About our Ceremonial Leaders
Dana Marie
Dana is an Embodiment and Manifestation Coach, for Healers and Empaths. She helps her clients expand their energy and purpose, while manifesting their Next Level Selves. She is also a Spiritual Business Mentor, helping women entrepreneurs gain their confidence, unapologetically. She is a trauma-informed Kripalu Yoga Instructor, Reiki & Breath Work practitioner and Intuitive healer. She uses Mindset work, Womb Healing and Emotion Code Clearing, to allow clients, to receive pleasure and abundance at expanded levels.
Derek Januszewski
Derek is a 45 year old father of 3 children – Dylan, Althea, and Zoe. He grew up bouncing back and forth between Massachusetts and Florida. A survivor of tremendous abuse in many forms, Derek came to the medicine in 2017 after a decade long battle with addiction that was starting to get away from him. Through intense inner work, extensive work with the medicine, and countless hours working in service to the medicine working along with nearly 1,000 brave souls who sat with the medicine over the last couple of years, Derek has healed much of his trauma. The spiritual healing he received through the medicine inspired him to found Pachamama Sanctuary to help others find their own path to health and happiness.
Haley
Haley has been participating in medicine work for over 6 years. In that time, she has worked closely with facilitators around the world that she admires, soaking up knowledge and practices. She has studied space holding, meditation and music. Haley enchants the room with her music that plays a big role in the ceremony. She is a multi-instrumentalist that guides the energy of seen and unseen. Apprenticing under her teacher for 4 years, she brings embodiment practices, self-expression, and musical healing into the space.
Haley & Rodney
Haley and Rodney have been participating in medicine work for over 6 years. In that time, they have worked closely with facilitators around the world that they admire, soaking up knowledge and practices. They have studied space holding, meditation and music. Haley enchants the room with her music that plays a big role in the ceremony. She is a multi-instrumentalist that guides the energy of seen and unseen. Apprenticing under her teacher for 4 years, she brings embodiment practices, self-expression, and musical healing into the space. Rodney is a pilar in the room as a natural guide and musician. Having studied energy work, breathwork and meditation, Rodney’s big heart and life experience make him easily approachable.
JC Arkawa
Juan Carlos Arkawa has worked with Ayahuasca for 22 years. He trained in Colombia and serves the sacrament with the highest respect and honor. JC is a multi-instrumentalist musician, producer, composer and arranger of indigenous Colombian descent from the town of Los Pastos. With more than 30 years of musical experience, he bases his work on the fusion of instruments and ethnic music from different parts of the world, as well as cultural knowledge from diverse ancestral communities and contemporary technology. He is a self-taught performer on more than 100 wind instruments from around the world. In 2014 he was recognized by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia for the contribution of his artistic career. JC has given concerts in major Colombian cities as well as internationally in Rome, Prague, United States, Greece, Spain, Germany, Austria and more. He has appeared on television and radio internationally (Telemundo, Univision, CCTV Channel of Central China), and has produced over 85 works for colombian and international artists.
Juan and Maria
We are Ayacona. Ayacona is a project created by Juan and Maria. They are a couple of yageceros/practitioners originally from Colombia and have been working with the sacred medicines from the jungle for around 18 years now. Juan and Maria have had the opportunity to learn and to work with different taitas, shamans, indigenous people, medicine men and women from different tribes from the Amazon, from Colombia, especially with the people from the Kametsá tribe, in Putumayo, Colombia; but they have also been with the people from Brazil and Perú. They strongly believe that Amazon is not only one particularly country, they believe in respectfully unifying as one. Each tribe, tradition, and medicine, has something very powerful to teach us, so that is why Juan and Maria integrate a little bit of each of them into their own ceremonies through the music, the medicines, and the way they hold the sacred space. This purpose of Unification is why they started a year ago an alliance with the Lakota people, manifesting with them the prophecy of Condor and Eagle, to fly together again to share and unite pueblos through respect, ceremonies, and medicines to bring the ancient memories of who we…
Maima María Manesita Queta & Taita Luis Alberto Queta
Maima María Manesita Queta is the sister of Taita Mayor Querubín Queta Alvarado 108 year old Chief of the Cofan tribe from the south of Colombia. She will be accompanied by her son Taita Luis Alberto Queta. Their tribe resides in the Ukumari Kankhe reservation in Nariño just over the Putumayo county border and are part of an unbroken lineage of Yage oral traditions that goes back over 5000 years. They work with chants, Wairas, and harmonicas to harmonize one with the medicine and perform deep energetic cleansing to help shed stagnant energy and align one’s spirit. Maima Manesita is known for her sacred healing chants and is the first medicine woman to come from their tribe. Taita Luis Alberto also works with Hapé as well as other sacred plants and special resins used in smudging rituals. Their ceremony is done in a traditional way holding sacred silent space in the beginning of the night followed by music and very deep energy cleansing using sound healing towards the end.
Marco Gonzalez
Marco’s communion with Ayahuasca began 19 years ago. He was initiated by a Huichol Medicine Man on a pilgrimage to Wirikuta, followed by vision quests for 4 years under the guidance of Lakota Indians from the North. He has also studied under Yopo and Mamawilka from the Piaroa tribe under the guidance of the tribe elder Bolivar. His path with Ayahuasca started 10 years ago with an apprenticeship in the Amazon jungle with the Shipibo Tribe and tribe Shamans: Fidel Mozombite, Mateo Arevalo, Daniel Arevalo, Takiwasi and Atahualpa and continued in Mexico under the Mayan Shaman Don Lauro de la Cruz doing energy healing work. He continues to learn and practice these traditions with by communing with kindred sacraments in places like: Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. He has been performing Ayahuasca ceremonies for the past 7 years and believes the most important thing everyone needs to know is that the sacrament herself is the shaman, his part is to serve as a conduit between the sacrament and its participants, to give support and guidance in this process.
María Isabel Mejia
My name is María Isabel Mejia, I am from Medellin, Colombia, I’m a woman, mother of 5 children and grandmother of 3 grandchildren, and fortunately yagecera, medicine woman. Twenty years ago I met the yagé medicine (ayahuasca), and I can say that it was love at first drink. Since then I began my path with the Sacred Plants, at first like everyone in a search for healing and self-knowledge and that is how this path led me to continue taking more medicine, to continue healing and learning from different shamans and communities. Initially it was with shamans (taitas) from my country Colombia and then the paths opened to meet and learn from others from Peru and especially Brazil. Along this path with the sacred medicines I have done different courses for self-healing, self-knowledge and understanding of our connection with the spiritual world, all this has led me to my interior and to want to share it with others. My experience began as an assistant in ceremonies after having learned for a long time about all this, and after almost twelve years of practice and collaboration with others, I received the blessing of one of my teachers to give the yagé remedy. For a little over…
Nikki Fielding
Nikki Fielding, also known as the Chief Fairy, is a trauma-informed healer who combines her passion for serving as a fairy connector, her background growing high performing business divisions, and her purpose activating leaders with a strong mission driven purpose to bring their gifts to the world on a larger scale and make their impact. After decades of severe chronic pain, severe mental health challenges, and life-threatening physical health conditions, she walked away from her past and into the Great Unknown, entered the Dark Night of the Soul, and dove deeply into alternative healing practices. Now she supports both business leaders, spiritual seekers, and those who feel stuck as an intuitive quantum healer, spiritual mentor, and powerful activator. She incorporates Meditation, Reiki, Ho’oponopono, Angel Therapy Healing, Shamanic Soul Retrieval, Galactic Light Language Activations, and Sacred Sexuality and Tantra to help people release shame and stagnant energy and fully embody their most powerful beliefs
Taita Pedro Davila
Taita Pedro, also called Shaman, Curandero, Conocedor, Yagecero, or traditional Indigenous Physician as these men are known in Putumayo, Colombia has more than 20 years of experience working with the family of sacred plants. He arrived in the United States in 2016 to help spread the teachings of the native people of South America. His work creates awareness by sharing the knowledge, respect and use of sacred plants that is traditional in countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Europe, Venezuela, Mexico, and Panama. In his journey through the United States, he has brought many people through the process of finding insight into a variety of problems including anxiety, addiction, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, childhood trauma, and more. People from all walks of life find their journey of healing transformed by Taita Pedro. The work of the ceremonial leader is based on healing the spirit, mind, and heart. In the indigenous language, this is called Juaba, allowing a state of consciousness that brings the integration of the mind, heart, and spirit, which allows insight into in all aspects of their being. Taita Pedro began his path in the traditions of his Colombian Ancestors, learning from his elders and the shamans…