What is shamanic initiation? Andres, a teacher of Andean shamanism, describes it as a structured, step-by-step path rather than a one-time retreat, built around three modules that move from taking responsibility, to ancestry, to harmonizing the fields around you. He explains it to Jeremy Van Wert and shares the story of his own initiation in the Andes.
ᛉKey takeaways
- Andres says the word shaman comes from a Siberian word that means "he or she who knows," and that the aim is to know yourself.
- In his teaching, the first module is about awakening and taking responsibility for your own life without suppressing your feelings.
- Andres describes the second module as going deeper into family patterns and ancestry, and the third as learning to harmonize the fields around you with the mesa.
- He says the path is difficult, and that in two groups he mentioned, only 15 of about 65 and 11 of about 38 people finished the first module.
- Andres says the initiation does not have to involve lightning, and that new students can try an intro session and a few classes before they commit.
ᛃ Moments in this one
ᚠWhat is shamanic initiation, and why would someone do it?
Jeremy opens by saying plenty of places offer medicine retreats, but this path makes spiritual principles scholastic and experiential. Andres describes shamanic initiation as a structured path of study with three modules, closer to a long course than a single weekend.
He says any spiritual path begins with beautiful ideas, and that meditation, yoga and sound healing all have their place. In his experience, shamanism is spirituality embodied: you live the principles rather than only think about them.
ᚢWhat the word shaman means and what Andean teachings say about time
Andres explains that the word shaman comes from a Siberian word, which he spells saman, meaning "he or she who knows." The idea, he says, is to know yourself, and that knowing the true self within is how you understand everything around you.
In the Andean cosmology he teaches, a person exists in more than one dimension at once, and time and space together are Pacha. Time can be experienced as linear, circular or spiral, he says, with techniques for working with each.
He also describes the ancestors as a system of filters that shapes how you read a moment, which he links to what science calls junk DNA. These are Andres's beliefs and teachings, not claims the episode tests.
ᚦModule one: awakening and taking responsibility
Andres says the full initiation is five years of study, and that module one covers the first year. It moves from Pacha to Runa, the first step on a nine-step Andean ladder of consciousness. He describes it as an awakening to how politics, religion, science and archetypes like the victim, the savior and the executioner live within us.
A central lesson is taking responsibility. Andres gives an example in which someone took a lot of money and damaged his reputation, and says the victim in him could feel they deserved punishment. In shamanic initiation, he says, you ask what you needed to learn, since pain is a call for growth. He stresses this never means repressing your hurt or letting someone keep abusing you.
Module one also teaches tools such as breathwork, rituals and Andean healing arts, along with a set of Andean codes and a simple compass for the heart. Andres says that if something feels heart-expanding it moves you toward your essence, and if it contracts the heart it deepens old cycles. If that kind of honest self-inquiry appeals to you, Jeremy works one on one with people on therapy, coaching and psychedelic integration.
ᚨWhy many people don't finish the path
Andres is frank that this is not for everyone. He says one group began with about 65 people and 15 finished, and another began with about 38 and 11 finished. In his view, the work asks you to face your shadow, which can show up as despair or the thought that you don't deserve to be healed.
He says the program offers formation, support and assistance. Some people finish module one several times because they feel they need to go deeper, which he notes can become its own loop.
ᚱModule two: ancestry and family patterns
Andres compares module one to paddling on the surface of the water and module two to learning to swim and hold your breath underneath. He says module two goes into family programs and ancestry, the use of voice and song, and what he calls paradigm mastery. He describes it as another nine months.
He says students work with the womb, past lives and ancestors going back several generations. His example is an inexplicable sense of greed that might trace to an ancestor who stole, and he says he treats this work with reverence.
Andres says that after doing this work, his experiences with plant medicines became more harmonious. This is his personal account. Psychedelics and plant medicines aren't right for everyone, and nothing in the episode is a recommendation to use any substance.
ᚲModule three: the mesa and harmonizing the fields
Module three, which Andres says takes three years, moves from Hampiq, a priest or priestess of nature, to Pampamisayoq. He explains that a misa is a bundle of three cloths that represents your personal universe, and that a Pampamisayoq uses it to level the fields between people.
His example is two people with a debt between them: the mesa is used to flatten the difference by physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic means, and compensation may still be needed. He believes unevenness between groups drives much of the chaos in the news.
Students also learn to connect with the apus, which he describes as mountains that act as the intelligence of Mother Earth, and to channel them as an empty vessel. Jeremy later says this kind of discipline is a major commitment. If you are weighing whether a deep path like this fits your life, Jeremy offers a straight read on whether therapy and retreat work suits you.
ᚷAndres's own initiation in the Andes
Andres says Altomisayoq is a further level, and that nature chooses the person, sometimes through lightning, sometimes through a condor or a double rainbow. He recalls that his teacher in the Andes, Nicolas, asked if he wanted to be initiated, and that on a sunny day with two rainbows around the sun he was told to call the weather.
He says he was afraid because his teacher expected the lightning to strike him. Lightning then hit about 15 feet away, again and again, and the fear and energy were so strong he couldn't speak. He took it as a sign that the mountain was listening to both his prayers and his fear, and he stopped there.
A jaguar was seen on the mountain, which the group took as an omen, and he received the jaguar initiation. Soon after, he says, his world turned upside down and he could not see his children for two years. He calls it a restructuring and a lesson to slow down, and says it does not have to happen to everyone.
ᚹSupport, intro sessions and what the commitment looks like
Jeremy, who describes taking the course himself, calls it incremental. There is a syllabus, classmates at the same level, a WhatsApp group and support when you fall behind. It is a long walk, he says, but doable week by week.
Andres says new students can attend an intro session and try two to four classes to see whether the vocabulary and rhythm resonate. He says nobody has to choose lightning. He has studied Hinduism and Buddhism, and says Andean cosmology felt like the one that transformed his subconscious, though he sees it as complementing the others.
If you want a place to talk about your own path with others, the Mindful Mutiny community has live Fireside Chats and a course library. And if you would rather talk privately first, you can book a consultation with Jeremy.
Psychedelics and plant medicines may be illegal where you live and aren't right for everyone. Nothing here is a recommendation to use any substance. The teachings in this episode are Andres's beliefs and personal experience.
ᚨ Questions people ask
What does the word shaman mean?
Andres says it comes from a Siberian word, spelled saman, that means "he or she who knows." In his view, a shaman is someone who knows themselves, and that self-knowledge opens up an understanding of everything around them.
How long does a shamanic initiation take?
Andres describes the path he teaches as five years of study across three modules. He says module one covers the first year, module two takes another nine months and module three takes three years.
Does a shamanic initiation always involve lightning?
No. Andres says lightning is one way nature may choose a person, along with a condor, a double rainbow or a jaguar sighting. He says he did not choose lightning and that the idea should not scare newcomers.