Please consider donating to Saq’ Be’ this giving Tuesday!

We appreciate each one of you for the way you continue to send us encouragement, to engage with and keep the essence of the lineages we work with alive and vital, both through your recognition and valuing of the teachings in your life and in the support that nourishes the very roots of these traditions.  Saq’ Be’ has been very busy behind the scenes this year, from launching our apprenticeship program, thanks in part to the generous support of the Center for Shamanic Education and Exchange and our supporters, to work with supporting the healing traditions in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and emergency funding to aid elders facing health struggles and those that wish to gather with the next generations of lineage keepers. Additionally we continue to publish the Daily Ch’umil, thanks to the efforts of Denise Barrios, collect articles and videos for presentation, and support Denise’s Journeys to the Homelands.  Be on the lookout, as we will even be providing an update to our website soon! While Saq’ Be’ has always operated on a volunteer basis, the expansion of our programmatic offerings does incur additional operating expenses. It is your support and generosity that makes this possible.  We know many organizations are worthy of your support on this Giving Tuesday, but we ask that you please consider Saq’ Be’ amongst them, that your financial gift may be transformed into the food that nourishes the work of Saq’ Be’ and the flourishing of these living lineages in the ways we are called to serve.  You can donate online, or contact us for other ways.  For the past 23 years, Saq’ Be’ has been a tax-exempt organization.

With deep gratitude!

In this webinar Denise Barrios, daughter of renowned Maya Elder Carlos Barrios will share the teachings she obtained from her father and the different Wisdom Keepers. Denise accompanied Tata Carlos for over 30 years throughout all of Guatemala in ceremonies and to different powerful energetic places, where they worked together with many Elders who entrusted them with the task of sharing the wisdom that was protected by them until humanity was ready to receive it. She is now continuing the legacy of her father by sharing this ancestral knowledge with others.

Visit the link in bio to join the webinar.

August 1st, 2023
7 p.m. CDT / 5 p.m. PDT
Via Zoom

How can we support living lineages to remain vital in this modern era?

On November 29th, 2022, we had a live online presentation, hosted by Chris Casillas of the Center for Shamanic Education and Exchange (CSEE).  Denise Barrios and Adam Rubel of Saq’ Be’ were be present to share some background on the Maya cosmogony, understanding of the Maya calendars including the sacred Cholq’ij, and the journey that has enabled these lineages to remain vital up to this current day.  We will also learned about an exciting new partnership with CSEE, where Saq’ Be’ is preparing to launch an apprenticeship program to nourish the lineages within communities, including developing the next generation of wisdom keepers while honoring and bringing alive the wisdom of elders. We heard about an opportunity to join with one of the few remaining openings for an upcoming journey to Guatemala in January. Finally, Denise and Adam answered questions related to the topics presented. You can view the event recording below.

Saq’ Be’ is pleased to announce that we are launching an apprenticeship program, to nourish the roots of the Maya lineage by connecting local youth with elders, and providing tools and training for documentation.  Thanks to the generosity of the Center for Shamanic Education and Exchange, we are approaching our financial goals to be able to implement this program.  Saq’ Be’ has long worked, at the request of communities, to utilize technology in a way that supports the vitality of living lineages. This represents a tremendous opportunity to bring that work to a next level.  You can read more about the program below.

In order to realize the full potential of this program, we require additional support from our friends.  Please consider donating to Saq’ Be’ to support the organization and this program.  Thank you!

The road we have been transiting in our seek for spirituality has led us to meet many amazing wise men and women. We recognize the blessing it has been for us to hold the opportunity of connecting to these grandmothers and grandfathers and of the importance there is in acknowledging it by doing something through it, as my father used to say “spirituality of these days has a word and that word is action.” 

With this aim in our hearts, we created a program that had the purpose of documenting to preserve and share the wisdom of the elders we were meeting on the path. This project began some years ago. Eager as we were, we started filming with our phones and what we had at home, but it wasn’t long before we got the support of the beautiful people of the Saq’ Be’ community to get the funds to acquire better filming equipment. Throughout these years we have filmed and shared with great elders who were all very open and willing to pass on their spiritual wisdom. Our Saq’ Be’ team, however, is not a very large one and those of us who are volunteers in Saq’ Be’ have been doing the filming, editing, translating, sharing, and communicating. Although we’ve been more than joyful and felt blessed to be presented with the gift of being able to have and share this experience, we knew that now was the time to grow and evolve, to make our impact more profound (we do have big wishes and goals in our hearts for this and other Saq’ Be’ projects that we are walking one step at a time towards materializing) and we have been dreaming and brainstorming about ways to do this. It was in this way that the Mayan Lineage Apprenticeship and Documentation Program was born. The idea of the project is very similar to what we have been doing all these years, to share time with elders and to film and document their wisdom. What is different is that we will now work with the young people of the community who will be paired with the elders to do the filming and documentation. We are very much in love with this project, as now we will not only be documenting the knowledge of the wise Grandmothers and Grandfathers, but also having an impact in the young heirs of this wisdom, providing them with resources that will allow them to have the time to listen to and absorb the stories and oral wisdom of their ancestors, creating through a paid job for the young, bonds between this two generations and empowering the new future leaders of the Maya spirituality. 

We do hope that this project resounds with your heart and that you will be able to donate to support us. For your help and for walking this journey with us, sib’laj maltyox, infinite gratitude.

Denise Barrios will be leading a spiritual retreat in Guatemala from January 27 to February 5th.  This will be an incredible adventure and immersion in Maya spirituality in the homeland of the tradition, experienced with incredible guides and with many sacred teachings, ceremonies and places. As always, these programs continue to provide direct support to the lineages and communities that we are able to experience. Please see the attached document for more details. Please contact us to ask questions, learn more, and book your space: +502 30975131 – IG: @maya.ukux | @andyrocca

MAYAN SPIRITUAL RETREAT IN GUATEMALA

Following the footsteps of the ancestral elders, we will immerse in a ten-day transformational journey during which we will focus on ourselves, being beautifully led by wise and healing spiritual guides who will support us in our process of transformation and development.

This journey through the Heart of the Mayan world will be traveled in synchrony with the energies of the Sacred Calendar, as our intention is to share with you from a place of authenticity the profound wisdom of our ancestors so that it may lead you to enter into deep contact with your being and to harmonize yourself in an integral way —physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual,— using the energies that are available as the tool that helps you find your healing, transformation, connection, and the awakening of your power.

This retreat will begin on the day of Jun (1) Toj in the Sacred Mayan Calendar. The energy of Toj will open a 13-day cycle of healing and transformation that, together with the other energies that influence each day, will guide and help us during the days that we will be traversing through its energy our processes of healing and transformation. With this purpose in our hearts, we will walk together with different Mayan spiritual guides, Tatas and Nanas, who will accompany our journey with their ancestral medicine of the temazcal (Mayan sweat lodge), tobacco, massages, meditations, ceremonies, cacao, and other different practices. Andy Rocca and Denise Barrios, who will be your guides throughout the trip, have been walking the Maya and ancestral paths for many years and through their own personal healing and transformation processes, they have outlined a journey that will also bring you to powerful energetic places, sacred altars, and to meet great wise men and women, heirs to the ancestral wisdom of the Mayas.

Our invitation is for you to embark on this ancestral life-changing experience charged with lots of medicine, gifting yourself a time of connection with your soul while being guided and accompanied in your process by the wise Mayan people of Guatemala, the Heart of the Mayan World.

Please contact us to ask questions, learn more, and book your space: +502 30975131 – IG: @maya.ukux | @andyroccas

Journey to the transformation of the self 2022

This is a tremendous opportunity to spend time in person with the wonderful Denise Barrios for a pair of weekend workshops in the US.  Denise will be sharing profound teachings from the Maya lineages she has been immersed in all her life.  Set in a beautiful location, these workshops are an opportunity to deepen your connection to the tradition and to experience the healing energies and power of ceremonies and practices.  As always, these programs continue to provide direct support to the lineages and communities that we are able to experience.

Please contact us to ask questions, learn more, and make your reservation: blakesherlock@yahoo.com | +1 203 524 8556

TWO WEEKENDS OF WORKSHOPS IN MCCALL, IDAHO

September 9-11: Igniting your Inner Fire

In this three-day workshop, we will dive into an exploration of the twenty Sacred Energies of the Mayan Calendar, called Ch’umil. We will work with our personal energy and will interact with the other energies through meditation, the Sacred Fire, our creativity, and through our interaction with Mother Earth and each other.  We’ll also introduce you to the Mayan worldview and deities, sharing their stories. We will speak about the power of the fire ceremony, the history behind the materials used, and how to collect them. We will incorporate the natural world around us as our classroom, and provide opportunities for you to use your artistic creativity.

September 16-18: Opening the Portals of Energy

In this three-day workshop, we will explore the way in which the twenty energies of the Mayan Sacred Calendar, Cholq’ij, manifest and affect the twenty portals of energy in our body. We will learn techniques for unblocking our energy to facilitate health and wellbeing. We’ll learn about the use of crystals (if you have some of your own, please feel free to bring them with you!) We will also explore the unique map of energies in our body so that they help our processes of healing. At the end of the workshop, we will make an offering of gratefulness through a Sacred Fire Ceremony in which we will ask for the sacred, ancient energies of the Cholq’ij to open up our paths in life, to bring healing, balance, and harmony to our lives.

Denise is an Ajq’ij, timekeeper and Mayan Spiritual Guide, and the author of  “The Mayan Count of the Days”, a Journal of the Energies of the Sacred Cholq’ij Calendar. Denise is the daughter of Carlos Barrios and was his translator for many years when he visited the US to share the Mayan worldview and the wisdom of the sacred calendar. Through her father, Denise met Blake Sherlock, an amazing human being and artist. The three of them became great friends. Denise and Blake have traversed together not only the death of her father, but the rebirth of their spirituality, they have been fortunate to be able to accompany each other on their individual spiritual paths and for the last two years they have been able to travel in Guatemala together to meet with elders, to gather more learnings, and share around the offering of Sacred Fire.

Workshop and Activity schedule each weekend:

Friday 5-9 pm

Saturday 9 am–4 pm

Sunday 9 am–1 pm

All activities take place at Blake’s family home on Lake Payette in McCall. Blake’s home is nestled amongst giant Ponderosas, Douglas Fir, and Tamarack trees. There’s lots of nice walking and hiking, and you can swim in the lake. There are some hot springs nearby and plenty of outdoor activities nearby should you decide to make a longer trip out of it. There will be time for exploring on your own and eating out in McCall as well. We will also be available for private sessions on Maya Chart Readings and Energy Unblocking.

Please contact us to ask questions, learn more, and make your reservation: blakesherlock@yahoo.com | +1 203 524 8556

Last year came with a lot of challenges and much of the work we were doing as Saq’ Be’ had to be put on pause. About a month ago, however, we received an invitation to film Tata Po’x, an elder from the Quiché area who wanted both to record his knowledge and share a message with us, we will soon be posting his video. The invitation brought much excitement, not only for having the opportunity of filming this wise elder, but because it meant we would again begin our work of supporting and nurturing the wisdom of the communities and elders. With much enthusiasm our small film crew of two hit the road towards Chichicastenango to meet Tata Po’x. Being in Chichi also gave us the opportunity to visit Miguel and Juan León at Casa de los Nawales, a space built three years ago with the support of Saq’ Be’, where the cultural and spiritual teachings of the Maya could be shared, where people who need spiritual healing could be treated and which created the opportunity for the younger generations to interact with Mayan art and spirituality.

Speaking to Juan and Miguel we learned that this space has been of much help to the Chichicastenango community, especially last year when many people needed spiritual support, as well as guidance into Maya natural medicine, to be able to overcome the emotional effects caused by the pandemic. Even people who had become distant from their Maya spiritual heritage have approached Casa de los Nawales and became more open to learning about and experiencing their ancient knowledge and tradition. We are very happy that we had the opportunity to help create a place where those who wish to, are able to connect or reconnect with their spirituality, where they can find wellbeing and medicine, and where the Sacred Fire is kept burning and alive. Three times thank you to all who contributed to bring this project to life. We are very grateful for each one of you who through your donations and support make it possible for us to help the communities in their work of safeguarding the knowledge and practices of their geo-cosmovision.

– Saq’ Be’ Team

—-

El año pasado vino lleno de desafíos y mucho del trabajo que estábamos realizando en Saq’ Be’ se tuvo que poner en pausa. Pero hace aproximadamente un mes recibimos una invitación para filmar a Tata Po’x, un abuelo del área Quiché que tenía el deseo de guardar sus conocimientos en una filmación y compartir un mensaje con nosotros —pronto publicaremos su video—. Esta invitación nos llenó de entusiasmo, pues no solo tendríamos la oportunidad de documentar la sabiduría de este gran abuelo, sino que empezábamos de nuevo nuestro trabajo de apoyar a conservar la sabiduría de las comunidades y de los abuelos y abuelas. Con mucha emoción nuestro pequeño equipo de dos personas salió rumbo a Chichicastenango para conocer a Tata Po’x. Estar en Chichi también nos dio la oportunidad de visitar a Juan y Miguel León en la Casa de los Nahuales, un espacio que se construyó hace tres años con el apoyo de Saq’ Be’ con el propósito de que se pudieran compartir las enseñanzas tradicionales y espirituales, donde las personas que necesitaran sanación espiritual pudieran ser tratadas y en el que se creara la oportunidad para que las nuevas generaciones pudieran interactuar con la espiritualidad y el arte Maya.

Conversando con Juan y Miguel supimos que este espacio ha sido de gran ayuda para la comunidad de Chichicastenango, especialmente el año pasado cuando muchas personas necesitaron apoyo espiritual, y hasta guía acerca de medicina natural, para poder superar los efectos emocionales de la pandemia. Incluso personas que se habían distanciado de su herencia espiritual Maya se acercaron a la Casa de los Nahuales y se volvieron más abiertos a aprender de y experimentar su sabiduría y tradiciones. Estamos muy felices de haber podido ayudar a crear este lugar en el que aquellos que lo desean pueden conectar o reconectar con su espiritualidad, donde encuentran bienestar y medicina, y donde el Fuego Sagrado se mantiene encendido y vivo. Tres veces gracias a quienes contribuyeron para dar vida a este proyecto. Estamos muy agradecidos con cada uno de ustedes que a través de sus donaciones y apoyo hacen que nos sea posible ayudar a las comunidades en su trabajo de preservar el conocimiento y prácticas de su geo-cosmovisión.

– El equipo de Saq’ Be’

“The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.”

― David Bohm

Dear friends and family, we are writing to you today to ask if you may be able to help our effort to grow support for Saq’ Be’ as we expand our programming in this, our twentieth year as an organization.

The above quote from a theoretical physicist speaks to the way that work with traditions helps us to change the eyes with which we see the world, to reawaken what is innate and to develop it so that we may grow to become different than who have been.  We are all unwitting participants in a world of human design that extracts, degrades, and deviates from our deeper purpose.  Many of us recognize the time has arrived for our individual and collective healing, a time to restore balance and wholeness.

Bohm brought to light an understanding of implicate order to quantum physics, the organization of potential before being made manifest into existence. As an example of how this is relevant to the work of Saq’ Be’, we become capable of understanding potential and alignment with natural patterns through ancient wisdom, looking to coherent knowledge systems, such as those reflected in the Cholq’ij calendar of the Maya.  It is not enough to simply understand that potential, but we must work to bring it into being.  We only understand and realize our own potential by aligning into deep harmony with the natural movement of creation and manifesting that alignment through our interaction and work with others in life.  The Cholq’ij, other calendars, knowledge and wisdom that survives from those cultures that have co-evolved in this way offer an opportunity to return to our role of right relationship as humans on this planet, not only to restore a balanced state but to manifest endlessly more potential. Yet, if we fail to nourish and support the roots of living lineages and the keepers of these traditions, we unintentionally embody the extractive and degenerative patterns that have divorced us from our right relationship with a natural and universal order, and limit our evolutionary potential, individually and collectively.

As Saq’ Be’ enters our 20th year, we are reminded of the significance of the number 20 in the Maya tradition.  This represents the balance and realization for humans, between the 10 cosmic and 10 telluric energies.  It is manifested in our species as 10 fingers and 10 toes and is reflected in the 20 Ch’umil (day signs) that cycle through 13 times (correlating with our 13 major articulations) to form the Cholq’ij, known as the calendar of life.  Elder Mariano Xutumil has spoken about our civilization falling into a rhythm of a different calendar, the calendar of death, which can be seen in the way that our societies degrade life in all its forms in an attempt to grasp an illusion of wealth, when true wealth lies before us all.  By aligning with the rhythms of life, and working to enhance life, we experience the richness of fulfillment of purpose, of connection, and find comfort in knowing that we are firmly on the path of recognizing and realizing the endless potential of creation.

In 2020, we lost one of our key founding elders, Carlos Barrios.  With heavy hearts, Saq’ Be’ committed to continue to move forward with our work of bringing forward the teachings of living lineages so that we may be a part of contributing to humanity, once again, coming into alignment and realizing our deeper purpose.  We will continue to nourish the roots of these traditions, with new and ongoing programs that support the communities and keepers of traditions critical to maintaining the threads of connection, knowledge and wisdom in their homelands.  While we continue to build out our programming, some of the current and upcoming highlights include:

Supporting Traditions

• Saq’ Be’ will work with our colleagues in Chichicastenango, Guatemala to establish a medicinal teaching garden.  We previously worked with this community to construct a building, Casa de los Nawales, which serves as an art and teaching space.  The community medicine garden will work with local, traditional herbalists to share and reawaken ancestral knowledge within the local K’iche’ community.
• We will be working with the Amazonian community in Sarayaku, Ecuador to support identified needs and to promote the use of local medicine as a means of health empowerment. This project is about providing support for the Sarayaku community’s capacity to maintain agency over providing for its own healing and medicine, largely from within, utilizing traditional and other natural healing practices. The strategy includes expanding the presence of Chinese medicine, which holds respect in the community, as a way to link to a renewed valuing of local medicine and healing knowledge. As the community increasingly values and depends upon (poorly offered) western medicine, this project is about strengthening pathways towards decolonizing medicine and uplifting innate medicines, traditions and practices.  The program could work towards expanding the exchange with Chinese medicine, increasing the capacity to locally produce medicine supplies, the creation of healing space(s) and more.
• Continuing the work of filming elders, documenting the traditions, and conducting research on important knowledge so that it may remain accessible for communities into the future.

Sharing Traditions

• We will continue to publish the Daily Ch’umil on our website, which provides a consistent way for participants to connect with Maya wisdom.
  We will continue to publish new articles/ videos that share traditional teachings with the world.
• We are currently posting a series of online publications on raising energy in turbulent times, created and shared Maya wisdom keeper from Guatemala, Red Armadillo.
• Saq’ Be’ is supporting the printing of a day planner that integrates traditional Maya wisdom. This year’s version will be in honor of one of our founding members, Carlos Barrios, and next year we plan to focus on a collaboration with the medicinal garden projects.
• We will be developing a series of webinars, one offered by a board member on natural healing methods, a series introducing foundations in Maya knowledge/ cosmology, and another led by our colleagues in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. These will be offered by suggested donation.

Operating Infrastructure

• We will be working to upgrade our website and social media presence, as needed, to serve as a backbone for the programs mentioned above as well as future programming.

For 20 years, Saq’ Be’ has been, and will continue to be, a volunteer led organization.  In order to expand and advance this work, however, we are asking for our friends and supporters to please consider providing financial resources to the organization so that we may effectively operationalize and implement the programs identified above.  The support and generosity of our community has carried us for two decades, and we believe we are now at a juncture of critical opportunity to support the roots of living lineages and the flow of knowledge and wisdom that can reorient humanity towards enhancing life on our planet.

Donations can be made online, or if you would like to explore other arrangements, you may email us: saqbe1@gmail.com.

Thank you!