis, sounds, and belief systems together. Since 1993, he has served as a Certified Instructor for the National Guild of Hypnotists, training and mentoring hundreds of students around the world. In 1995, after many years of study in diverse spiritual traditions, he was ordained as an Interfaith Minister, approaching hypnotherapy not only as a practice of the mind, but as a deeply spiritual art. For the past five years, Peter has been a beloved teacher and mentor to Maya Martínez Gómez, guiding her path in hypnosis and sound healing. His contributions have been recognized with many honors, including the NGH Order of Braid (2009), Hypnotist of the Year (2015), induction into the Hypnosis Hall of Fame (2021), and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2023). Beyond the accolades, Peter is most cherished for his generosity of spirit and his ability to open doorways of remembrance, healing, and transformation through sound and trance.
Website: trancesonics.com
Familia De Morey - Mexico
Familia De Morey, guided by the heart and vision of César de Morey, is a lineage of medicine-keepers whose purpose is to awaken remembrance, reconciliation, healing, and connection through sacred ceremony. For over 25+ years, the De Morey family has served both within Mexico and beyond - welcoming participants into the field of this sacred work by weaving together multiple modalities and teachings, honoring both local indigenous roots and many worldwide traditions. What distinguishes the Familia De Morey is their compassion and inclusivity. Each gathering is held with respect for the land, ancestral guardians, and the inner landscapes of each participant. They walk with humility, and over the decades, have become known among global medicine communities for their integrity, depth, heart, and commitment to serving as bridges between ancient traditions and modern seekers. Maya Martínez Gómez has been under their mentorship and council for 12 consecutive years.
Xochi Bucurú - Colombia
Xochi Bucurú is a traditional Colombian curandera, educator in health and human development, cultural organizer, and a promoter of Indigenous community projects who has walked the medicine path for most of her life. She also carries the distinction of having served as a governor in Colombia, bringing her leadership and devotion into both community and ceremonial realms. From the young age of 14, Xochi was called to the path of ancestral teachings, dedicating herself to the study of sacred plants. Over the decades she has immersed herself in the wisdom and the guidance of her elders, prayer, plants, and walked a life of true service, always rooted in deep respect for the lineages that have carried this knowledge forward. Her leadership has extended into the political and social spheres, where she has championed the protection of traditional knowledge and the empowerment of Indigenous peoples. Xochi is also one of the visionaries of El Retorno de la Diosa (“The Return of the Goddess”), where she served alongside Maya Martinez Gomez and Abuela Ana María Hoyos, and is a regular at Ecoaldea Atlántida in Colombia.
Sacred Plant Alliance - United States - Global Coalition
The Sacred Plant Alliance (SPA) is a global coalition of medicine churches, ceremonial leaders, and guardians dedicated to protecting the integrity of sacred plant traditions. SPA works to ensure safe, ethical, and legally recognized ceremonial practice while upholding reciprocity with the Indigenous lineages that steward these medicines. Through advocacy, education, and collaboration, the Alliance safeguards access to sacred plants and supports communities in walking this path with respect, responsibility, and reverence.
Website: sacredplantalliance.org
Pilgrimages
Each year we journey to different parts of the world, where our elders and teachers are gathered,
carrying our prayers and offeringsto the land and its people.
These pilgrimages, open to all within our community, are sacred acts of devotion - offerings of service and reciprocity to the elders and guardians who have shared their ancestral ways and bestowed their blessings upon us. These journeys allow our community direct access to learn alongside us from our teachers, to honor the guardians of each territory, and to humbly add our voices and prayers to these sacred lands.
Eco Village Atántida, Colombia
Somos Sanctuary Uniting Communities Retreat
Photos by Willa Kveta
About Eco Village Atlántida - Colombia
EcoAldea Atlántida is one of Colombia’s oldest and most respected eco-villages, a community that has been carrying over 25 years of sacred offerings, sustainable living, and ceremonial work. Nestled in the green mountains of Colombia, it was founded with a vision of living in harmony with Mother Earth - building homes from natural materials, listening to the land, and sustaining community through prayer, music, and ritual.
At its heart, Atlántida carries the leadership of Elder Ana María Hoyas, whose devotion to the sacred path has nurtured generations. It continues to be a home for ancestral ceremonies: holding sun and moon dances, sweat lodges, sacred fires, mambeaderos, celebrations, and planetary prayers. It is a place where elders, teachers, and seekers from around the world gather to remember how to walk in right relation with the Earth.
When we travel there each year, we step into this lineage of devotion, adding our own prayers to the fire, our songs to the weaving, and our offerings to the land. These photos captured by Willa Kveta, are windows into the sacred work that we are honored to be a part of.
Sacred Walk - Eco Village Atlántida - Colombia
Photos by Willa Kveta
Fulni-ô and Somos Sanctuary Sacred Gathering Retreat
Photos by David Ziegler
About our Fulni-ô Tribe Family - Brazil
Our connection with the Fulni-ô tribe of Brazil is a deep familial bond, an alliance that has been formed across many lifetimes. During our first pilgrimage to meet them, the elders of the Fulni-ô confirmed what we all felt - that we are family, reunited in this time to walk side by side in this sacred work.
The Fulni-ô are the guardians of profound ancestral wisdom, of sacred songs, and dances. Although displaced from their original lands by colonization, they are committed to passing on their ancestral ways and language (Yatê) to the younger generations, through their sacred rituals and ceremonies.
They have generously opened their circle to us, sharing their teachings, their sacred songs, and their blessings, which we receive with immense gratitude and reverence. To be welcomed into this family bond is an honor beyond words.
Each year, we invite community members to join us for these beautiful encounters with our Family in Brazil.
Family of Fire and Somos Sanctuary in The Netherlands
Photos by Willa Kveta
About Our Netherlands Family - The Family of Fire
It is a great honor to weave with our community in The Netherlands, where our annual pilgrimages have watered so many seeds. What began as a synchronistic encounter at Eco Village Atlántida in Colombia, has blossomed into a deep bond with our beloved brother and sister, Yoep and Ingrid of Family of Fire. Since that time, we have become one family.
To bring Somos Sanctuary to this territory is a profound honor. The Dutch lands hold such a unique resonance - castles and waterways scattered across landscapes of immense beauty, yet also carrying embedded layers of historical trauma. Here we have been encountered some of the kindest, most loving souls we have ever met, whose warmth and generosity continue to ripple into the energetic field.
Each trip, we hold a ceremonial MaYita concert in a breathtakingly church - with Family of Fire opening the prayerful evening. We are immensely grateful for this connection and all of the people in the Netherlands who have invited us into their hearts and homes with such openness and love.
Vision Quest December 2025 - Eco Village Atántida, Colombia
Photos by Willa Kveta
About The Vision Quest - Búsqueda de Visión
It is a profound honor to gather on these sacred lands of Colombia each year to support the Vision Quest, guided by Abuela Ana Maria, who carries decades of devotion within the Lakota Tradition.
On the mountain, the Visionaries enter four days and four nights of fasting, without food or water, sustained by our prayers. Each Visionary has a devoted Supporter who is in constant prayer with their Visionary - eating and drinking for them. The Supporters carry the prayer from the sacred fire in the Maloca, which is kept alive day and night, and offered the first taste of each meal in sacred reciprocity. The prayers are sustained through daily sweats, sacred rituals, traditional songs and dance, the smoking of the sacred pipe each night, and the weaving of the word.
The Vision Quest is a commitment to walk in right relationship with life, guided by Spirit and the wisdom of the ancestors. Everything is ritualized and honored. Each gesture, prayer, and song is offered with sacred intention, guided by lineage and respect.
Each December, Somos Sanctuary supports the Vision Quest at Atlantída, inviting our community to join us in support and / or quest on the mountain as Visionaries if they feel the call. had 9 of our Somos community members join us - with 4 planted on the mountain.