About us
The Wayna Fanes Tradition is a fascinating, many sided, wide-ranging and versatile path to the Self, that honors the earth and puts the heart in the center. You can say it is an earth-honoring and heart-centered path to the Self. Born from the union of the millennial healing and wisdom tradition of the Andes and the unique shamanic-mythic heritage of the Dolomites, it integrates all levels of our lives as spiritual beings making a human experience.
We have the ability to co-create reality, yet we can only do it in a responsible way if we expand ourselves beyond our personal identity and become part of a larger whole, whose divine order we deeply respect. That is the step from the Ego towards the Self. Terms like “healing” and “development” acquire new meaning when we no longer see ourselves as isolated, individual, beings. Our own well-being cannot be separated from that of others, including our fellow human beings, the beings of the landscape where we live and the earth herself. Every soul wants to move towards its destiny and find its place in the great web of life. Yet, for that, it is necessary to remember who we really are.
The more crystal clear our heart becomes, the more the soul’s beauty and purpose become apparent. But what leads us to the Crystalline Heart?
We visit sacred places in nature as pilgrims. We co-create them and enter into relationship with them through rituals of mutual exchange. On these pilgrimages we receive gifts- mostly stones, that we put together in the form of a mesa, a harmonious arrangement of great power. It is an instrument for our own development and for returning its power to the earth and her children through ceremonies for planetary healing. These are the practices that make our hearts crystal clear! In this, the myth of Fanes is our guide and inexhaustible source of inspiration.
As a great world myth which has retold itself, it carries immense potential for healing on the personal and collective levels, as well as for cultural renewal. Through the transformations of its archetypal beings, it shows us how we can leave behind misleading paths and make a new pact with the living earth to move towards the “Promised Time”. Then, according to the myth, the rayeta, the incomparably radiant stone, will return and find its place in our Crystalline Hearts, for the well-being of all people.
The Wayna Fanes Tradition came into existence through the work of the “Dolomiten Ayllu” (pronounced “Ayu”), which has been meeting regularly since the year 2000 under the leadership of its founder Waltraud Hönes. We walk this spiritual path to the Self and care for an ever growing network of sacred places, together. The shamanic Path of the Crystalline Heart can be lived everywhere. The Dolomites are simply its center of power and mythic place of origin. The myth of Fanes is a jewel for the World Soul. It is our vision that Wayna Fanes becomes a movement which lets our collective soul shine again as a joy for Pachamama, Mother Earth, and as medicine for all her children.
„Beauty can only emerge from a state of connectedness, and only the soul really knows what beauty is.“
Allowing our soul to blossom
Caring for the living Earth together
Creating beauty and strengthening vision
Allowing our soul to blossom
The most important instrument in our personal and common spiritual practice is the Mesa, a harmonic arrangement of powerful objects, mostly stones. It is an image of the cosmos and makes healing and growth possible through wise use of the forces, rhythms and cycles of nature. At the same time, it gives us access to more comprehensive levels of human consciousness.
The mesa shows us what we can be if we allow ourselves to become it. If we take that path, the mesa gives us all we need for the journey.
Working with the mesa brings forces of nature “into the house”, so to speak. This work is complemented by visits to powerful places in nature and by rituals of reciprocal exchange with the beings and elements of nature.
Many mesas together can generate enough power to help harmonize the forces of Pachamama, Mother Earth. Our western culture has forgotten to care for our mother in this way and also for us, her children. We are used to taking from her but rarely give something back. The Andean people know that ayni, reciprocity, is the basis of living well together: with other people, with nature, and with its invisible beings. An ayllu cares for the wellbeing of the earth through common ceremonies at the mesa and also in nature.
The Dolomiten Ayllu has taken on this task in the sacred mountains of the Dolomites, whose power radiates out far beyond that region. Our extensive web of well cared for sacred places, mostly stone shrines (apachetas), is probably unique in the world. Through this web we nurture our sacred mountains and receive their power and wisdom in sacred reciprocity.
The more ayllus emerge at different locations in Europe, the better we can care for the earth in a coordinated way, including networking with ayllus in North and South America.
Caring for the living Earth together
Creating beauty and strengthening vision
Immersing ourselves in mythic worlds opens our eyes to a cosmic order of which we are a part. Myths tell us about our own souls, about the soul of the landscape which is the home of these myths, and ultimately about the Anima Mundi, the World Soul. Great myths, like the one of Fanes, speak about where we come from and where we (can) go to. In the Wayna Fanes Tradition, we use the power of myths for the healing and unfolding of the World Soul as beauty, bringing to life its themes, images and figures in our ceremonies with the mesa.
Through the intricate patterns of the mesa and lovingly designed sacred places, we bring beauty into the world. Holding and strengthening the vision of the ultimate beauty of the Rayeta, the incomparably radiant stone living in the heart of all people, is one of the most important contributions we bring to the world.
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