Shamanic Teachings of the Condor: Encounters with the Mystical Traditions of the Andes

by Martha Winona Travers, Julia Plevin Oliansky (Foreword)

Experience the heart-opening wisdom of Andean shamanism

• Presents the teachings of revered Ecuadorian Kichwa elder Taita Alberto Taxo as vivid, experiential journeys

• Details how to return to intimacy with Nature and the natural world through communicating with the elements

• Shares Andean shamanic practices and ceremonies for opening the heart, expanding consciousness, and shamanic journeying

In this deep dive into South American shamanism, Martha Winona Travers shares the teachings and practices she learned during her 22 years as an apprentice to revered Ecuadorian Kichwa elder, Taita Alberto Taxo.

Presenting Taita Alberto’s teachings as vivid, experiential journeys, Travers allows you to immerse yourself in his direct, heart-centered wisdom as if you, too, were one of his shamanic apprentices. You will learn the ancient mystical traditions of the Andes, traditions saved by the elders specifically for these times. These traditions of healing invite human beings to return to intimacy with Nature and the natural world, through initiating conversations with the elements including the fifth, spiritual element, the Ushai. You will learn about the delicate dance of the Eagle (the mind) and the Condor (the heart), including how to reestablish the path of the heart to help bring the overactive mind into balance, the key to embarking on powerful shamanic journeys. You will visit sacred waterfalls, travel high up the active volcano Cotopaxi to a mountain lake for ceremony, experience the sounds carried on the wind in the mountains, see the Condor flying, and sit at night around the fire, listening to stories and laughter.

As you journey together with Taita Alberto, you will begin to sense the fifth element, Ushai , being activated as the potent energy of spiritual transformation awakens within you. By experiencing his profound mystical realizations through shamanic transmission, you will learn to express gratitude with each of the elements, leave behind those burdens you no longer need to carry, and discover how to fly higher in life.

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2024

Reviews

[Caitlin Climes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a student of Martha’s at the University of Michigan from 2015-2017 and did an apprenticeship with her afterwards. Reading this book was a remembering, an invitation, a sprouting of seeds planted long ago. The energy encapsulated in Martha’s writing is an experience similar to the practices offered in this book - an invitation to slow down, tune in, and feel in a modernized world that values speed and efficiency. Thank you Martha for sharing the teachings in many ways through a felt and alive experience :)

[Kaitlyn Wilson]

Read this for a class. I enjoyed the author's personal narratives of her time in the Andes with her teacher. For descriptions of the elemental practices I preferred to engage with Martha in person during our class sessions, than to read it in the book.