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
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.