Karen Weinman is a Pampamesayoq, Andean Medicine Woman, Earthkeeper, healer, teacher and sacred activist.

After being struck by lightning, Karen was initiated as a Pampamesayoq. Trained by the last, old Q’ero Indians, she has become a Chakaruna - a bridge between mystical Earth Medicine, the South West Andes Mountains of Peru and the Western world. She continues these feminine Inka lineages through rites and ceremonies to bring healing and growth where it is needed on our planet.

With over 30 years experience as a healer and teacher, her deep relationship with Pachamama helps her transform individuals, groups and environments. She facilitates healing for seekers using the power of Nature, enabling them to return to their heart and raise consciousness for the global collective. She is a member of Sacred Earth Activism’s steering group, offering healing events for our Earth and Waters both locally and globally. Through this work, Karen bears witness to the fact that when we remember our place in Nature, it becomes natural for us to take care of our planet Earth - making us all sacred activists when we work from this loving place within.

Despacho Opening Ceremony: Karen will open the conference with an Andean Ceremony of living prayers for Pachamama, the Earth and our Water Beings. She will build a mandala using appropriate ingredients, combined with the heart-felt intentions of everyone present, to share our gratitude and love for the Land and Waters. The Despacho will create a sacred space to contain our summit and community, while at the same time inviting our Sacred Lands and Waters to have a voice and be heard.

Website

Annie Spencer is a revered UK elder, ceremonialist and shamanic teacher, Rites of Passage and wilderness facilitator, storyteller and wisdom-keeper.

Annie has been running groups and offering training for nearly 40 years. Her background in both psychology and earth-based spiritual traditions means she is skilled at moving between both worlds. Annie was introduced to the spiritual ways of the First Peoples of North America in the early 1980s  These teachings immediately resonated with her and their practice has been a part of her life ever since.  She was apprenticed in a North American tradition and has studied Mayan teachings from Guatemala for over 15 years. 

Having said that, Annie does not forget the traditions of her own land, hoping instead to enliven and strengthen them with the teachings she brings from other ancient ways. A much loved storyteller, she brings the old myths of Britain alive and enthrals us with tales from across the world as she creates magical spaces for change to happen.  As a teacher, Annie opens pathways for others, illuminating their life’s journeys. Her primary interest is the renewal of ancient ceremonial forms to create a path of beauty upon Grandmother Earth.

Conversation and Q&A: Together with Christa, Annie will discuss her work with stone circles, fogous and quoits (or cromlechs) in the UK, especially Cornwall. She will share some of the stories and myths surrounding these circles, explore. their powers and teach us how to be, and work with them, in a sacred way.

Website: Hartwell

Chay Godfree is the founder, inspiring visionary and tireless activist behind the ‘Crops not Shops’ movement.

Crops not Shops offers a radical solution to many of the world’s current issues, such as food security, Earth restoration, community self-sufficiency, child education, and spiritual connection to one another. This rapidly-growing, hands-on movement is dedicated to bringing a new system of sharing and love into today’s challenging world through its land, food and community-based sacred activism. Its approach is based on the philosophy that ‘all life is sacred’ and takes the next seven generations into account in all of its activities.

So far, the movement has created four communities in the UK that live self-sufficiently. These communities grow and distribute food to people in need. They open buildings in urban areas for homeless people, guerrilla plant neglected areas, offer community gatherings and provide land- and food-based education for children.

Talk and Q&A: Chay’s talk will focus on sacred soil, building community, love and a sharing approach, and how to do it all in a hands-on way based on Sacred Earth spirituality. A not-to-be-missed experience, Chay always inspires and opens people’s hearts and minds to their own inherent power to co-create in sacred and meaningful ways.

Website: Crops not Shops

Helen JR Bruce is an author, folklorist and oral storyteller.

Helen has spent the last 15 years researching British folklore and visiting sacred and mythic sites, seeking to re-learn the vital connections between landscape and story. Her work collides the mythic with the mundane, presenting folklore as living, current and relevant.

Recently, Helen has begun a year-long cycle of pilgrimage with the Gurt Dog of Langport, a five-mile-long landscape glyph formed naturally from roads, paths and rivers. Her desire is to raise awareness of the importance of storyscape and encourage everyone to connect with the folklore that makes up a vital layer of any map. For Helen, story is the liminal place between flesh and stone, a shared language that humans and the landscape both speak.

Talk and Q&A: Helen will discuss the purpose and intentions of pilgrimage and her own journey of connecting with the Gurt Dog. She will outline how layers of memory, story and experience make up the complete map of any landscape, sharing the idea that both mythic heritage and current folklore are important signifiers of any sacred landscape. Helen will also offer guidance on how people can begin to connect more deeply with their own local places.

Website: Witchzine

Christa Mackinnon & Jonathan Weekes are the co-founders of, and visionaries behind, Sacred Earth Activism.

Christa is a psychologist, therapist, medicine woman, shamanic teacher, author and long-standing activist. She apprenticed to Indigenous shamans in South America and has worked with teachers worldwide. Christa is the author of three books, combining the ancient shamanic with the contemporary therapeutic. Her books include the groundbreaking Shamanism and Spirituality in Therapeutic Practice and the bestselling Shamanism: Awaken and Develop the Shamanic Force Within. Christa speaks and writes widely on both subjects.

She also set up ‘Bridging the Worlds’ and is a co-founder of ‘Women Weaving Change’, which trains Modern Medicine Women and change-makers. She is a member of TreeSisters, works with Extinction Rebellion at a community level and is involved in the wider Women’s movement. All of her work and sacred activism activities are focused on contributing to the expansion of consciousness required to help create an overall paradigm shift.

Websites: Christa Mackinnon and Women Weaving Change

Jonathan is an experienced spiritual teacher, ceremonialist and sacred activist. He has shared his work all around the UK, helping people connect with the land through ceremony and sacred practice. Influenced by contemporary shamanic practice and Druidry as well as learning from Indigenous teachers in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Jonathan believes that healing our connection to the land, the ancestors and the sacred will be fundamental in bringing about the change needed in the world. He has supported different movements and campaigns, holding ceremony and weaving spiritual practice into direct actions, including those with Extinction Rebellion UK, the anti-fracking movement and Stonehenge supporters. He has also spoken at conferences and gatherings about the importance of sacred activism in our efforts for change.

Websites: Heron Drums and Spiritual Rewilding

Talk and Q&A: Jonathan and Christa formed Sacred Earth Activism with a vision of grounding their activism in the sacred. In this talk, they will discuss their experiences of doing so, illustrating the points they make with examples from former sacred actions. These include protecting Stonehenge, Back to Source river campaigns, and sacred actions within XR. Jonathan and Christa will also talk about their own process and approach to sacred activism, sharing ideas about how you might get involved and bring the sacred into your actions too.

Andrew Harvey is the founder of the Institute for Sacred Activism, a renowned mystic, exceptional scholar, spiritual teacher, elder, acclaimed author of more than 40 books and sacred activist.

Among many other books, Andrew Harvey wrote Son of Man, The Hope, Love is Everything, Turn Me to Gold, Engoldenment, plus Radical Regeneration with Carolyn Baker. He has taught all over the world, given more than 20 courses for the Shift Network and is an exceptional sacred activist who supports many causes close to his heart. Andrew’s profound wisdom and deep philosophical and spiritual insights about life, death, rebirth and connection to ‘All There Is’ shines through his work, talks and teachings.

Talk and Q&A: We are very excited to have Andrew with us this year to talk about Radical Regeneration. This includes how to navigate humanity’s collective Dark Night of the Soul, explore its dangers and develop a wider understanding of this transformational process so we can embody hope and become co-creators within the divine process of death and birth. Profound and inspiring, Andrew will also answer any questions you may have.

Websites: Andrew Harvey Books at Amazon

Dr Phil Lane Jr is an Indigenous elder, Hereditary Chief of the Hinhan Wicasa and Deloria Tiospayes of the Ihanktonwan Dakota.

Brother Phil is a member of the Ihanktonwan Dakota and Chickasaw Nation and is recognised as a Hereditary Chief of the Hinhan Wicasa and Deloria Tiospayes of the Ihanktonwan Dakota. He is also a global leader in human, community, and economic development and a water, human rights and anti-racism activist.

A wisdom teacher and elder, Chief Lane has worked with indigenous peoples around the world. He served as an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, founded the Four Worlds International Institute and, as an Indigenous leader, played a key role in resolving the Residential Schools issue in Canada. He has received countless awards and is the host of the Shift Network’s Global Indigenous Wisdom Summits

Talk: Brother Phil will talk about the worldwide lighting of the 8th Fire worldwide, the prophesy behind it and its significance for these time of transformation

Website: The Four Winds International Institute

John Adams OBE is director of the Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd and chairman of the Stonehenge Alliance. Former Chair of the Department of Health's Voluntary Sector and Social Enterprise Sounding Board, he describes himself as a serial trustee. John is also interested in social justice, charity governance, collaboration, social enterprise and building inclusive communities.

Conversation and Q&A: We feel most fortunate that John, in conversation with Jonathan, will provide an overview of the planned road scheme at Stonehenge and explain why the ancient monument’s status as a sacred World Heritage site is now under threat. He will discuss the Stonehenge Alliance’s tireless information campaign and legal challenges - so far, it is the only group that has been able to prevent the devastating infrastructure project from going ahead. John will also update us on the latest ongoing legal action.

Website: Stonehenge Alliance

Harriet Sams researches, teaches, mentors, and facilitates eco-therapy and archaeo-therapy. She is a published writer on such interconnected threads as myth, archaeology, Earth-based spirituality, environmental art, animism, and climate/ecological chaos.

Harriet works for Tariki Trust UK, a Buddhist eco-therapy charity. She also co-hosts Earth Exchange Cafés on behalf of Radical Joy for Hard Times, a USA-based eco-resiliency, eco-art, and landscape-belonging charity, and co-facilitates ‘Through the Door’ imaginal workshops for the Climate Psychology Alliance. Harriet is currently undertaking research for her PhD in archaeo-therapy at Bournemouth University.

Talk and Q&A: Harriet will talk about the call from the ‘Voice of the Land’ she heard while sitting in the bath. It told her to go up a local fell (mountain) in Cumbria where she lives, because she was, in some way, needed up there. As ignoring the call did not feel like an option, she did as bidden. In this talk, Harriet will tell the story of what happened that day, and what teachings she found in the call. These included teachings about sacred Earth activism, being receptive to Spirit, insights into what it means to be a conduit for the Land and to have a personal faith in ancestors and sacred landscapes.

Website: www.nwyfre-earth.co

Kim is an artist, maker and environmental activist. He has a degree in advertising and 25 years experience as a puppeteer.

Kim sees himself as an arts activist. He says: '“What do you do in an environmental crisis with a degree in advertising and 25 years experience as a professional street performer, puppeteer, artist and maker? Supporting and amplifying the actions of others, and dreaming into a better more connected world. Add to that a relatively late awakening to the spiritual aspects of this magical world, a keen interest in healthy human culture, and a lot of experience ‘being’ an animal. My answer is still unfolding, but the project that is currently leading my enquiry is the River Goddess, a large puppet I created for Save the Wye, my local river action group. Embodying a deity is in itself an interesting subject, but more interesting is the reaction to people we meet and the very real experience they are left with.’

Conversation and Q&A: Together with Jonathan, Kim will discuss his River Goddess project, his experiences with sacred river and water actions, and the role art can play within the change movement. The discussion will include a video recording of the River Goddess in action at the ‘Unite to Survive’ action in Bath, where she led the ceremony and joined the march.

Website: https://loskaos.co.uk

Jack Mazingira is the founder of ‘Towards Green Environment CBO’ in Kenya, a youth-led, non-profit organisation that works to promote environmental conservation through training, empowerment and awareness creation.

Jack is a climate activist and educator, undertaking training, educational campaigns and action days in the Nairobi area. His goal is to raise awareness among local communities of the impact of pollution on local ecologies and the long-term benefits of reforestation, ecological repair, restoration & regeneration.

Talk and Q&A: Jack will talk about the catastrophic impact of flooding by the River Sondu Miriu on the local community. A PowerPoint presentation will include powerful images to illustrate how sacred, nourishing, life-giving waters can become a destructive power due to man-made climate change. The impact of the floods included devastated harvests, soil pollution and destruction of homes and schools, leading to a refugee crisis. Jack will discuss his work in the region and offer potential solutions.

Website: Towards Green Environment

Robin Tekwelus Youngblood is a minister, teacher, author, artist and shamanic practitioner/healer.

Robin has studied her heritage for many years, learning not just the sacred teachings of her own Native American tribes but also those of Indigenous Siberian, Polynesian and Aboriginal elders too. She has written several books and produced music CDs, including Path of the White Wolf, An Introduction to Shamanism, and Journey of the White Bear, a Path to the Shaman’s Heart. Robin now travels the world offering Medicine Wheel Constellations: Medicine Wheel, Wheel of Relationships and Wheel of Co-Creation workshops. She also facilitates Dance to Heal the Earth events and ceremonies, such as Sweat Lodges and Vision Quests.

Robin was a member of the Seven Generations World Wisdom Council, which organised multicultural Wisdom Gatherings in several countries. She was also a founding member of Grandmothers Circle the Earth, for which she was a Traveling Ambassador from 2009-2018 helping to establish Grandmother Circles and Councils. Robin is currently a board member of the Sacred Earth Council, which honours the sacred in all beings, helps to heal global trauma and the impact of systemic racism as well as build sustainable systems for developing nations to restore balance and co-create a better world.

Conversation and Q&A: Robin will talk to Christa about the nature of Medicine Wheel Earth Constellations and invite you to participate in a Constellation yourself during the session. She will also help us learn how to speak for all our relatives.

Websites: Church of the Earth and www.dancetohealtheearth.org

Danielea Castell is a nature communicator, mentor and consultant who discovered the Listening Field with her Nature Elders in 2020 during planetary lockdown.

The purpose of The Listening Field is to provide a safe, ceremonial space online, where Humans and Nature Elders can connect, communicate and co-create from wherever they are based on Mother Earth. As a consultant, Danielea organises Listening Fields for individuals, groups and organisations wishing to communicate directly with the Nature Elders involved in their lives, businesses and missions. The messages received during these dialogues are interpreted and used for strategic planning and transformative action that is aligned with Nature's principles. Public Listening Fields with Nature Elders have also been employed to consult on regional and planetary topics, including how to restore right relationship with Nature, Canadian wildfires and endangered aquatic species. Dialogues with Nature Elders in the Middle East following the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestine led to the emergence of the Alliance with Olive Trees initiative.

Talk and Q&A: Danielea will discuss how her conscious partnerships with more than 35 Water, Rock and Tree Elders around the world led to the birth of The Listening Field and how the messages received can be utilised. Danielea will offer an exercise for you to connect with Nature Elders.

Website: The Listening Field

Viejo Rivas is a curandero and Ayahuasca shaman from the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. As the son of famous Amazon Ayahuascuero, Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez, his lineage is a traditional one.

Viejo has been trained in Amazonian shamanist traditions since he was very young and continues to contribute to the reputation of the Rivas name throughout South America and Europe. As well as studying under his father, he has also worked with, and learned from, Don Ramon Sanchez Rojas, plus Indigenous teachers in Brazil and Canada. Viejo hosts profound retreats at his Amazon jungle camp, Supaychakra, and travels to Europe annually for teaching and speaking engagements. He has also been appointed Cultural Ambassador for the Ucayali region of Peru.

Nina Caspi is a renowned curandera and shaman from Argentina. She works with Viejo in Peru and also travels extensively throughout South America teaching and leading ceremonies.

Nina has trained and worked with many teachers and in many disciplines over the years, including Reiki, psychology, yoga, massage and shamanism. She assists Viejo during his ceremonies, where she joins her beautiful voice with his in singing Icaros and spirit songs, thereby demonstrating that she is an accomplished Ayahuascuero in her own right.

Conversation and Q&A: Nina and Viejo will delve deep into their traditional wisdom and knowledge with Crow Mackinnon (USA), founder of ShamanicVoyages and member of Sacred Earth Activism’s steering group. They will discuss the sacred, reciprocal relationship that curanderos and shamans develop with the Land, Nature, and especially the Nature Spirits around them. They will explain how this deep, honest and reverential relationship enables them to do their work and how they, in turn, care for the natural world and its spirit forces. A talk not to be missed. Daniel Fricke (Peru) will translate.

Website ShamanicVoyages