Yawa Madha Retreat @ Costa Rica ~ Dec. 2-9, 2024
To Sign Up: Sakenkate will be managing registrations via Telegram +17869354834
Beloved friends,
We will be opening an incredibly special and unique time of spiritual studies and healing at Rayos del Sol, Costa Rica, with the Madha and Yawanawa peoples for the first time.
The Yawa Madha Retreat will take place from Dec 2th-9th, and will have a complete transformational program including the possibility to receive healing sessions and voice opening initiations with Pajé Mana Madha. This retreat will be an incredible opportunity to be introduced or deepen your connection to the Yawanawa and Madha spirituality, as well as heal any physical or spiritual illnesses and imbalances. We will have a kambo session, two Uni/Rami medicine ceremonies, rape circles, sanangha and a herbal bath.
To emphasize how special and beautiful this opportunity is…
…an introductory story from my heart to yours…
As many of you know, for several years I have been doing the ‘Samakei’, the spiritual diets with the Yawanawa peoples, studying the ‘saitis’ - sacred chants, with my teachers. About 8 years ago I learned about how the Yawanawa have always had such strong spiritual ties with the Madha peoples, and how many of the Yawanawa saitis are actually Madha. As my own inner calling has always been to get closer to the source of these chants and studies, for a long time I waited to meet the Madha. It was not easy to reach them as they are deep in the forest and do not have much contact with the external world.
I learned from my Yawa family that one of the Madha practices is to do a healing on the voice, and about their specific dietas to open the voice and pass on the knowledge of their ancestral chants. To learn that a study so deep and specific to the voice existed in the profound jungles, was a calling that resonated very deeply in my heart.
The years passed and about three years ago I finally had the blessing to meet Pajé Mana and Ratsuha Madha, who have initiated me in their studies and are currently my loved, precious teachers, and living libraries of the mysteries of the amazon. They have been accompanied and guided in their contact by Yawanawa mother and son, Vesku and Runu.
I arrived to them after years of traveling and having a nomadic life, holding many ceremonies, but without a home base to rest, which was having a toll on my health. On this first meeting Mana and Ratsuha gave me 5 healing sessions and removed energies and illness from my body. After those initial healings, I have felt paths open in my life and mind in ways I hadn’t had access to before. I feel deeply transformed and very grateful to them and their extreme dedication to their healing practices.
Their healing abilities are a rarity even amongst the curanderos in the Amazon, and they are seeked and respected in both local indigenous and international communities.
After this first meeting, I began my studies, and have since brought few friends dedicated in the medicine way to aid in their spiritual studies. The transformations witnessed have been incredible to watch.
The ‘ah’ries’, the healing chants of of the Madha people, carry the energy of the ancestral memory of the earth, and of the exchanges between the spirit world and the human world, since a time when the animals and plants spoke. The chants speak in an ancient tongue to the spirits of the healing animals, such as the pink river dolphins, the serpents, the parrots… They bring a meaning that seems simple, and at the same time, has the capacity to call in powerful healing and protective energy. The study is very profound and truly hard to explain in words what a treasure it is to be in ceremony and feel the power of the Madha ‘ah’ries’.
We have invited our beloved family from the deep forest to come visit us for all our community to experience this healing energy. Please approach these ancestral traditions with reverence, devotion and humility. And if you feel the calling… please let me know, and we will be happy to guide you as best we can.
con amor,
Akarâ Huitzilcuicani
The Madha
The Madha people live on the banks of the Purus River, right between the state of Acre and Amazonas in Brazil. Their people have come into contact with the western civilization only about 40 years ago, so they are considered a nation of recent contact.
The Madha speak their own native language, and have recently started to learn Portuguese.
The Madha have Pajés, medicine men and women, that carry the spiritual knowledge of the people, and act as doctors in the villages. Their healing techniques, language and chants have been preserved and passed on for generations in an unbroken lineage. Their healing chants are called ‘ah’ries’, and the medicine ‘Rami’.
Mana and Ratsuha Madha are a beautiful couple of elder pajés that hold the spirituality and knowledge of their people with love, respect and devotion. They are a rare find in today’s world, representing the very source of the rainforest’s spirituality, and having received the initiations of their people by their families from a very young age.
The healings done by the Madha are incredibly profound and thorough - they will do as many sessions as needed to make sure the negative energies or illnesses have been removed from their patients. Mana and Ratsuha work together as mother and father, as grandparents that they are, with kindness and open hearts to anyone in need of their guidance.
The Yawanawa
For many generations, the Yawanawa and the Madha have had very strong spiritual ties and cultural exchanges, focused on healing and preserving ancestral traditions.
Yawanawa means “people of the wild boar”, and they are known for their communal living and efforts in territorial and cultural preservation. The Yawanawa have expanded their music globally, bringing abundance, protection and recognition to their people, revitalizing their culture while preserving their ancestral traditions.
The Yawanawa are also known internationally for their powerful voices and the beautiful melodies the youth have created by incorporating the guitar into their sacred chants, which they call the ‘saitis’.
In this retreat we will have the presence of two Yawanawa guardians, Vesku and her son Runuina.
yawa MADHA retreat
Activities
Kambo ~ 2 Uni/Rami Ceremonies ~ Rapé & Song Circles ~ healing sessioN ~ VOICE OPENING ~ Herbal Bath ~ sanangha ~ Dieta Friendly Meals
A precious opportunity to experience the depth of the rainforest medicines and spirituality from the very source.
Herbal baths are beneficial to clear our bodies from any external negative energies, and aid us in having good dreams. The plants can subtly guide us with their healing energies.
Rape circles are an opportunity to receive this sacred medicine with intention, giving direction and guidance to our path, as well as clearing our minds.
Uni/Rami ceremonies are profound moments to listen and receive the healing chants called ‘ah’ries’, as well as the messages that the forest spirit has for us, through our visions and cleansing.
Sanangha is beneficial for clearing our sight, vision, dreams, and aiding people with any type of headaches.
Kambo is a deep physical cleanse of the body, fortifying the inmune system and clearing the ‘panema’, the energies that may be stuck in the body, releasing them and restoring our energy.
In this retreat, participants will have the opportunity to receive a personal healing treatment from Pajé Mana Madha, accompanied by his wife Ratsuha. A healing session, rooted in Madha knowledge and spiritual study, involves techniques such as suction and energy placement, blown tobacco usage, and post session dietary and sexual regimes for 3 days. The treatment may be for serious or mild physical ailments, emotional imbalances, treat negative dreams or visions, and improve one’s spiritual, mental, emotional and physical bodies.
The healing sessions may be done during the Rami/Uni ceremony or outside of ceremony. The diet is initiated once the healing is done by Paje Mana Madha, followed by instructions for the next 3 days.
It will also be optional for students of the medicine way to receive the initiation of ‘opening the voice’. This practice is rooted in Madha knowledge and spiritual transmission, and also involves techniques such as suction and energy placement, blown tobacco usage, and strict dietary and sexual regimes for 5 days. The aim is to initiate knowledge transmission marked in the body, opening the individual to learning the sacred songs.
Our Guardians
Pajé Maná Madha is a very special, patient and loving teacher and healer. He embodies the mission in the service of healing with all his being. Mana received traditional training since he was a young boy from his father- a rarity among modern pajés- and possesses extraordinary knowledge of plants and spiritual healing techniques. Considered a doctor and surgeon by the standards of city medicine, Maná's spiritual healing technique allows him to ingest his patients' illnesses, materializing them into small stones that he then expels, curing patients of serious ailments. He is renowned as a "complete curandero," addressing both physical and spiritual maladies, and for his expansive knowledge of plants, prayers and songs.
Ratsuhá Madha’s beautiful presence brings the quality of the grandmothers, the gentle but strong feminine touch in the deep healing forces that are moved. She is a rare female healer who received traditional training in the Madha tradition and specializes in childbirth, healing chants and plant medicine. Over her life, she has attended the birth of approximately 2,800 babies. Ratsuha is a custodian of the "ajiés de cura”, the healing songs of her people, and together with Maná, they employ a unique knowledge transmission method called "opening the voice”. Her voice and presence is powerful and an incredible guidance during Rami ceremonies.
Vêsku (Leticia), a Yawanawá guardian, grandmother, midwife and caretaker, is passionately dedicated to preserving indigenous cultures, particularly focusing on medicinal plant usage. Vêsku has been traveling and aiding the Madha together with her son Runu for several years, acting as a bridge between the amazonian indigenous cultures and the rest of the world. She is trained in the healing ways especially through her deep love for plants, and has organized several impactful indigenous events gathering pajes from various nations to preserve ancestral plant knowledge.
She is the sister of the spiritual leader Putanny, and has since childhood absorbed the stories and songs of her people from her father, Raimundo Tuin Kuru, becoming a guardian of Yawanawá ancestral knowledge.
Runuiná Yawanawa, the youngest member of the group, is a seed of the union between the Yawanawá and Pupỹkary peoples, dedicated to protecting and preserving his people's ancestry. Runu has been studying the musicality of his people from an early age. Currently, he serves as an apprentice to Pajé Maná Madha. Runu has undergone spiritual studies and initiations at the Aldeia Sagrada Yawanawá, focusing on studying and composing new melodies and arrangements using instruments such as the guitar, expanding upon songs traditionally performed only with the voice, and bringing beautiful new melodies to ceremonies.
Akara Huitzilcuicani (Delfina Mun) is a devoted student of ancestral chants, specifically from the Amazon. Originally from Puelmapu, she brings her unique voice and melodies with guitar and charango, transmitting the profound mysteries of the forest spirit. Mana and Ratsuha have adopted Akarâ as a daughter, guiding her as an apprentice in the Madha tradition.
Akarâ is an international visionary artist, bringing her art through sacred ceremonies and rituals. She travels the world with her partner, Kuauhtli, sharing their love for the earth and it’s plants and elements, as activists in the indigenous movement and guardians of the Teocalli Quetzalcoatl altar. They hold the Condor Eagle Retreat twice a year in Costa Rica, and through their non-profit, Xinachtli.co, they actively support the Madha communities as well as other culture, land and medicine preservation initiatives.
Location
Rayos del Sol is a beautiful eco-lodge in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, 20 mins from Nosara. At walking distance from the beach, with lush gardens, forests, river and a swimming pool, Rayos has the most breathtaking sunsets and ocean views from the terraces. There is a restaurant, a Yoga Shala, and several spaces in nature where activities take place. This area is known by the visits of the sea turtles at Ostional beach, as well as abundant colorful birds, flowers and tropical jungles.
Rayos has different types of accommodations to suit everyone's needs, with healthy delicious meals included and wifi in common areas. You are welcome to come earlier or extend your stay to enjoy your time there at your pace, or we recommend to also visit the town of Nosara to experience the various restaurants, shops and Guiones Beach. For more on Rayos visit their website.
Exchange
We have varied prices and lodging options to accommodate different needs.
Contribution for Yawa Madha Retreat:
Dormitory (4 beds): $3222
Shared double room (2 beds): $3555
Private single room: $4111
Includes:
Meals and activities.
1 healing session with Paje Mana.
Not included:
Transport.
Voice opening initiation $522
Extra healing session $222
To Sign Up: Sakenkate will be managing registrations via Telegram +17869354834
Ticos please get in touch if you need a local discount so we can help with that.
If you have a very serious ailment that requires more than 1 or 2 treatments, it is customary to offer an extra contribution to the Pajé, depending on how many sessions are required.This is why there is an “extra healing session” cost for $222. Extra sessions are only be done if the patient is genuinely in need of them, as determined by the Pajé.
Individual treatments: If you cannot partake in the entire retreat but still wish to receive a healing treatment, it may possible to do so depending on availability of the Pajé, please get in touch to schedule the session and see values.
For voice opening initiations the extra contribution is $522, which includes the treatment on the voice to facilitate the passing of knowledge.