The Sanctuary Project was established in 2002 by Dr. Alberto Villoldo and the Four Winds Society to help document the wisdom teachings of the last Inka Shamans, and create a vibrant and sustainable future that preserves the wisdom teachings of the Americas.

Our mission is to preserve the ancient stories and ceremonies before the path vanishes... and to insure the opportunity for us and those who come after us to share in the work of these extraordinary teachers.

Today, the Sanctuary Project is part of the Institute For Energy Medicine, a
501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that preserves, researches and disseminates wisdom and healing techniques of the Americas. Our projects reach people of all walks of life and income groups through online offerings, free resources, and low-cost trainings. The Sanctuary Project completes the cycle by sponsoring projects that give back to the communities from which these teachings originated.

Film   Archives

During 2008 and 2009, we have documented hundreds of hours of traditional rites and ceremonies of the Q'ero in their native context in Peru. As modern life continues to encroach on the Q'ero traditional lifestyle, fewer and fewer new shamans are being trained. Our hope is to preserve these ceremonies in their traditional form for future generations. This material is being cataloged and edited to create an online archive for students, teachers, researchers, and the Qero themselves to teach and inform future generations.

The Q'ero Rites and Rituals In the summer of 2004, Carl Greer, a teacher and graduate of the Healing The Light Body School, received karpays (shamanic initiatory rites of passage) from the Q'ero, direct descendants of the Inka and master shamans of the high Andes.

To help further the goal of preserving and sharing the medicine teachings of the Inka, Carl and the Q'ero shamans consented to have their work together, which is traditionally done in private, documented by photographer and Healing The Light Body School graduate Christine Paul.

Don Manuel was the last of the living masters… at the age of 90 his children left his village and he was no longer able to care for himself. Thanks to the generous contributions of friends of The Four Winds, he had a home where he was able to continue teaching and healing until his death in 2004.

Only two Q'ero villages were left intact and their days were numbered. There were few prospects for those who left the villages, other than moving to the cities where a hard life of menial labor awaited them.

The next ten years were critical. There was an urgent need to provide a temporary home for those descending from the mountains as they entered into the 21st century—a sanctuary.

The Sanctuary Project provided such a refuge located in Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley of Peru.

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