Wakan
WAKAN is a spiritually based, non-profit organization & shamanic studies community dedicated to the sacredness of life.
The word “Wakan” means “sacred” in the Lakotah language and “heart of the sky” in the Mayan language. The guidance to start Wakan came through Dr. Tom Pinkson on Christmas Eve, 1983. Since then, a community has grown together through seasonal retreats, pilgrimages to places of power, vision quests, sweat-lodges, workshops, shamanic practice groups, educational publications from Wakan Press, Drumming-Prayer Circles, and ceremonies honoring life passages (birth, coming of age, marriage, elderhood, and death).
Our Mission: Wakan is a non-profit 501(c3) organization committed to restoring the sacred in daily life, with products and services for healing and creative expression based on indigenous wisdom teachings. The organization was founded by Dr. Tom Pinkson after the guidance to start a community helping people live in balance with the web of life, came through on Christmas Eve, 1983.
The Assignment: Shares Tom, “Before her death my Huichol spiritual grandmother Guadalupe de la Cruz, charged me with bringing the teachings of her People to “El Norte” where she said we had forgotten how to live. Entering my sixty-fifth year I feel a responsibility, both as a grandfather and a citizen of Mother Earth, to pass on what I have been so fortunate to have been given by my Elders. I walk my path with a firm commitment to the work of bringing forth indigenous wisdom to address the problems of contemporary society. Wakan is the vehicle by which I seek to carry out my “assignment”. Wakan received tax-exempt status in 1987 and has been providing services ever since.
How We Do It: Wakan offers tools to rediscover the joy of living in sacred oneness with the web of life, each other, and future generations. To do this, we offer products and services for healing and creative expression, based on indigenous wisdom teachings, such as seasonal retreats, quests for vision, workshops, shamanic practice groups, educational publications from Wakan Press, and ceremonies honoring life passages.
The Wakan Contributor’s Group supports my work in the preservation, translation, and application of indigenous wisdom promoting life in sustainable balance with Mother Earth and the Circle of Life.
“Your generous contribution is the wind under my wings, enabling me to carry out my assignments from the Huichol shamans with whom I have apprenticed for over twenty five years, – To share with the rest of the world the fruits of their ancient knowing, and plant seeds of community and right relationship with the full circle of life that is most urgently needed at this time in history. You are helping to make it happen. My deep gratitude to each and every one of you.”
-Tom Pinkson
To become a contributing member, support WAKAN programming, receive news, updates, and early invitation to special events:
Contact diana@dittrvl.com to request your subscription of $25 per month.