A Sacred Journey to Chaco Canyon and Beyond
Seeking Indigenous and Feminine Wisdom Left on the Side of the Trail
SEPTEMBER 22 – SEPTEMBER 29, 2024
Join us as we embark upon this sacred journey together, an inner journey within our hearts and minds, and an outer adventure through the timeless landscapes of Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelley and beyond. Explore the sacred lands of our ancestors and discover the deep parallels of indigenous and feminine wisdom. Learn the connection between love and oneness, place and origin, time and wisdom, earth and sky.
Chaco Canyon is one of the ancestral wonders of the world, on a par with the Egyptian pyramids in Giza, precisely aligned with astronomical phenomena that mark the equinoxes, solstices and more. Of mysterious origins, Chaco was once the hub of an ancient Puebloan culture and/or a sacred site for important ceremonial gatherings. Our Chaco guides, Cherilynn Morrow and Ranger GB Cornucopia (aka Mr Chaco) have advanced training in astrophysics, astronomy, and cultural anthropology.
Canyon de Chelley is a unique partnership between the Navajo Nation and the US Park Service. The ancestors lived inside this canyon for millennia in cave dwellings and pit houses. Before the Navajo, these were the ancient lands of the Hopi, who have since moved atop mesas to the west. During the Civil War era, the Navajo were rounded up and taken 350 miles east to Fort Sumner, on what is known as The Long Walk. Miraculously, they were later permitted to return. Our Native guides will take us into the canyon where we will do our own sacred water ceremony with vials of water brought from each of your homelands.
Indigenous and feminine wisdom are reemerging today, and together they will bring us closer to a more loving world of blessing and wholeness. Anishinaabe elder William Commanda spoke of this process in the Seventh Fire prophecy: a time is coming in which a new people will emerge and retrace their steps through the ages to find the wisdom left on the side of the trail. This is the task of our times—to recover the wisdom of the ages and repurpose it for tomorrow. Everything we have ever learned about love, place, time, and ancestral knowledge needs to be remembered and revitalized. Come join us. The journey begins now.
Itinerary
1st Day: Sunday, Sept 22nd
At Placitas, NM home of Glenn Aparicio Parry and Tomoko Parry
(just over one half hour from Albuquerque NM airport).
Exact location and directions provided at sign up.
Starting Time: 3pm Opening ceremony (Susan Stanton)
Followed by Introductions and Talk/discussion from Glenn
6pm: Optional Light Dinner at Glenn and Tomoko’s (included)
8pm: Grandmother’s Sweat lodge (not too hot) led by Susan Stanton
2nd Day: Mon, Sept 23rd
At Placitas, NM home of Glenn Aparicio Parry and Tomoko Parry
Breakfast on own (Continental refreshments will be available at Glenn and Tomoko’s)
Pick up at 8:45am
9am Morning walk up horse path to sacred site for morning ceremony (Susan Stanton)
10:30am-12noon Dialogue Circle (moderator Glenn Aparicio Parry)
12noon-1:30pm Lunch at Glenn and Tomoko’s (included)
1:30-4pm Dialogue Circle
4pm-6pm Free time/siesta in Placitas home
6pm-7:30 Dinner at Glenn and Tomoko’s (included)
7:30-9:30pm Dream Group
3rd Day: Tuesday, Sept 24th
Departure: 7:45am departure for Santa Fe for breakfast at Café Pasqual’s (121 Don Gaspar).
Bring trail mix or sandwich for lunch.
Shopping on Santa Fe plaza from 10am-11:15am.
Departure for Mesa Prieta petroglyphs for 12noon-2pm appointment.
Return through Santa Clara Pueblo Black Mesa and Los Alamos, then on Rt 4 through the Jemez Mountains to Valles Caldera National Preserve from approximately 4 – 5pm.
Brief stop at Soda Dam and dinner at Los Ojos in Jemez Springs at 6pm.
Return to Placitas. Evening off.
4th Day: Wednesday, September 25th
Departure 7am for 9am arrival at Abiquiu Inn.
Breakfast at Abiquiu Inn 9am-10am.
Tour Georgia O’Keeffe museum and gift shop 10am-11am.
Leave at 11am for Ghost Ranch arrival at 11:30am for brief visit.
Depart at noon for Monastery of Christ in the Desert, arrival at 1pm.
Depart Monastery of Christ no later than 2:30pm for arrival at Chaco Canyon between 5-6pm.
Dinner: 7pm at Group Campsite #1 (included)
Tents, sleeping bag (if you need one) and all meals provided at Chaco Canyon
8pm: Visit to Pueblo Bonito pipe ceremony and astrophysicist Cherilynn Morrow and Ranger GB Cornucopia (aka Mr Chaco) for orientation talk, star watching on own
5th Day: Thursday, Sept 26th
7-8am: Breakfast (included)
9am: Daytime Visit to Pueblo Bonito with guides
10:30am: Visit to Casa Rinconada
12noon: Lunch at campsite (included)
Afternoon: Free Time to explore Chaco Canyon
6pm: Dinner at Campsite (included)
8pm: After dark astronomical observation and storytelling (overnight camping at Chaco Canyon) With Cherilynn Morrow and GB.
6th Day: Friday, Sept 27th
7:30am Breakfast (included)
9:30am Departure out of south entrance of Chaco
Travel to Canyon de Chelley (approximately 4.5 hour trip including lunch)
Lunch in El Rancho Gallup around noon
Arrival at Thunderbird Lodge around 3-4pm
6pm Dinner included with meal coupon, After-dinner discussion in conference room, and overnight at Thunderbird Lodge
7th Day Sat, Sept 28th
8am Breakfast at Thunderbird Lodge (included with meal coupon)
8am-11am Tour of Canyon de Chelly
11am-Noon Water Ceremony in Canyon de Chelley (bring vial of water)
Carry to go lunch from Thunderbird Lodge (included with meal coupon)
Brief Stop at El Rancho Hotel in Gallup around 2pm
Possible visits to Acoma Pueblo overview and Las Palomas outdoor church near Seboyeta, NM
Dinner at High Noon Saloon in Albuquerque Old Town, Return to Placitas for overnight
8th Day Sunday, Sept 29th
8am Breakfast on own (Continental refreshments will be available at Glenn and Tomoko’s)
8:45am pickup
9am-12oon Group Dialogue/Discussion/Processing, Closing Ceremony
12noon Optional Farewell Lunch at Hyatt Tamaya Santa Ana Pueblo
What To Bring
Below is a list of items we recommend you bring. Please read through this list carefully. It is of essential items, but not necessarily all inclusive for everyone.
Visa and proper travel documents, layered clothing (it will be cold at night and in early mornings), trail mix, snacks, water, (including sacred vial of very small amount of water from your homeland), essential medications, sunscreen, flashlight, insect repellent, hat, comfortable clothes, sweat lodge clothes or bathing suit, towels (2), tobacco or other gifts, sturdy but comfortable walking shoes, travelers poncho or raincoat, extra prescription glasses or contacts, toiletries, phone, other electronics, external charger(s) for electronics to last two days.
Cost
$2,500 includes 7 nights accommodations (including tax) for Placitas, Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelley (based on double occupancy), 5 dinners, 5 lunches, 3 breakfasts (gratuities included), all fees for park admissions and tour guides. Tents (and sleeping bag if you wish) provided at Chaco Canyon campsite. Placitas accommodations are in 2 large private homes with ample common areas, bathroom and laundry facilities. Sleeping configurations in private homes vary. Call for details and any special requests, such as single occupancy (available for surcharge): (505-480-8000). Itinerary is subject to change due to weather and road conditions.
Not included: Airfare or airport transfers and parking, meals not stated as included in itinerary, alcoholic drinks.
Limited to 12 Participants. Deposit: $1,000 to secure space
The Presenters
Glenn Aparicio Parry, PhD, PhD, of Basque, Aragon Spanish, and Jewish descent, is an educator, ecopsychologist, and two-time Nautilus award winning author of Original Politics: Making America Sacred Again (SelectBooks, 2020) and Original Thinking: A Radical Revisioning of Time, Humanity, and Nature (North Atlantic Press, 2015) and the forthcoming Original Love (2025), the third book in the trilogy. The founder and past president of the SEED Institute, Parry is currently an adjunct faculty member of the California Institute of Integral Studies, the president of the think tank: Circle for Original Thinking www.originalthinking.us and the host of the Circle for Original Thinking podcast. Parry organized and participated in the groundbreaking Language of Spirit Conferences from 1999 – 2011 that brought together Native and Western scientists in dialogue, moderated by Leroy Little Bear. Parry now regularly moderates dialogues for various organizations and has appeared in several documentaries. He is also an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking and fly fishing. He writes from a fairly remote location in Placitas, New Mexico, where he lives amid wild horses, coyote, bobcat, and mountain lion with his wife Tomoko, dog Momo, and cat Cappuccino.
Susan Kaiulani Stanton (Haudenosaunee/Native Hawaiian) is the Founder and Senior Grandmother of Grandmothers Circle the Earth Foundation, an international organization that travels the world in service of Mother Earth and future generations, giving birth to new Grandmother councils all over the planet. Susan is Vice-President of the Great Balance, bi-located in the United States and Colombia with a focus on building a culturally appropriate university and the planting of one million trees to protect and perpetuate the culture and sacred land of the mamos, the Indigenous People of the beautiful Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain region. She is a delegate with the International Public Policy Institute to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and has also participated in United Nations forums on Indigenous rights. Susan lives with her husband Brad Walking Bear Stanton (Narragansett) on the Mississippi River in the heartland of North America.