Our Teachers and Faculty
Safia Johnson has been a Plant Spirit MedicineSM healer for over 14 years and is also a Clinical Consultant in the PSM Seminary. She is currently serving as a Trustee on the board of the PSM Association and is a presenter at annual conferences. She resides in Kingston, NY.
Hear Safia Johnson on Roxbury radio, WIOX, in this enlivening discussion of Plant Spirit Medicine
Carla Leftwich, ACA(La.), Dipl.AC (NCCAOM), practices Classical Five Element Acupuncture and Plant Spirit MedicineSM in New Orleans, La. She has gone on spiritual pilgrimages with Eliot Cowan and David Wiley for the last five years. She is a Granicero—a weather shaman—in the Nahua tradition indigenous to Central Mexico.
David Wiley is a Tsaurirrikame (Elder Shaman) in the Huichol Indian tradition of the northwestern Sierra Madre of Mexico and is a Granicero (weather Shaman) and healer in the Nahuatl Indian tradition of the highlands of central Mexico. In these roles he serves his community as a counselor, community and ceremonial leader along with being recognized as a spiritual conduit for the elemental deity of fire known by the Huichols as Tatewarí or Grandfather Fire (along with many other names in various other cultures).
To find out more about David’s work, please visit www.keepsthefire.org.
Joan Henry is a traditional Song-Carrier & hahesh’kah (lead drummer) for elders among the Nde’, Coast Salish, Shoshone, Tsalagi, Chippewa/Cree and Dakota nations, who identified her as a youth and guided her training, picking up where her grandmothers began when they ‘opened her hands’ and sang with her as a child.
See Video of Joan Henry singing at the Blue Deer Center!!
Visit Joan's Website
For over 20 years, Karen Aberle has been helping people in organizations create partnerships of trust, effectiveness, and satisfaction. Her initiation as a shaman in the Huichol tradition has provided richness and depth to her understanding of human relationships. She brings people to the center of divine flow and gives them tools to navigate the challenges of communication. In this country and abroad, Karen's work is known as a powerful intervention delivered with humor and gratitude to life.
Hear Karen Aberle on Progressive Radio
Dan Sprinkles is an initiated Marakame (shaman) in the ancestral tradition of the Huichol Indians of the Mexican Sierras. He is also a Granicero (Weather Shaman) and healer in the Nahua Indian tradition of the highlands of central Mexico. Through these two lineages he is able to offer deep shamanic healing for those in need. Dan has also been a life coach for many years and offers a unique program designed to enter a more appropriate relationship with the mind. It is called, “The Enemies of Learning.” Dan is a shaman-in-residence and ceremonial leader at the Blue Deer Center. As an initiated Fire Keeper for the Sacred Fire Community, he hosts community fires and men’s fires at the BDC. Dan lives at the Blue Deer Center with his wife, Annie Eagan.
Watch Video about "Replenish Your Heart"
Annie Eagan is an initiated Marakame (shaman) in the ancestral tradition of the Huichol Indians of the Mexican Sierras. She is also a Granicera (Weather Shaman) and healer in the Nahua Indian tradition of the highlands of central Mexico. She has been doing healing work with humans and animals for more than twelve years. Annie is a shaman-in-residence and ceremonial leader at the Blue Deer Center. As an initiated Fire Keeper for the Sacred Fire Community, she hosts community fires and women’s fires at the BDC. Annie lives at the Blue Deer Center with her husband, Dan Sprinkles, her animals and the sacred river that sings through the land.
Melissa Clare grew up in a village in the south of England. After meeting her Sufi Teacher (Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan) in 1971, she emigrated to the US to live in a Sufi Community in upstate New York, where for 17 years she immersed herself in the Teachings and practices, becoming a retreat guide, minister, and senior teacher. An initiation with Fire brought a greater focus on healing. From 1987-1994 Melissa directed the Sufi Healing Order of North America, and later became a plant Spirit Medicine Practitioner and Firekeeper under the auspices of the Sacred Fire Community.
Watch Video about "Music of Life"
Visit Melissa Clare's website
Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami, a Chishti Sufi and seventeenth generation musician, is one of the foremost musicians and music instructors of Pakistan. He masterfully presents a vast array of styles including classical Indian, ghazal, geet, qawwali, bhajan, Pakistani folk and Sufi music. His principal instruments are sitar, vocals, tabla, and harmonium.
Watch Video about "Music of Life"
Visit Ustad Nizami's website
Eliot Cowan is the author of Plant Spirit Medicine, and a fully initiated Tsaurirrikame (shaman) in the Huichol Indian tradition. He began the study and practice of herbalism in the 1960’s and completed a Master of Acupuncture degree with J.R. Worsley in England in the 1970’s. Eliot subsequently apprenticed with Don Guadalupe Gonzalez Rios, a Huichol Indian Shaman. On the occasion of Don Guadalupe’s retirement in 2000, he ritually recognized Eliot as a guide to shamanic apprentices in the Huichol tradition. This was an unprecedented honor for a person of our culture.
Eliot is the founder of the the Blue Deer Center and is a member of the Council of Elders for the Temple of Sacred Fire Healing. As a provider at the Blue Deer Center, Eliot Cowan offers Plant Spirit Medicine practitioner training courses, continuing education for PSM practitioners, healing camps based on traditional Huichol shamanic healing, and animal totem courses.
See the interview with Eliot published in Sacred Fire Magazine.
Malidoma Somé is the author of several books, including Ritual: Power, Healing and Community, Of Water and The Spirit, and The Healing Wisdom of Africa. He is currently working on two new books, one about the Ancestors (and our relationship with them), and another, a sequel to his highly esteemed autobiography, on the topic of Gatekeepers.
Dr. Somé is also an initiated elder in his village in Dano, Burkina Faso, W. Africa. He travels throughout the world bringing a message of hope, healing and reconciliation.
Before his birth, in 1956, the elders of Malidoma's village knew that his purpose in coming into this world was to carry the message of indigenous technology and spirituality to the western world, a place where modernity was growing increasingly hungry for a reconnection to ancient wisdom. Little did he know, as a young child, stolen from his family and village, that the years he would spend under the harsh tutelage of the religious order would prepare the way for the eventual challenge of integrating old and new, the sacred and the mundane. For more than twenty years, Malidoma Somé has shared the wisdom of his ancestors and tribal elders, awakening a deep knowing in the hearts and bones of those who have recognized in his name, his books, his voice, the spirit world inviting the renewal of a deep and abiding relationship with all beings on earth.
OmeAkaEhekatl Erick Gonzalez, International Coordinator and member of the Great Confederation of the Councils of the Principal Mayan Ajq´ijab´ of Guatemala, was initiated into Native sacred rites over a thirty year period with direct participation, teachings, and guidance from various Native spiritual elders from Mexico, North America, Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala. He has worked with Native Elders and Youth Councils throughout the Americas supporting the work of international sharing and preservation of
sacred wisdom teachings since 1979, promoting increased cooperation and unity between diverse communities throughout the world.
OmeAkaEhekatl Erick Gonzalez was born in Guatemala and moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was 11 years old. In 1978 he was adopted by the Mexiko Teotlkalli Kalpull Koatlkalko and the teacher Tlakaelel and given the name OmeAkaEhekatl in 1978. He was made an Aj Q’ij (Mayan Spiritual Guide and Daykeeper) in 1994 with the Great Confederation of AjQ’ijab of the Original Peoples of Guatemala and received his bundle through the teacher Apolinario Chile Pixtun. In 2005, he was adopted into the Ts’aalth Clan, the five finned killer whale people of the Eagle Clan of the Haida, and given the name Gaada, meaning supernatural light.
Erick is a member and representative of various councils of Indigenous elders, youth, and spiritual guides. He is the Founder and Spiritual Leader of Tinamit Junan Uleu – Earth Peoples United, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity church dedicated to preserving indigenous wisdom and traditional practices, and renewing our custodial relationship with the Mother Earth and all her Beings.
OmeAkaEhekatl is working to create two models of spiritual land stewardship: one in Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlan, and one north of Mt. Shasta in Northern California. These are being created to demonstrate how to live in harmony with and appreciate the natural and spiritual worlds, restore land and create natural food and medicine gardens, and be places for indigenous wisdom keepers to come together to share their wisdom and ceremonies.
"There is a deep longing among people in the West to connect with something bigger -- with community and spirit. People know there is something missing in their lives, and believe that the rituals and ancient ways of the village offer some answers." These are the simple yet deeply poignant words of author and teacher Sobonfu Somé, one of the foremost voices in African spirituality to come to the west. Destined from birth to teach the ancient wisdom, ritual and practices of her ancestors to those in the West, Sobonfu, whose name means "keeper of the rituals" travels the world on a healing mission sharing the rich spiritual life and culture of her native land Burkina Faso, which ranks as one of the world's poorest countries yet one of the richest in spiritual life and custom.
Recognized by the village elders as possessing special gifts from birth, Sobonfu's destiny was foretold before her birth, as is the custom of the Dagara Tribe of Burkina Faso and was fostered by early education in ritual and initiation in preparation for her life's work. "My work is really a journey in self discovery and in building community through rituals," says Sobonfu. Dagara rituals involve healing and preparing the mind, body, spirit and soul to receive the spirituality that is all around us. "It is always challenging to bring the spiritual into the material world, but it is one of the only ways we can put people back in touch with the earth and their inner values."
It is this reliance on spirit, community and ritual that has allowed Sobonfu's personal and professional path to become one. Since the beginning of her journey in the West Sobonfu has traveled extensively throughout North America and Europe, conducting workshops on spirituality, ritual, the sacred and intimacy. Her work has moved African spiritual practices from the realm of anthropology, to a place alongside the world's great spiritual tradition, with a message of profound significance and practical application in the li ves of Westerners.
Sobonfu has written two books, “The Spirit of Intimacy" (William Morrow) and "Welcoming Spirit Home" (New World Library), her newest offering which draws on rituals and practices involving community, birth miscarriage and children.
Filled with grace and eloquence, Sobonfu possesses a charm and modesty that enables her to touch her audience deeply. Her message about the importance of spirit, community and ritual in our lives rings with an intuitive power and truth that Alice Walker has said "can help us put together so many things that our modern western world has broken."
Mark Gionfriddo began his Huichol shamanic apprenticeship training in 2003, which included more than 6 years of instruction and rigorous pilgrimages under the guidance of Tsaurririkame Don Eliot Cowan. In 2011, he completed his initiation and graduation formalities as a Marakame in the Huichol Tradition. Mark is also a Granicero, or Weather Worker, in the Nahua tradition and has been working together with Don David Wiley on the Men’s Retreat Program since its inception in 2005.
Alison Gayek has been teaching Plant Spirit Medicine℠ with Eliot Cowan since 2002. She began studying with Eliot Cowan in 1997 and graduated from the PSM course in 1999. Since then, Alison has maintained a strong effective PSM practice. As a teacher, Alison teaches the PSM Practitioner Training Course, graduate clinicals and skills courses, and also works to teach, mentor, and support new graduates as they start their own practices. In addition, she is a qualified clinical supervisor and provides clinical supervision for students and graduates. Alison has continued her healing work through various pilgrimages with Eliot Cowan and David Wiley. She is a Granicera — a Weather Shaman — in the Nahua tradition indigenous to Central Mexico.
Colin Campbell and Niall Campbell are traditional doctors and Sangomas from Botswana, South Africa. Initially trained as traditional doctors, Niall and Colin are skilled herbalists, diviners, and general medical practitioners. In their Sangoma training, they also work as spirit mediums, allowing the spirits to work through them for the help and healing of others. Both highly gifted in their healing practices, they also train traditional doctors and Sangomas in their school in Botswana. They each maintain a thriving private practice in Capetown, South Africa.
Listen to Sangomas, Divination, and the Ancestors
from an interview with Colin Campbell 'The Call of the Magician'.
"We absolutely loved facilitating our program at Blue Deer Center. The facilities with their blend of modern comfortable accommodation and close proximity to natural environment were perfectly suited to our semi-wilderness based training program style. The food and nurturing from the staff and assistants was both delicious and impeccable. This is unquestionably one of the best facilities we have ever had host one of our training programs. We loved it and we highly recommend it to anyone looking for a beautiful and magnificently run venue for spiritual or lineage-based training programs and workshops."
Scott Sheerinis a Marakame (shaman) in the Huichol tradition. He practices shamanic healing in Victoria, B.C. He has been on the staff of Eliot Cowan's healing camps for 11 years. He is also a gifted musician offering healing and ritual music. His recordings are in use around the world helping to spread the energy of heart and fire wherever they are heard.
"With music it is very interesting, because you are opening up to a flow that is already present. And you are breathing and moving the sounds and notes out into the space around you. And so in a certain kind of way you feel how those sounds are – how they are flowing out and what they are moving up against – like how water moves against a shore – the contours that form." -- Scott Sheerin, from an interview in Around The Fire newsletter
Jon Delson comes from a family of teachers, counselors, nurses and firemen and has been taught the ways and forms of the Fire and its power in our lives by his elders since boyhood. Few know that he is also a talented musician.
CristiánValenzuela has worked as a coach and business consultant in the banking industry for the last 20 years. A civil industrial engineer with postgraduate studies in management and economics, he now finds his true calling as a shaman in the Huichol tradition, an artist, and a painter, (www.cristian-valenzuela.cl)
Linda Felch is an apprentice in the Huichol tradition and a Plant Spirit Medicine℠ healer. As our Healing Camp coordinator she makes sure that everything runs smoothly in preparing for camp and while we are at the BDC.
Justin Starting is an apprentice in the Huichol tradition. For many years he has taught the art of building relationships with the natural world through the practical skills of our ancestors. At camp he will offer his program entitled Touch the Earth.
Deanna Jenné is an initiated marakame (shaman) in the Huichol tradition and weather worker in the Nahua tradition, both rooted in Mexico. Deanna co-facilitates the Sacred Fire Community's Lifeways Program for Women and the Initiation Into Womanhood Program. As initiated Fire Keepers, she and her husband, Gary, are growing and maintaining a Fire Community in Grand Junction, Colorado. Deanna is available for healing sessions and consultation. Please contact her at 970-241-7256.
Sherry Boatright is a licensed psychotherapist as well as a Granicera (weather shaman) in the Nahua tradition of central Mexico. She is manager of the Sacred Fire Community Lifeways programs and co-facilitates the Lifeways Women’s Retreat. She also offers facilitated retreats for individuals. Sherry is an initiated Firekeeper and shares the fire with her community in the hill country of west Georgia, near Carrollton.
Murshida Rev. Tasnim Hermila Fernandez has 40-years of experience walking the Sufi path as adisciple and as a Guide for others. She presents in many countries and has students in Australia, Canada, the U.S., Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia.Tasnim gives personal guidance to her Sufi students, trains and certifies Dance Leaders, trains and ordains Universal Worship ministers. She travels nationally and internationally, presenting seminars, workshops, and retreats and is a frequent presenter at interfaith conferences and festivals.
Jaime Velez is a Marakame in the Huichol tradition and resides in Tepoztlan, Mexico. On rare and momentous occasions, he makes his way to Healing Camps at the Blue Deer Center to offer his skilled hands in the art of Mayan massage.
Prema Sheerin is an initiated Marakame or shaman in the indigenous Huichol tradition of Mexico. She offers workshops on emotional wisdom and transition internationally and has a shamanic healing and life coaching practice. Prema heads the Death and Dying council for the Sacred Fire Community. For more information about Prema’s work go to premasheerin.com
