Luisa was born into a family lineage of healers. Her father was a physician and psychiatrist. Her maternal grandmother was Concepción Palacios, the first female physician in Central America; her great-grandmother Báltazara was a curandera in El Sauce, Nicaragua.

In early childhood, Luisa began experiencing inner visions, clairvoyant dreams and auditory guidance. The lack of  spiritual mentors at that that time meant she lived with the emotional pain and confusion that comes from navigating blindly between consensual reality and a vivid non-ordinary inner reality.

At 14, Luisa had a breakdown of her rational and perceptual processes. She was told by an inner voice that she was “shedding a skin” and that the process would last for one year. The experience subsided one year later. This period of isolation and destabilization led to a deeper opening of Luisa’s psychic and intuitive abilities.

This period of inner deconstruction facilitated a disintegration and subsequent reorganization of ego structures, allowing Luisa natural access to non-ordinary states of consciousness. Such a core death-rebirth experience is a common feature of initiation into a shamanic life.

Education & Training

Luisa has a B.A. in humanities from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was an assistant producer for the Source Theater Company and editorial assistant to editor Richard Peabody of Gargoyle Magazine in Washington, DC. Through Peabody, she encountered the writings of Paul Bowles (“The Sheltering Sky”), and felt a kinship with Bowles’ exploration of chaos and magic in the unconscious territories of the psyche.

Feeling alienated from American culture and values, Luisa left the U.S. to find Paul Bowles in Morocco. She met and spent time with him; it was a pivotal experience for her.

From Morocco she went on to Ibiza, Spain where she met master-healer Ioanna Salajan*. Ioanna saw in Luisa the natural qualities of a healer and mystic. She recognized her as the student for whom she had been waiting to transmit the teachings of her lineage. She invited Luisa to engage in a one-on-one apprenticeship over the course of the next four-and-a-half years.

After her apprenticeship with Ioanna, Luisa returned to the United States in the early 1990s.

Her healing practice began to blossom by word-of-mouth and Luisa specialized in working shamanically with terminally ill clients. She learned to midwife the death & dying journey for clients and their families. Her work in this area was influenced by the conscious dying teachings of Ram Dass and Stephen Levine.

Luisa studied the trance posture work of Felicitas Goodman with psychologist Johanna Maybury (Cuyamungue Institute). With author and medical astrologer Marcia Starck she learned the foundations of earth-based spiritual ceremony. Her association with Joan Halifax Roshi (Upaya Foundation) deepened Luisa’s understanding of Zazen sitting meditation and Buddhism. She also became an apprentice in the Sweet Medicine Sundance lineage and was initiated in the teachings of meditation master and mystic Osho.

Luisa has a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a licensed psychotherapist in the state of New Mexico.

Luisa is a referring therapist for The Meadows treatment center in Wickenburg, AZ. She has been trained by (and participates in ongoing case-consultation) with Pia Mellody (author of “Facing Codependence” and “Facing Love Addiction”) in family-of-origin emotional trauma resolution therapy.

Luisa’s mission is to assist others in transforming their self-defeating patterns into joyful, passionate authenticity. The ultimate aim is to live a life of integrity, passion, spontaneity and joy. Luisa says: “My relationship with my inner world and the wilderness inside my own being generates an empathic and  respectful relationship with the natural world outside of me. My responsibility as a human being is to be a vessel for beauty and balance and to give that back to the world and to this planet, which give me so much.”

For Luisa, the shamanic path is one that she lives and breathes. It is her life’s work.

Luisa provides shamanic and psychotherapeutic consultation for individuals of all ages, facilitates dynamic workshops, seasonal ceremonies, and ongoing shamanic journey circles. She works in person, by Skype and over the phone with clients in New Mexico, across the U.S. and all over the world. She currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Denean, winner of the 2000 New Mexico "MIC" Award's "Producer of the Year", began playing piano when she was three.  "...my background ranges from classical and gospel to my Nashville years as a country/pop singer, songwriter and recording artist.  In 1990 my creative focus turned to music for healing and nurturing the soul, thus my true path began." says Denean.

Denean spent over a decade on the Nashville scene.  She has worked with Barbara Mandrell, Leon Russell, Ricky Skaggs, Gene Hughes (The Casinos), Connie Francis...to name a few.  In 1991 Denean left a recording deal with a country label to join Etherean Music of Colorado where she released "Fire Prayer" (1991), "The Weaving" (1993), and "Thunder" (1994) for which she has received international acclaim.  While recording "The Weaving" Denean was also working with Disney's Alan Menken and  Stephen Schwartz as the voice of Pocahontas in the developmental stages of the animated feature film.

In 1998 Denean formed her own company.   Woo Way Intuitive Healing Arts is a music recording and production company centered around the spiritual teachings and healing music of Denean.  Music releases are "The Farmers Daughter" (1999), "Breath of Angels" (2005), "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, An Instrumental Christmas Album" (2005), Ave Maria, a CD Single (2007), Reikidama™ (2008), Calling The Sacred (2009) and Threads of a Greater Tapestry (2009).

At a very early age, I felt a strong connection to “Mother Earth” and Native American memorabilia. I was a warrioress from the beginning (Moon in Aries-Red Hawk) and moved into the city, on the streets at 13. I grew away from the sacred and moved into the survival mode, however, this heightened my “connection” to my feelings and ability to hear. At the same time I  also had been fascinated with the stars and my relation to them, giving me an advantage when I could “read” people when I knew their Sun sign, (or so I believed) which was so important to my survival. Life is my teacher and I am so grateful for the protection of Great Spirit and my Guides, walking on a path that could have had a completely different outcome!

During the course of my lifetime, I have studied many of the world’s major religions and continue to study, learn and teach about my findings. Especially of note here, I later found out about my own Cherokee heritage and when I started reading and researching the Native American ways I woke up. Lynn V. Andrews was my first, later it would be the works of Sun Bear and Wabun Wind, Brooke Medicine Eagle and her music, Mary Summer Rain, and the quest continues with great awe! I am humbled and honored to share this information. Also reading all of Sun Bear’s & Wabun’s books helps to embrace nature in such a beautiful way. It certainly feels like the time is NOW … Mother Earth needs us to LOVE her back. So Be It!

Thank you for visiting our website and we hope you return often, we are posting new information all the time! In gratitude for all the love and support … AHO Mitakuye’ Oyasin (To All our Relations), Star Savoy from the Heart Tribe

P.S. In 1986 I married my Beloved Twin Flame in a sacred ceremony “where the two shall be as ONE” … We are Star and continue shining our Light wherever we are!

Research paleoanthropologist Hank Wesselman is one of those rare cutting edge scientists who truly walks between the worlds. He did his undergraduate work, as well as his Masters Degree, in Zoology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, then went on to receive his doctoral degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.

A native New Yorker, he has spent much of his life living and working among traditional tribal peoples, primarily in Africa and Polynesia. He served in the US Peace Corps in the 1960's, living among people of the Yoruba Tribe in Western Nigeria for two years. It was there that he first became interested in indigenous spiritual wisdom.

Since 1971, he has conducted research with an international group of scientists, exploring eastern Africa's Great Rift Valley in search of answers to the mystery of human origins. During this time, he has worked alongside such worthies as Dr. Don Johanson, Lucy's discoverer; Professor Tim White, whose expeditions have been featured in several TIME magazine cover stories, as well as members of the famous Leakey family. He is one of the primary investigators involved in the discovery of the "Ardi" sites (Ardiptithecus ramidus) in Ethiopia--recently revealed to be the famous missing link between humans and apes that Charles Darwin predicted would be found in Africa. Hank's research is involved with the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the sites (4-6 million years old) at the time they were laid down.

Hank is also a shamanic student, practitioner and teacher, now in the 28th year of his apprenticeship.

In addition to his scientific papers and monographs, his books include his autobiographical trilogy: SPIRITWALKER: MESSAGES FROM THE FUTURE (Bantam, 1995), MEDICINEMAKER: MYSTIC ENCOUNTERS ON THE SHAMAN'S PATH (Bantam, 1998), and VISIONSEEKER: SHARED WISDOM FROM THE PLACE OF REFUGE (Hay House, 2001). These unusual books are focused upon a series of altered state experiences that began spontaneously out in the bush of Africa and document his investigations into a hidden reality that most of us have heard about, but few have experienced directly. In his explorations of these inner worlds, Hank may have also provided us with a glimpse into the possible evolutionary future of humanity. Combining the sober objectivity of a trained scientist with a mystic's passionate search for deeper understanding, his books also contain revelations of the generally secret teachings of the Hawaiian kahunas.

His smaller teaching books include THE JOURNEY TO THE SACRED GARDEN: A GUIDE TO TRAVELING IN THE SPIRITUAL REALMS (Hay House 2003) and SPIRIT MEDICINE: HEALING IN THE SACRED REALMS (Hay House, 2004) co-authored with his wife Jill Kuykendall.

His newest book (co-authored with Sandra Ingerman) is AWAKENING TO THE SPIRIT WORLDS: THE SHAMANIC PATH OF DIRECT REVELATION (Sounds True, 2010.)

Larry Dossey MD has described Hank Wesselman as an expert guide who fully realizes that he is playing with scientific and spiritual dynamite.

Hank currently lives on the Kona coast of Hawai'i island with his family, where they are involved in sustainable food production on their farm in Honaunau. He continues to write and to teach workshops across the country and abroad.

Lorraine Simone, Rev., M.S. Ed., C.Ht.

Lorraine Simone, M.S. Ed. in Environmental Science, is a well known speaker, inspired visionary and beloved teacher who effectively bridges the gap between the mystery in living a spiritual life and its quantum perspective and the nitty-gritty of Western thinking and its pragmatic perception.

In 1990 Ms. Simone founded Moonfire Meeting House on Eastern Long Island and dedicated it to creating community and living in harmony with the Earth. She is also the editor of its newsletter called Ways of the Talking Stick. Ms. Simone started The School of Women's Ways in 1995 to empower women and girls, to heal their lives and change the world. With humor and devotion, she designs and offers programs such as Compassionate Communication, A Goddess for All Seasons, and Vibrational Medicine Ways, and teaches workshops that bring to life her expertise in Deep Ecology, Healing Arts, Women's Mysteries, Creation Spirituality, and Shamanic Practices.

Ms. Simone's search for personal and planetary balance through communion with the Earth and the ways of the sacred feminine has led her to Native elders and teachers from many traditions. When she opened her retail store, Planet Earth, in Manhattan in 1985, she met Oh Shinnáh Fast Wolf, a renowned Apache-Mohawk teacher, with whom she has maintained an apprenticeship for eighteen years. Oh Shinnáh dreamed the Spirit name Deep Arrow Woman for Ms. Simone, as is the tradition of her people, and performed a naming ceremony for her. Today Deep Arrow Woman initiates her own apprentices who form the back bone of Moonfire Meeting House as the Deep Arrow Lodge.

Deep Arrow is committed to keeping alive and making available to her community the sacred ways and ceremonies that Native and other earth-honoring teachers have given to her. Together with Oh Shinnáh, she leads groups of non-native participants on an annual quest for transformation called The Journey of the Waters, an ancient cellular healing and initiation ceremony of the people called Apache.

Ms. Simone's inspirational CDs and forthcoming, "Spiritual Quest - Tools and Practices for the Everyday Shaman", are based on her Compassionate Communication Series. Her tireless pursuit to bring the vision and compassion of the Sacred Feminine to the people of the Earth forms the basis of Deep Arrow's forthcoming book.

Ms. Simone has been featured on numerous TV and radio shows, and in magazines and newspapers, including Newsweek, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. (See below for links to articles and audio interviews.)

Deep Arrow maintains a spiritual counseling practice in Southampton and Manhattan and facilitates "A Circle of Women" from Montauk to Manhattan. Locally and nationally her work includes: facilitating workshops, circles and retreats; creating personal rituals for clients; and conducting ceremonies for individuals and communities. Deep Arrow's ministerial work encompasses wedding ceremonies and other life observances.