Ancestral medicine
Ceremony held on the mountain by Tambores Chasqui, a Colombian lineage of drum makers, fire keepers and medicine carriers who have walked this path for more than three decades.
Ceremony is not medical treatment. These gatherings sit outside the scope of our Colombian IPS medical licence. They are not offered as therapy, as diagnosis, or as treatment for any condition, and nothing on this page should be taken as clinical advice. They are held as a cultural and spiritual practice, and taking part is entirely your own choice.
If you take an SSRI, an SNRI, an MAOI, or any other serotonergic medication, you must not take part in a Wachuma ceremony. The combination carries a serious risk of serotonin syndrome. Tell the facilitators about every medication you take and every health condition you live with, well before the day.
The practice
It is older than any clinic. Long before medicine was written down, people gathered around fire, water, steam, song and plant, and they paid attention to what happened to a person there.
Ancestral medicine is the body of practice that came out of that attention, carried forward by lineage rather than by textbook. In the Andes and in the Americas it takes many forms: the sweat lodge, the night vigil with a sacred plant, the fire circle, the drum, the sound bath, the shared cup of cacao. What they have in common is a held container, a person who knows how to hold it, and an intention the participant brings in with them.
None of it is fast, and none of it is passive. A ceremony asks something of you. You prepare for days beforehand, you sit through discomfort, you speak in the circle afterwards, and you carry what you were given back into an ordinary week. The work that matters usually happens in the days that follow, not in the room.
We host these gatherings at Mountains of Hope because many of the people who come to us are looking for something the clinical side of the property is not built to give: a place to put down what they have been carrying, in company, with someone holding the fire. We do not run them ourselves. They are held by Tambores Chasqui, whose lineage and training belong to them, on land we make available for the purpose.
Photograph to come: the fire circle at dusk
Who holds it
Portrait to come
Founder, Tambores Chasqui - Rionegro, Antioquia
Juan Camilo leads the ceremonies held at Mountains of Hope. He has spent more than thirty years with medicinal plants and the traditions that surround them, and twenty-six of those years in a workshop in Rionegro where he and his team build drums by hand.
He is accompanied in ceremony by his partner and by a trusted team who serve as fire keepers and translators. For larger groups, that team grows. This is a placeholder introduction and will be replaced with his own words shortly.
Inipi runner since 2007
Sun Dancer since 2012
Vision Seeker since 2004
2,600+ drums crafted
Chasqui begin from the idea that everything starts with a pulse. Before language, before music, there is rhythm: a heartbeat, a breath, footsteps on the ground. Their work is an attempt to listen to that again.
A drum, in their telling, is not an instrument. It is a vehicle. The vibration finds somewhere to sit in the body, and what follows is connection, expression, ceremony, and a quieter kind of listening. Each one is built by hand in the Rionegro workshop, where craft, art and the material itself are treated as part of the medicine.
They walk under the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor, which speaks of the meeting of northern and southern wisdoms - two ways of understanding a life, coming back into conversation. That is the spirit in which these gatherings are held here: the traditions honoured as they were received, with room made for the person who has just arrived and is experiencing them for the first time.
The offerings
Seven gatherings, each with its own shape, length and demand on the body. Any of them can be held for a group or privately.
Photograph to come
The sweat lodge. A low dome, a fire outside, stones carried in and water poured over them. Through four rounds of steam, prayer, song and breath, the ceremony makes a space for release and for beginning again. A team of four to six holds it: the person leading, a partner, two fire keepers and a translator.
Photograph to come
An Andean night vigil built around the sacred San Pedro cactus. It begins at the altar with an introduction and song, moves into silence and meditation, then to the fire as the songs open again. Dawn is met with a prayer to the water, and the night closes with a talking circle. Medical screening is required.
Photograph to come
The two traditions held together in one arc, named for the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor. Everything from the Inipi and everything from the Wachuma ceremony, in sequence. It asks the most of a participant of anything offered here.
Photograph to come
Guitar, drums and crystal bowls with ceremonial cacao. This one is celebratory rather than demanding, made for joy and for company. It is often where people begin.
Photograph to come
A sound bath with drums and crystal bowls. You lie down, the sound moves through the room, and the session closes with a short ritual. The gentlest entry point of the seven.
Photograph to come
Ancestral songs, an offering made to the fire, and a closing talking circle shared over caguana. Two hours of preparation before, two hours with the group, an hour afterwards to close the space.
Photograph to come
Two days guided by the drum. You build an ancestral drum by hand and paint it with your own totem, your power animal, and you leave with the instrument you made.
What it costs
Every ceremony can be held either way. The format, the medicine and the team are the same. What changes is how many people share the cost, and how much of the day is built around you.
These prices are in addition to your weekly programme rate. Ceremony is not part of the $6,000 a week — it sits outside the medical programme entirely, it is booked and paid for separately, and it is never written into a treatment plan. You do not have to be staying with us to attend one.
Shared with others. Minimum numbers apply to several of these.
Inipi (Temazcal), up to 10 people
$840 for the group
Inipi (Temazcal), 11 to 15 people
$1,400 for the group
Wachuma (San Pedro), minimum 6
$300 per person
Inipi and Wachuma, maximum 10
$245 per person
Cacao and Sound, minimum 6
$140 per person
Healing Sound, minimum 6
$105 per person
Fire Ceremony, minimum 8
$70 per person
The Call of the Drum, two days, minimum 4
$700 per person
A flat rate covering up to three people. The team a ceremony needs is the same whether one person sits in it or ten, so the price does not fall below this. Private bookings also include a personal consultation before and after.
Inipi (Temazcal)
$840
Wachuma (San Pedro)
$1,120
Inipi and Wachuma
$1,225
Cacao and Sound
$525
Healing Sound
$455
Fire Ceremony
$455
Ceremonies are priced in Colombian pesos. The dollar figures above are converted at 3,000 pesos to the dollar and rounded up, and are given as a guide rather than a quote. A private group larger than three can be arranged, priced to the team it requires.
Preparation
None of these gatherings are walk-ins. Tambores Chasqui send their full care recommendations ahead of the day, and the points below apply to all of them.
An hour before a Wachuma ceremony, the facilitators sit down with the group: what will happen, in what order, and what is asked of you. Shorter briefings precede the other gatherings.
Everyone signs the same consent document before taking part in anything. It is read, not skimmed, and there is time to ask questions.
There is dietary, energetic and mental preparation in the days beforehand. No prohibited substances. Bring appropriate clothing and warm layers, and any sacred item or offering you wish to place.
Every health condition and every medication, shared with the facilitators well before the day. This is not a formality. Some combinations rule a ceremony out entirely.
Every participant decides for themselves whether to enter the lodge or take part in any ceremony, and can step out at any point. Nobody is persuaded.
Each gathering closes with a talking circle, where what was received is spoken aloud and integrated. It is part of the ceremony, not an optional extra.
If any of this speaks to you, the next step is a conversation. Tell us what you are looking for and we will tell you honestly whether a ceremony fits, which one, and what it would ask of you. Nobody is asked for a credit card to have that conversation.